Broken Skin

For the new year, I'm going to attempt to get back into Goodreads. Not out of resolve so much as curiosity, to see how much I read in a year and keep track of my thoughts. My goal is to write a short response before starting a new book. We'll see how long it lasts.

I've enjoyed the Logan McRae books so far. My wife pointed out that the first one was being offered for free via Nook (turns out that it was also free via iBooks, but I was glad to use Nook for the first time), which I've decided is a dastardly trick to play on someone who is prone to novel series addiction. I jumped because the price was right and I've been in to "Tartan Noir" (whatever, I like the term; I know the differences are great) for some time now. I love the Rebus show more series, everything that Denise Mina writes, I felt it was a safe bet.

There are some things to love about this series. DS McRae is not as high up the promotion chain as Rebus, and has to answer to a number of DIs. This provides for some nice conflict, not only between characters but with the reader. Rebus wins in the end, usually, and so does Logan, but Logan rarely gets credit (or at least the spoils of credit) beyond Grampian HQ, and in this way it seems more realistic. The DIs are a bit cartoony, somewhat one dimensional, but that's fine because it really is a one-man show, like Rankin and Mina and I suspect most of the Scottish crime writers out there.

One of the most impressive differences, and a true selling point in my mind, is that the McRae series finds Logan and his colleagues handling a varied and demanding caseload. With Rebus, there's usually only one case, and any tangents ultimately relate in some way by the end of the novel. With Logan, you get a real sense that the Aberdeen CID really don't have the luxury of solitary focus. In Broken Skin, not all of the crimes relate to each other in a direct way, and the result is the reader gets a better sense of the context of a detective sergeant, one of juggling many aspects of many cases, not to mention the messiness of life that invariably necessarily intrudes.

Broken Skin deals ostensibly with BDSM, and in particularly a death that has resulted, accidentally or not, as a result. It also chronicles various thefts, abuses, and seemingly randomly about half-way through, a murderous eight-year-old. But the book has at its center a serial rapist who is caught right away but manages to escape prosecution, much to the consternation of the Grampian police. I wrote earlier that the varied cases that occur in this novel don't necessarily have much to do with each other, and that's true in the strictest since. What works, though, and will ultimately bring me back to the series for the fourth book, is the thematic connection the major crimes have in common. Without being too obvious and avoiding the kiss of death that didacticism can be for crime novels, Broken Skin is ostensibly about the damage we do, both to ourselves and others, and how that damage, that broken skin, breaks other parts of us too, contributing to the cycle of violence. All of the violence in the book is real, meaning literal violence that happens to people in real life. But it's also psychological in the sense that violence doesn't just damage the victims, it damages all of us. The irony is not lost on me, because to a large degree the raison d'être of crime fiction is to provide a vicarious thrill achieved in part through violence.

This isn't great literature. It really isn't great crime fiction; McRae doesn't really compare to Rebus, despite the more realistic portrayal. Neither author can hold a candle to Mina, who writes books that defy genre (and I love genre fiction, don't get me wrong--Mina is just that good). But it's worthy, if for no other reason than it fills out the map of Scotland for those who like what Tartan Noir has to offer. show less

A brutally savaged body is dumped at the A&E and the investigation gives DS Logan McRae an insight into Aberdeen's BDSM community while he's also attempting to juggle two abusive bosses and somehow curb girlfriend Jackie's bloodlust for a celebrity footballer cum suspected rapist.

Although McRae is such a realistic character that it feels like you're getting an actual insight into the workings of the police, in this installment, Detective Inspectors Steel and Insch have been made somewhat into caricatures and it makes McRae look a little worse too, even if it is exaggerated for the sake of humor. This installment is actually quite a bit funnier than the previous ones - presumably comic relief from the crimes that are infinitely more show more gruesome than before.

There are quite a few storylines and, at first, it makes the story seem scattered, but all is nicely, but not too neatly, tied together at the end. I'll jump on the next installment to see how the Jackie-issue is resolved (don't let me down, McRae!). show less

Protagonist: Aberdeen Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae
Setting: present-day Aberdeen, Scotland
Series: #3

First Line: Up ahead the woman stops.

The Aberdeen police, on the trail of a serial rapist, catch sports hero Rob Macintyre stalking Woman Police Constable Jackie Watson, MacRae's live-in lover. Macintyre's arrest ignites public sentiment against the police, which effectively stops the investigation. Meanwhile a second case drags MacRae into the local BDSM scene, where he gets an unexpected education from his red-faced assistant constable, and then he has to track down an eight-year-old killer. The one thing the three cases have in common is that nothing is what it seems. MacRae bounces back and forth among them, yanked between two show more cranky, childlike detective inspectors demanding overtime and loyalty.

