Dark Blood

Still not quite a five-star read, but getting better. I have to say, I'm alternating between leaving this as a four-star and downgrading it, because there are some problems with the narrative as a whole. I'll start with that.

First, there's the problem with Samantha, Logan's girlfriend of the last couple novels. She's pointless. She has potential but she's hardly ever in the story (perhaps because she lives with Logan and he's never ever at home, another problem I'll get to presently). At first it seemed as though Logan's drinking problem, an interesting and dark holdover from the last novel, was going to be a central focus, and Sam would serve as the home front battle there. However, midway through the story Logan is told to "try" not show more drinking for a week (by his psychologist, on the phone), and see how it goes. There's some more tension between the two (Sam and Logan), then voila! Missing girlfriend.

Next, there's the ever-present failure of Logan to progress past detective sergeant. There is a moment at the beginning of the novel where you think it's happened: he's been promoted. But no. Still, though no one else at Grampian seems capable of solving crimes, or at least not as intuitively as Logan (this isn't a complaint about the series, just a facet of the genre), he manages to commit a variety of sins that prevent him from being promoted. Granted, there are some cock-ups, but no worse than what a DS does at the end of the novel, and that ends in the DS's demotion. I don't mind this bit as much, as I've really gotten to enjoy the relationship Logan has with the other DSs, especially DS Steele--she's become a favorite of mine, and they have an undeniable chemistry. The failure to promote works for the dynamics of the stories, but will it continue to work for the verisimilitude of the character of Logan McRae?

Complaints aside (and I've downgraded to three-stars), this is a solid entry and a good read. It took me a bit longer because I've been more tired lately at night, but that's no comment on the book itself. MacBride is getting quite good at interweaving multiple crimes, many of which are unrelated in the details but feed connections in Logan's brain, giving the reader a sense of what it must be like to be a policeman covering many crimes at once, unlike most American crime shows.

With the drinking problem (solved?), the girlfriend problems, even the POS Fiat car problems, Logan is continuing to become more and more like Rebus, the standard bearer for Tartan Noir cop/heroes, but he just doesn't make it, not this go-round. Of course, now he's a father (like Rebus) who likely won't be very involved in his child's life (again, like Rebus). Part of me wonders if this is good or bad. I don't want another Rebus necessarily, I can always read the other books again. But I'd like to see these books reach the depth that's absolutely there, just unexplored.. 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 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 show more 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

First Line: Run.

Richard Knox was a violent rapist of elderly men. He was caught, put on trial, and convicted of his crimes. While in prison, he found God, and now that he's been released all he wants is to make a new start in a place where no one knows his past. Unfortunately for Detective Sergeant Logan McRae, Knox's new home is in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Add Knox to a stew that contains gangsters from Edinburgh, a local crime lord, an inspector from Newcastle who wants to keep an eye on Knox, and folks from Newcastle looking for a missing mob accountant, and you can see that there's more than enough to keep McRae busy for two or three lifetimes. His problem is that he's still being jerked back and forth between two detective inspectors who show more can't seem to be able to live without McRae being at their beck and call every single hour of every single day.

MacBride writes edgy, violent tales with such a finely-honed dark sense of humor that I've often found myself laughing like a total nutter only a page or two after being left stunned and slightly sickened by something else. I know that makes me sound as if I'm a bit schizophrenic, but perhaps being a bit unbalanced helps you to understand what's going on once you've immersed yourself in MacBride's world.

I find myself having very strong and very personal reactions to the books in this series now. Logan McRae has found himself caught between two superior officers for far too long. At first, I found both of the superiors (and I'm using the term very loosely here) to be hilarious although their lack of willingness to do any real work greatly bothered me. I've gone through in the real world what McRae is going through in MacBride's fictional one. Although I did my best to find the humor in what I went through, there wasn't much to be found, and as McRae's woes keep going on a seemingly endless loop, almost every molecule of humor has been leached from the situation for me. I love the character of McRae too much to stop reading, so I'm hoping that MacBride will be kinder to him in the next book!

Despite my negative reactions I found Dark Blood to be another excellent book in this series. All the plot lines seem hopelessly tangled, and it's a miracle that McRae is able to sort out any of them at all. But MacBride reminds us that life isn't a fairy tale. Real life isn't neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow just as the last page is turned. The ending of Dark Blood may leave you as angry as it did me, but-- sadly-- what happens is far from being a new occurrence on planet Earth. I only wish that McRae had seen "The Shawshank Redemption" as many times as I have. show less

My first Logan McRae novel and I was impressed; gritty realistic Aberdeen area locations, interesting albeit dysfunctional characters, novel plot lines and witty dialogue. However not for the squeamish, although the writer doesn't dwell on those few scenes and generally treats them with humour. Recommended and I'll be looking out for the other books in the series.

