His novels Assassins & Victims and The Punctual Rape won Scottish Arts Council Awards.
His quartet of Glasgow novels consists of The Bad Fire, The Last Darkness, White Rage, and Butcher.
He also wrote a memoir titled All That Really Matters, retitled in the United States as I Hope You Have a Good Life.
"[9] His work was originally influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson, and he ascribed a certain "dark aspect" of his writing to the opening scenes of Treasure Island.
Among other influences he included Franz Kafka, Fred Vargas, Kobo Abe, and Albert Camus.