I know this novel is designed to be a major Mind Screw, but I re-read it with my thinking cap on and still couldn't figure this problem out. And I don't believe it's ever been explained in Welsh's other novels. I'm not even sure if fans or other websites have ever addressed it. So, the prevailing theory with regard to the events of the gangrape is that Roy was the instigator and ringleader, and in an attempt to nullify his guilt, projected these roles onto Lexo (being also that Roy is an Unreliable Narrator in the text). Let's also hypothesise a slightly different alternative theory, such that both Lexo and Roy were the driving forces in the gangrape and that their two pals Dempsy and Ozzy took more backseat roles, so to speak. Either of these interpretations seem fine. Except that they become strained when you note that the other two are also murdered in revenge by their victim, and of course so is Roy at the end, but what happens to Lexo in retaliation? As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing! In fact, he goes on to have not-insignificant roles in several future novels in the body of Welsh's work, still living, still unmaimed, still involved in casual crime and still running his small business on Leith Walk. In short, he essentially might as well be the Trope Codifier for Karma Houdini, at least within this Shared Universe. But how can this be? We can't infer that if he didn't have much to do in the rape, she forgave him and didn't attack him, because the other two also didn't drive the rape but they did end up suffering the penalty of death. The most contrived, Mind Screw explanation I can dream up is that Lexo had no part to play in the rape at all, he wasn't even there and so wasn't involved in the subsequent court proceedings. But even for a Mind Screw novel like this, that would seem to violate Occam's Razor (we are told that Lexo and the other guys are a tight set, have engaged in criminality before, Begbie and Lexo have reason to re-use QC Donaldson's legal services in subsequent novels and the causals have social history with this supposed "cocktease" of a girl), so I must logically reject it as a theory. So how did he avoid her wrath, did they have a further confrontation (and was he forced to kill her?), and why didn't Welsh (to my knowledge, I have read the main Leith Mythos novels, Filth, Glue, A Decent Ride and a few of his short stories, and I intend to eventually read everything he's ever done at least once) ever tie up this loose thread/apparent plot hole in any of his writings or even mention it in Real Life? This is one hell of a Headscratcher.
Well, one disturbing possibility is she did come after Lexo... who is a psychopath, a huge and violent one at that, who wouldn't sink into the depression Roy did, and wouldn't be as vulnerable, and would have no qualms whatsoever (even if you just go by other novels) with stopping his assailant through any means necessary.
Makes some sense, except if she understands he's a dangerous, imposing and unhinged presence (and surely she does), wouldn't she take her own any means necessary to fuck his shit up? That means attacking him in his sleep, drugging him, bringing a mob of empathetic men powerful enough to overpower him, or coming at him otherwise in surprise e.g. with a baseball bat to the back of the head or straight up running him over. Really, lots of different options if she puts her mind to it. Putting myself in her shoes, what with what she went through, I could see myself being pissed off and desperate enough to do whichever of those things I might think would have the best chance of success, even to the point of risking doing it in front of tons of witnesses or even if the police saw me crashing his body over my car. I mean, within the realm of fiction, that's a course of retaliation a reader could wholly understand, right? That revenge and sense of closure would be worth it, and probably even decades behind bars at Corton Vale wouldn't be enough of a deterrant.
My personal theory is that he did kill her when she came for him, but to him she was so insignificant to him that he never bothered to mention her.
Can anyone help narrow down the timeline for this novel? I haven't read it in a while and am wondering over which years it spans. Roughly speaking, 80s/90s.
