When Jackie Collins' debut novel was published in 1968, the romance writer Barbara Cartland branded it "nasty, filthy and disgusting". Four decades and 26 bestsellers later, readers may wonder if, at 72, Collins still has what it takes to be nasty, filthy and disgusting.

“Trainspotting” is a hard-hitting look at the life of drug addicts, set in Edinburgh in the nineteen eighties. It follows the story of heroin addict Mark Renton and his drug induced misfit friends and associates. Besides Renton the core group of characters are Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson, Renton’s oldest friend and an amoral con artist; Daniel “Spud” Murphy, the naive and kind-hearted member of the group; and Francis “Franco” Begbie, a violent sociopath whose friends fear him more than they like him.