Stuart MacBride

Lucy McVeigh has just returned to work after a traumatic episode that left her signed off for months. A serial killer called the Bloodsmith is haunting Oldcastle and a childkiller has just been released. However as McVeigh delves deeper into the cases she finds herself haunted by Professional Standards and her past.
Starting off as a superior police procedural this book sees Macbride on his usual, excellent form. However there is more to this tale and suddenly it starts to go down a really show more weird path. I felt the handling of mental illness was extremely empathetic and even the crazy twist was just part of the exhilarating ride. It's different and bizarre but, as ever, brilliant. show less

Life is not going at all well for DS Logan McRae in Dark Blood by Stuart MacBride. In this, the 6th entry of the series, McRae is dealing with being passed over for promotion, and seeing an incompetent co-worker in a superior position. Having to work for him and even call him “Sir” is almost more than he can stand. Being called on the carpet for having a bad team attitude, juggling too many cases, being threatened with a lawsuit for police brutality, and still having to deal with the show more difficult DCI Steele, who herself is not in the best of moods these days is causing him to wonder if being a policeman is worth all the aggravation. To top is all off, his girlfriend is one of many who think he is drinking too much, so to prove a point he’s going cold sober, which isn’t helping his mood.

Having been called upon to baby-sit released violent rapist, Richard Knox, who has decided to settle in Aberdeen, McRae isn’t totally surprised when Knox manages to savagely beat his caretakers and disappear. To make matters even worse, a high ranking visiting policeman, a sworn enemy of Knox’s, has been abducted from his hotel.

Fast paced, humorous, and violent, this series just keeps the entertainment high and the plot rolling. After six books the reader knows the characters and can anticipate how they are going to react, but this in no way takes away from the overall enjoyment of the story. The author delivers an intricate plot with great style and verve. These books are ones that I know I can rely on for a gritty crime story that will absorb me totally, and all I can say is bring on number seven! show less

Hilarious yet simultaneously gruesome! This is the second outing for the embattled Detective Sergeant McRae, one of the stalwarts of Aberdeen C.I.D., who finds himself struggling to investigate what appears to be the work of a serial killer selecting his victims from Aberdeen's sex-worker community. Meanwhile one of Edinburgh's hardmen is seeking to establish himself as the leader of the burgeoning drugs underworld in the city, and is not reluctant to resort to extreme violence to bolster show more his claims.

Following a recent disastrous error-ridden operation, Sergeant McRae finds himself assigned to work with Detective Inspector Steel, a foul-mouthed lesbian with a grotesque sense of humour (probably destined for "national treasure" status!), from whose generally unconventional patronage he is desperate to escape.

Though this novel is frequently hilarious, MacBride never compromises the integrity or plausibility of his plot, and the book was thoroughly gripping throughout. show less

Well, this was better not only than I was expecting, but better than most others in the series.

At first, I wasn't keen on reading it at all, because it dealt with non-Scottish elements and what's the point of reading a Scottish crime novel that is too modern? But then, that's the way of the world, and it actually worked well. Sometimes I just have to get over my biases.

This book started off a bit like the rest, and maintained the persistent (and good) balance between humor, pacing, and show more serious procedural. What made it stand out was the twists, and not just twists for the sake of shocking the reader, but turns of play that made sense in their unpredictability. What's more, this book took a turn for the dark toward the end, not quite to the Denise Mina level (have I mentioned how I love Mina?), but dark nonetheless. It tempered, a bit, the "how will they prevent Logan from becoming a Detective Inspector this time" recurring plot line. In fact, MacBride seemed to be nodding toward this bookly occurrence by actually having the possibility of promotion come up, and Logan seems to be the shoe-in. Spoiler alert, he doesn't get it.

As my mentor once said, these books aren't great literature, but they're great fun. Perfect for summer reading, and while I have a long list of more "serious" reading to do in the months ahead, I think I'll stick with DS McRae for a bit longer. MacBride seems to be hitting his stride, and finally giving Rankin a run for his money. show less