Doug Johnstone’s top Scottish reads to support our festive book appeal

Here, author Doug Johnstone shares his pick of the most unputdownable books by Scottish authors.

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

This literary science fiction novel is wildly ambitious, beautifully written and utterly compelling. Set in the near future, the story revolves around Dutch marine biologist Leigh who eventually winds up in space, part of a crew investigating an anomalous object. Blending a fierce emotional core with huge ideas, this is SF at its very best. 

The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh

A scintillating crime fiction debut in 2002, this is now widely regarded as a modern classic. Rilke is an acerbic gay auctioneer in Glasgow when he discovers some disturbing photographs amongst someone’s possessions. We then get a journey through the dark and deviant side of the great city in a narrative as thoughtful as it is propulsive.

Kill Your Friends by John Niven

An absolute riot of a book, this is like if American Psycho was set at the height of the Britpop scene. Steven Stelfox is an A&R man at a major label (which Niven used to be) and indulges in some of the worst behaviour imaginable. It is outrageously funny and awful at the same time. 

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The Cry by Helen FitzGerald

I love all FitzGerald’s work, but this is an absolute gut-punch of a novel. After a traumatic long-haul flight from Scotland to Australia, a couple’s baby goes missing on a remote rural road. I won’t say any more, but this dark thriller goes to almost unimaginable places, and takes the reader with it.

Scottish Book Trust/The Herald book appeal (Image: Newsquest)

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

This is the first in a series of urban fantasy novels set in a moody and Gothic Edinburgh, where Ropa earns a living talking to the dead and passing messages on to the living. Ropa is a terrific and engaging central character and Edinburgh is the perfect backdrop for this fascinating blend of magic and realism.

Thirsty Animals by Rachelle Atalla

Set in a near future where water is extremely scarce, this gripping story follows Aida, on her farm in the Scottish borders, defending their supply against incomers and strangers. Visceral in its depiction of tough times and how that changes attitudes, this is climate fiction at its very best.  

Under the Skin by Michel Faber

This is part literary thriller, part horror story, part science fiction romp. Set in the Scottish Highlands, the story focuses on Isserley, who spends her time driving up and down the A9, picking up young, male hitchhikers. I don’t want to spoil anything, but this goes to places you would never dream of from that set up. This is deeply disturbing, clear-eyed and with lots of social commentary, a perfect mash-up of genres.

Val McDermid is one of Doug Johnstone's top 10 Scottish reads (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

1979 by Val McDermid

McDermid is a legend of Scottish fiction, with forty novels written across four decades. This book was a big departure for her, the first of a series of five books based on journalist Ally Burns and spanning five decades. It is expansive and evocative, bringing its time and place vividly to life, in a story that is full of heart and as expertly plotted as ever.

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

This book changed my life as a teenager. Before I read this, I thought all books were written by dead Oxbridge guys. This ferocious debut is set in rural east coast Scotland near where I grew up, and tells of the insanely dysfunctional family of Frank and his older brother Eric, who has escaped from a psychiatric institution. Violent and subversive, this is bold, challenging stuff.

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

This beautifully assured debut is the first in a series of historical crime novels set in India, starting in 1919. Following a white police officer and his local assistant, this is rich and evocative, but also has real grit, tackling poverty, racism, class, politics and much more. Fantastic stuff.

Doug Johnstone is the author of 19 novels, many of which have been bestsellers. The Space Between Us was chosen for BBC Two’s Between the Covers, while six of his books have been shortlisted or longlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year or the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.