Waterline, By Ross Raisin

Raisin's debut, God's Own Country, was set in Yorkshire, and captured the rustic lingo of what fellow novelist Philip Hensher so aptly described as "the crunchier end of the dictionary."

Here, the author appropriates Glaswegian's crispier colloquialisms. The central figure of the novel is a widowed shop-builder. Undone by grief and guilt he takes to sleeping in the garden shed before taking a coach to London, thinking a change will help.

It's not long before he slips through the net and looks set to disappear from the world.

A far from comfortable read by a talented writer.