The actor and writer John Gordon Sinclair ha said crime writers overlook victims and treat them as entertainment.
Sinclair, who has just been commissioned to write his third crime novel, is appearing at the forthcoming Aye Write! book festival in Glasgow, combines his actor career with writing.
The writer, perhaps best known for his leading role in the hit movie Gregory's Girl in 1981, said that he has grown concerned that the "missing voice" in crime novels is frequently that of the victims.
His first two books, Seventy Times Seven and Blood Whispers, have received glowing reviews from critics.
He said: "There is almost always no impact statements on victims.
"It is as if they are there purely for entertainment with no emotional context.
"That's what seemed to be missing form the ones I had read.
"When I was reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which is fairly brutal, I stopped halfway through and thought 'how on earth could you class it as a classic'? It was vile and horrible and I thought 'can I actually read anymore'?
"Then I read an interview with him [McCarthy] where he said he wanted the violence to have the same impact on the reader as witnessing real violence."
Sinclair said he wanted his work to have the same sort of reality and would be exploring more of the emotional side of violence in his next novel.
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