Edinburgh is as bleak as always, and so is the overall mood. But unlike some of the earlier novels, this one is relatively free from torture and other horrors. However,... there is still plots within plots within plots. DI Steel is still annoying and mad as a hatter with the world in general and everyone in it. I wish McBride would tone her down a bit. Logan makes odd choices which get him into trouble with his superiors, who themselves don't make a very professional impression. I hope the Scottish police are not actually like this. In spite of the police blunders and DI Steel...the entire series is curiously addictive.

The problem with an author making it onto my "Pre-Order IMMEDIATELY list" is that once the book arrives I have that dreaded "do I read immediately or hoard" dilemma. It's easier with some of my all time favourite authors - there's a few, well not to put too fine a point on it, aren't as young as they used to be. Stuart MacBride, on the other hand, is a young man. Last time I set eyes on him he looked to be in remarkably good health. But still, you never know. Publishers are queer folk and they may suddenly have a brain freeze, or worse still, Stuart may just get distracted by .. well gardening stuff... and forget to write the next one.

So I've come up with a reasonable compromise with these books which is simply "hang onto them until you show more can stand the suspense no longer!". I held out pretty well with DARK BLOOD but I'm really really pleased I didn't keep it up forever (and the latest book has arrived so it's not like I don't have another one to hoard ... just for a little while.)

DARK BLOOD starts out with one of the best opening sequences I have read in years. One of those opening pieces that make you sit up straight and pay attention. From there the reader is launched into a world of missing informants, sawn-off sledgehammers, fake money, counterfeit goods and jewellery shop robberies. Add to the standard mayhem of Aberdeen on a normal day (well a MacBride normal day anyway), and about the only thing that McRae, Steel and the entire Aberdeen command can agree on is that having one of England's most notorious sex killers "dumped" into their patch on his release from jail is just about the height of all cheek. Which is bad enough, but a Northumbrian DSI tagging along to "keep an eye on things" is dangerously close to taking liberties.

There is always something comforting about returning to a favoured series character - and Logan McRae is one of my favourite characters, although DI Steel is not above giving him a bit of a nudge. Having said that, other readers of these books will be wondering what exactly I'm sniffing if I think McRae, Steel or any of the circumstances of MacBride's books are comforting. But in a strange (okay so slightly twisted) way, they are comforting. That's not to say that things also don't move on in their lives, albeit sometimes slowly. McRae's been doing quite a strong line of greatly put upon, martyrdom in recent books, but in DARK BLOOD he's actually firing up a bit, getting a bit bolshie. Which needless to say doesn't go down well. Nobody could possibly have imagined it would go down so badly that DI Steel would be giving him "advice" on how to get on with others mind you. But advice she does dole out. At the same time that the impending birth of her child is making her life a lot more complicated than she thought it would... especially with conciliatory and caring not exactly coming naturally to DI Steel. As usual McRae doesn't just have to deal with Steel, DI Beattie seems to be going out of his way to behave like a prat, whilst all the time journalist Colin Miller is needling away at the police in general and McRae in particular.

The problem with an ongoing series has to be that it's sometimes too easy to slip into familiar patterns, particularly where the characters and their interactions are concerned. Avoiding this DARK BLOOD has something a little more edgy about McRae - sure he's still a bit of a martyr to the cause, but there's just the occasional flash of a fight back. DI Steel is still delightfully, gloriously over the top, but she's softening just a little, impending parenthood is obviously going to have some sort of affect, but what exactly... well some things aren't to be contemplated too closely. DARK BLOOD also veers away from the more gruesome aspects of some of the recent books, and works harder on a really tight, taut, pacey and interesting plot. There's a realistic feel of pressure - external and within, of competing priorities, and changing levels of urgency. It feels like each of these characters is doing a fine line of tight-rope juggling - personally and professionally. MacBride also isn't afraid to ditch popular characters, to put them in unexpected situations, to pick them up again, and generally to move his chess pieces where the will takes him. But, as always, there's a real underlying humour - some of it observational, some of it almost slapstick, but always with sneaking sense of great affection. The characters for each other, the author for his cast, and in the case of this reader, the reader for the whole package. show less

As if Aberdeen doesn't already seem to have an ongoing non-stop crime wave to keep our characters busy running around snapping the heads off each other, a convicted serial rapist has been released and wants to come home to his granny's house, causing no end of bother. Counterfeit goods and money are floating around someone's robbing jewelry stores with a baby and a sawn-off sledgehammer and a snitch turns up dead under a slab of concrete. Things run along furiously as Logan McRae wonders where exactly everyone gets off telling him he's got an attitude problem.