The story follows on from Welsh's previous novels, Trainspotting and Porno, catching up with Begbie's past and present.

Begbie, a violent thug and principal antagonist of Welsh's prior books, is now going by the name of Jim Francis, living and working as an artist in California.

[2] Hannah McGill of The Scotsman commended Welsh's perceptive description of the "divisions that rend families, and the minor lies and delusions that sustain relationships"[3] In the Oxonian Review, Callum Seddon suggested the novel was "a take on the established trope of 'the double' in Scottish literature".

[7] She added, "As detective fiction it's shakily assembled, as a horror novel it can't outpace cinematic torture porn, and as social realism it routinely sends its own plausibility up in smoke.

"[7] In December 2021, Robert Carlyle confirmed that he would be reprising the role of Begbie from the film adaptations of Trainspotting and Porno in a TV miniseries based on The Blade Artist.