Great book. I grabbed this when it was offered as a Free Fridays selection for my nook at barnes and noble. Partway through reading it, I picked up the next two books in the series for 99c each. I like the author and the main character. I also like how the story played out. It kept me guessing up until the end. ( )

Enjoyed it. A good first book in a mystery series set in Scotland. Not quite as good as Rankin or Robinson but a very respectable first novel. Will read book 2 and hope that the series stays as good. ( )

GoodReads has often recommend the DS Logan McRae series to me based on my love of the John Rebus series. This police procedural is set in Aberdeen, and the timing of this book is late November and early December. it's a cold, wet and miserable night when this story opens. Logan McRae, still recovering from almost fatal stab wounds, is called out in the middle of night to investigate a body of a young boy that is found in a park. The body is very difficult to identity since it has been dead for a number of months, and has been badly mutilated, but Logan is tasked with solving this particularly gruesome murder. Things ramp up and go from bad to worse as more bodies are found. What I enjoyed about this book is the realistic characters, and the flat out Scottish humour in a truly macabre setting. What I did not enjoy was how graphic these crimes are, and Stuart McBride spares no punches in his descriptions of the depravities and gruesome details. The body count keeps climbing, and Logan McRae keeps risking life and limb to solve them. This is a compelling Scottish noir, and a promising beginning to a series. Although, I am not sure that I will continue with the series. I should mention that I listened to this book on audiobook, and Steve Worsley did a great job of narrating this book. I think I'll think about it for awhile before I decide whether or not to continue this series. ( )

There is no doubt that this is good. Like really good. Incredible characters, great writing, and an excellent level of tension that was maintained throughout the whole novel. But I really struggled with the nature of the crimes. They were the brutal murders of young children. The crime scene descriptions were stomach churningly grizzly and I had actual chest pains thinking about the children's final moments and the horrors perpetrated upon them after they were killed. I had to force myself to keep reading because I was compelled to see justice served. In hindsight I should have bailed in chapter one as I am not sure the balance between the crimes themselves and the investigations was quite right. I did really enjoy the characters tasked with finding the killer so that made it all somewhat more tolerable.


CW: brutal murders of children with detailed descriptions of bodies and causes of injuries and death. ( )

DS Logan McRae and the police in Aberdeen hunt a child killer who stalks the frozen streets. Winter in Aberdeen: murder, mayhem and terrible weather. Soon the dead are piling up and Logan knows time is running out. Another of my favourite authors and the first of the Logan McRae series. This is a gritty, hard hitting novel with a fast moving plot. There is a great combination of police procedure and forensics plus good solid characters and dark Scottish humour. ( )