Dying Light

DS McRae has been sent to work with DI Steele of the “fuck-up” squad after a raid gone wrong in which a constable was badly wounded. Everyone is looking at him askance. Jackie, his WPC squeeze is mad at him for not standing up to Steele who never seems to recognize his time off.

Steele, who never goes by the book and thinks nothing of destroying evidence if it doesn’t seem to match her prior conception of guilt or innocence.

Written with a sardonic and often sarcastic wit, this series has become a favorite and I have bought them all. Not to be read by the squeamish.

On to the next one.

One botched raid, one severely injured uniformed PC and DI Logan MacCrae has gone from Police Hero to a “Screw-Up” squad led by D. I. Roberta Steel. Steel, a somewhat lazy but nonetheless shrewd taskmaster, establishes an unlikely kinship with MacCrae as they investigate the brutal murder of a prostitute. MacCrae and Steel apprehend the likely perpetrator fairly quickly but when the first victim is followed by a second, it appears that a serial killer is at work. At the same time, MacCrae is working off the books with his old squad on an arson that resulted in multiple deaths.

Dying Light is a solid, twisting police procedural with some short-lived sequences of quite graphic violence. This violence and the pitch perfect gallows show more humor that the author uses remind us that there is some real substance to the world being written about. The characters are very real. You feel like all of them would be instantly recognizable if you walked into the Aberdeen police station or the local bar.

What elevates Dying Light above similar books in this genre is the author's willingness to take risks in style, tempo, and characterization. The result is a memorable mystery. This is the second book of what appears to be a very compelling series. show less

Warning: this review contains spoilers (of plot and appetite)

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The second installment of the Logan McRae series is more stomach-churning than the first. It begins with a horrific arson, where the perpetrator derives sexual satisfaction from setting the fire, and then several prostitutes end up murdered. The full impact of the prostitute storyline is not felt until the perpetrator is revealed, and then we are suddenly exposed to the horrors his victims experienced. The most gruesome moment for me, though, was the finger-eating incident. I was lucky to be reading that part on an empty stomach, but it was terrifying as well.

All of this grimness outweighed the humour somewhat, although there was certainly no shortage of snappy comebacks show more and dry-witted narration. It is also to be hoped that Logan can escape DI Steel's "Screw-up Squad" -- such an incompetent police officer ever making it to DI is truly astounding. She keeps dragging Logan in on his days off, taking credit for his brainwaves, mucking up crime scenes by smoking at them, compromising interviews... It's breathtaking, in a train wreck kind of way.

The overall reading experience was certainly very vivid, but it took me a while to get into just because there were so many storylines to juggle.

I would recommend this if you've already read at least one other book in the series or if you normally read more gruesome mysteries like Val McDermid (who even gets name-checked at one point). show less

I have read this series it seems since time began. I enjoyed the first book of the series which this is a part of...but as the series progresses some of the characters began to become more than slightly annoying and progressed to nearly unreadable. My trouble with the characters actually started with this one. The story begins with Logan McRae in trouble with his squad commander and going through disciplinary actions. This becomes a common occurrence. He finds himself being sent down to D.I. Steele’s squad, (horrible character by the way) also known throughout Aberdeen law enforcement as the “fuck-up squad.” I had forgotten how much I had always hated the character of D.I. Steele. She has no integrity, the manners of an untrained show more chimp, talks like a drunken sailor, and smokes like a chimney. She thinks nothing of miss-treating or “using” members of her squad. This is what our super cop, Logan McRae, enters into. D.I. Steele has every intention of using Logan for whatever means is at her disposal to get herself some fame and glory and on to better pastures than the “fuck-up squad.” Logan, on the other hand will do just about whatever it takes to get out of this squad and back into his former squad. The book is filled with flawed characters and bad habits. Then there are the bad guys and the REALLY bad guys. A lot of losers. There is plenty of action going on. You will never figure out what is happening in this story before it ends. I've read it before, and I still couldn't do it. There are fire bombings, prostitutes galore that have seen their better days, unfaithful men by the truck load, drug dealers, murdered girls, and even a dog. The dog is innocent. Well good people...we're not in Mayberry anymore that's for sure. show less

Dying Light
1 Star (DNF)

Unfortunately, this is a very poor follow up to a promising debut.

The build up to the various mysteries proceeds at a snail's pace, and the protagonist, DS Logan McRae, who has such potential in the first book, spends most of hist time complaining about his commanding officer and whining about his girlfriend.

In addition, there is a nasty undercurrent of misogynism in the way the female characters are portrayed, and there is an excessive amount of profanity. I usually don't mind the occasional swear word, especially in police procedurals, but hardly a sentence is uttered without someone swearing or cursing.

Finally, the best murder mysteries are ones in which the reader cares about the victims an/or the show more investigators and/or is interested in the twists and revelations. Sadly, none of these are compelling enough to warrant continuing with the book. I simply could not care less and there are better books waiting on my TBR. show less

I didn't enjoy "Dying Light" as much as its predecessor "Cold Granite", the first in this series.

The same cast of characters were there as before but now DS Logan McRae has been allocated to the Fuck Up Squad after an officer ended up in a coma during a drugs raid that he lead.

I enjoyed the humour and the tension that comes from the orderly McRae having to deal with his chaotic, despotic but strangely charismatic boss in the Fuck Up Squad. The local feel of the book remained strong and the depiction of bored police officers playing "If you had to or die" or "Spit or swallow" while on endless stakeouts seemed credible.

The plot was as twisted as in the first book but the sense of compassion and loss was not as strong. I was also put off show more by the maiming of one of the main characters by a gangster hard man. I recognise that this kind of thing is realistic but the detail in which it was described and the lack of empathy demonstrated by McRae and others left a bad taste.

I will continue with this series because it's well written and has strong characters but I'm hoping for something beyond twisted plot and escalating violence in the next book. show less

Protagonist: Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae
Setting: present-day Aberdeen, Scotland
Series: #2

First Line: "The street was dark as they entered the boarded-up building: scruffy wee shites in their tatty jeans and hooded tops."

If maniacs who wait until houses are filled with people, seal the buildings up tight, set fire to them and hang around to get their jollies is not your cup of tea, pass this book by. It is not for the faint of heart.

DS MacRae's star has fallen after a botched raid. Now he finds himself demoted to the "Screw-Up Squad" which is led with a droll lack of enthusiasm by Detective Inspector Steel. Steel decides her best ticket out of the SUS is to attach herself to MacRae like a limpet and have him solve the other serial show more crime in Aberdeen--prostitutes being beaten to death. Steel drove me nuts, but MacRae finally found out how to deal with her. The contrast between the witty descriptions and dialogue and the brutal crimes being committed on the mean streets of Aberdeen can be as jarring as a slap upside the head with a new brick, but I loved every page. show less