The story is told in the first POV by Declan, a young man living in Glasgow dreaming of a worlds beyond, and James, a older man who has and is living Declan’s dream. Given it’s the author’s first proper novel, it gets the benefit of the doubt as being OK, as it had a few decent parts. There is much to like in the novel: a warmth and decency, a celebration of friendship, a sense of the importance of sympathy for others. There are some glimmers of humour, but overall this is a pretty miserable book - we spend a lot of it going round and round inside the heads of troubled people.

The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges - It Takes A Woman Book Review: The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges - It Takes A Woman

It takes Bridges no fewer than 24 pages to get Cavani from nursing his Americano to taking his seat in business class, which is a sign of the comedian’s strength and weakness as an author.The scenes with Declan are almost readable, the ones with James are not; the end reveal with Lisa is silly (who didn’t see that coming? They are all there, and the social commentary on them, and their situations, is realistic and complex.

Book review: The Black Dog, by Kevin Bridges - The Scotsman

Declan’s imposter syndrome makes him insular, his toxic inner monologue convincing him he is unworthy to be around and that his life is futile. I especially loved Declan, as I’m also living with anxiety on the daily and I love seeing this rep in books, I just wanted to give Declan a big cuddle and try to quiet his doubts and anxieties. The plot is incited when Declan, keen to impress a barmaid he has his eye on, gets into a drunken row with some gangsters which, ultimately, ends with him in hospital. There are two main characters Declan Dolon and James Cavani, brought up, a generation apart in the same poor quarter of Glasgow.The more deeper observations about the male mental health struggle, the social mobility in our society, the moral issues of crime and general state of Scotland are subtle but make the point clear, this for me a real skill and is hard to achieve for even well established authors. The downside for me is that parts of it are somewhat overwritten as some passages just go on and on. He doomscrolls through his phone, letting his mind catastrophise about the negative reviews the movie is surely already attracting.

The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges - REVIEW - The Coycaterpillar The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges - REVIEW - The Coycaterpillar

I was looking forward to this and wanted to like, Kevin Bridges is a funny bloke and I thought he would have a cracking novel to offer, maybe he still does but this is not it. The Black Dog is set in present-day Glasgow, following Declan who dreams of making something of himself and his idol James Cavani, who has already made something of himself and is now wondering if it's all it is cracked up to be. Instead it’s a multiple character study, conveyed with warmth, understanding and an optimism that even if circumstances seem bad, no conclusion is inevitable in life (even if Bridges does deploy coincidence to resolve things, it is at least credible coincidence).There is no sensationalism or glorification of drugs, crime or violence in the way that some portray in Glasgow in film, TV and novels and there are some excellent characters in the book who act as true friends to Declan. Declan and James meet outside the hospital and to cut a very long and slow story short, they start to work together on a writing project.

The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges | Hachette UK The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges | Hachette UK

I liked the characters and felt I really got to know them, but it just felt as if the book never got started. I found Cavani the more interesting character here even if Declan did grow on me in the later parts of the book. There’s nothing I love more than reading a book written by a comic as they are (99% of the time) incredible storytellers. I’m sure that Kevin Bridges can do better; his autobiography was hilarious and he remains one of my favourite comedians. It has all the nuances of a piece of Glasgow fiction – the language, the passion for football, drugs, and a dream of becoming something more.

It was a very touching story that of course had funny moments but it had so much heart and soul to it. It seems to be an assumption that someone who is funny in a stand-up routine can seamlessly transfer those skills to paper. Long ago, when I started reviewing novels for The Scotsman, and then writing some myself, publishers often didn’t have much in the way of a marketing department but they had editors who did much more than correct copy.