A Truth Lover

Drawing from the Gothic traditions of Hogg and Stevenson, not to mention the existentialism most finely explored in Dostoevsky, Herdman evokes complicatedly moralising characters to haunting effect
Living as if an outsider, but functionally ingratiate to normal social circles, Duncan has his morality rocked by bearing witness to a violent act. Where can one land on judgement of abject behaviour when inflicted upon a person, perhaps more abject than the act itself?Pressure to testify pushes Duncan into various forms of escapism and a consequential number of captivating encounters, all whilst trapped in a brooding vacuum of self-reflection.Herdman's writerly magic is an underappreciated facet of Scotland's continually great literary output.