Skagboys Skagboys Skagboys is a 2012 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is a prequel to his 1993 novel "Trainspotting", and its 2002 sequel "Porno". It follows the earlier lives of characters Renton and Sick Boy as they first descend into heroin addiction. When Welsh described the novel he said: "I think I’m going to call it Skag Boys: “skag” is my favourite word for heroin. It's set before they’re into heroin and investigates how the main characters become junkies, the family dynamics, the anxieties of young men. A lot of the fringe characters become more prominent". "I had a
4 a.m. (novel) Hamburg, using recreational drugs and attending raves. Very soon their drug usage begins to clash with their military duties and lives, leading to the pair undergoing pressure on their military jobs, friendship, and personal lives. The novel was reviewed in the Scottish and UK national press, with the "Glasgow Herald" remarking "it's about time we had a female Irvine Welsh". "The Guardian"'s Catherine Taylor took a more equivocal line, praising the novel's "electric" narrative, but disliking the pop-cultural references. Mike Cobley of "The Brighton Magazine" was more impressed, writing "It had me gripped from the off, and by its close