MacBride has become one of my favorite authors. I love the plot twists, the grimness, and the flashes of wit and humor that break up the two. I can have chills on one page, turn it, and then be laughing uncontrollably on the next. The characterization is superb--to the point that I don't understand how on earth MacRae can face going in to work everyday when he knows he's got to face Insch and Steel (the two detective inspectors). MacBride's fourth MacRae book is being published in paperback in August. I have it on pre-order. show less

Another splendid offering from Scotland's hottest new crime fiction writer. This is MacBride's third novel set in Aberdeen and is, in his own words, "packed with porn, bondage and filth," and he's right - it is!* But it's all completely necessary to a humdinger of a plot with strikingly real characterisation, excellently clever plot-working and stunningly taut writing. His research is as impeccable as ever and what is offered up is a stunningly visceral roller-coaster ride into the dark and nasty underbelly of crime and fetish sex.**

MacBride is certainly a force to be reckoned with and this has me gagging (no pun intended) for his next novel. He just keeps getting better and better. This is the closest I've come to awarding 10/10 for show more any book this year!

* He told me this while signing my copy and doodling a little naked man beside his name. Incidentally, Mr. MacBride was very friendly and lovely to talk too. I hope to meet him again in the future.

** Just for the record, I do not believe there’s anything wrong in consenting adults engaging in mutually pleasurable bondage or indeed any sexual activities – I merely mean that this novel features the extreme end of fetish activity and crimes pertaining to that. show less

RETITLED "BLOODSHOT" FOR US RELEASE.

I have been waiting impatiently for the US release of the third entry in this fabulously gritty series, and OMG, it's true: Mr MacBride just keeps getting better and better. Wicked black humor. Super strong characterization. A gripping plot with an ending that sneaks up and punches you right in the gut. And, yee hah, what a voice!

Why the American publishers squeamishly elected to change the title to "Bloodshot" is beyond me. I can't imagine Mr MacBride's established fans here 'across the pond' being put off by the UK title, "Broken Skin." As for new readers: if the introduction thanking unnamed sources for "some pretty specialist information about the BDSM scene" doesn't scare them off, then neither show more should the original title.

No, I won't be passing this (or anything equally noir) along to my octogenarian mama. I will, however, be recommending it like mad to just about everybody else I know. show less

Broken Skin is Stuart MacBride’s third Logan Macrae novel. It's a very cold and bleak February in Aberdeen and it's raining again. There's a lot going on too. There's a vicious rapist on the loose, slicing up his victim's faces with a knife and PC Jackie Watson is taking that particular investigation personally. Macrae's team also finds the blood-drenched, horribly injured body of a man dumped outside a local hospital. The dead man is only identified when PC Rickards recognizes a distinctive tattoo from some explicit sex films.

In Broken Skin, Macrae working for both DI Steel and DI Insch at the same time. It’s not a plot idea that seems to work terribly well. Rather than concentrating on a single investigation, Macrae is pushed back show more and forth, grumbling all the while and becoming impatient himself. Macrae is a wonderful character, and he is surrounded by an interesting and diverse cast. I like that there was a lot of background introduced during Cold Granite (the first book in the series), so we know the character didn't start out without numerous issues. This series deals with some dark content, primarily rape and murder so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy series.

I think Broken Skin was entertaining enough but after MacBride's wonderful debut novel, Cold Granite, this one is a bit of a disappointment. I only hope this was a glitch and subsequent novels will be of the standard of MacBride’s first. show less

Yet another adventure of Logan McRae and his gang, solving and causing problems as usual. There's a little bit of Keystone cops in the stories, and crimes seem to be solved as much by luck as anything else, although Logan's intuition and perseverance help guide the luck in the right direction most of them time. And his luck, while not always great, does manage to keep him from being fired or suspended now and then.

Poor Logan is always caught between Inspectors Insch and Steel, who are often competing with each other. They're both bosses from hell, although I'll admit that I'm getting to like DI Steel for her entertainment value. She's a real character, hard to work for I'm sure, but I think she's honest and seems to say what she thinks show more without mincing words. And she doesn't seem to hold a grudge too long. Insch, on the other hand, seems to always have a grudge about something, and seems to be in danger of a massive stroke at most times. He's so overweight he's given up on trying to lose any, as his doctor tells him he needs to lose about half his weight.

One thing I don't really like about these books is the fact that there seems to be several unrelated crimes happening at the same time (unless I'm missing the relationship in the confusion). Most books seem to have one crime, and we can usually count on everything being somehow related. Having several keeps the reader a little off-balance; maybe that's the point.

I've been consuming the audiobook versions of this, which I like. The Scottish accent does a lot to set the mood and make it seem real. show less