Stuart MacBride: Blind Eye Review

I will say at the outset that Blind Eye isn't one for the squeamish. If you prefer people's eyeballs to stay in their sockets, look away now.

On the other hand, if you like a fast romp through the underbelly of society - and the underbelly of the Aberdeen police - this is another goodie from Stuart MacBride. It's the fifth of the Logan McCrae series. Still a DS, still battling idiots, villains and colleagues, Logan is on the trail of, well, he's not sure at first what he's on the trail of.

Stuart MacBride: Shatter The Bones Reviewed

Modern television collides with Detective Sergeant Logan McRae's Aberdeen in the latest of the McRae books. Somebody has kidnapped Allison and Jenny MacGregor - mother and six year old daughter, singing duo and darling of British TV's latest talent show. Not only is the nation glued to the news but the kidnappers have started sending body parts through the post.

Stuart MacBride: Dark Blood Review

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae is stuck in rank and stuck in Aberdeen. His mood is further blackened when he's landed with a babysitting job - except the baby is a weasely pervert with a penchant for raping senile old men.

Richard Knox has served his time, found God and returned to his grandparents' house in Aberdeen. He's accompanied by a very large DI Danby from Northumbria, a DI who doesn't like giving out details and who doesn't like McRae's insubordinations.

Stuart MacBride: Dark Blood

Dark in the title and dark in mood as a convicted kidnapper/rapist is resettled in Aberdeen after serving his prison time. DS Logan McRae is one of the reluctant coppers assigned to keep the man safe. Little does he know that the pitchfork-waving mob isn't the only danger and that the criminal past of the bible-reading pervert will threaten the health of more than the one who deserves it.

As a sub-plot we have Edinburgh heavies moving in, crooked property developers (and Donald Trump, not crooked, of course, up yours lawyers), Logan's getting a bit out of his depth with Wee Hamish Mowat - and Hamish's preferred depth for those who annoy him is six feet under.

Alongside MacRae's usual broad canvas of Aberdeen rain and pain he shows several smaller, gloomier scenes, well-described to lend contrast to the work, and all the better for it.

The book stands alone but I'd recommend you read one or two of the earlier Logan McRae novels first.

Stuart MacBride: Flesh House

There's a mad butcher (literally) loose in Aberdeen and he's leaving bits of his victims in the food supply chain. Never before has mince 'n' tatties seemed so unappealing as DS Logan McRae and the usual cast of granite city grotesques try to catch the baddies before the unthinkable happens and a Scottish city has to resort to salad.

We meet again mountainous DI Insch, fighting his sweet addiction and heading for personal tragedy and pain. DI Steel, frizzier and more nicotine-stained than ever, thick DC Rennie and WPC Jackie Watson. Only two of them will hit Logan McRae in this story; his heartache comes from personal and professional losses.

Stuart MacBride discusses Flesh House:



If you've read any of the other Logan McRae books then you know what you're in for here -- a bunch of beautifully drawn heroes and villains manouevering like Pacman on PCP. Only this time the goodies turn bad and the baddies get worse.

Another excellent novel from Stuart MacBride: yet to produce anything that disappoints. Buy it as a christmas present for yourself, your mum won't like it.

Stuart MacBride: Cold Granite

"Dead things had always been special to him."

So begins the first of the Logan McRae novels, where Aberdeen's finest hunt desperately for a serial child killer. Both aided and taunted by a cynical and ruthless reporter, DS McRae and his semi-bodyguard WPC "Ballbreaker" Watson career through the rain-sodden tenements and byways in a race to recover missing children before they become further tragic victims. Gargantuan sweet-eater DI Insch drives McRae and all around to near despair as the author marries acidly-described police procedural to a spiral of crime and chase that teeters ever more desperately on the edge of disaster.

Stuart MacBride manages the difficult task of handling a description of the hunt for a child-killer whilst also giving free rein to black humour and almost manic police behaviour. Along the way we meet a host of characters from Aberdeen's underworld, including Desperate Doug MacDuff, so called because he choked someone to death with a rolled-up copy of the Dandy. "Quite the ladykiller in his day" says DI Steel from behind a cloud of illicit cigarette fumes, "But we couldn't prove it."   Take it for granted that Logan will regret meeting this bitter old villain ...

If you like grown-up crime fiction , if you like your humour grim, this is the author for you. Too often first novels promise without achieving much (or even worse, completely flatter to deceive). No such issues here, MacBride kicks you in the goolies at the start and keeps the steel-capped boots going throughout, though the blades and the dog's teeth do sharpen things up a touch. Thoroughly recommended.

Stuart MacBride

One of a small pack of newish and hugely talented British authors, Stuart MacBride writes gloriously over-the-top crime thrillers. His books are set in Aberdeen, city of granite, rain and violent crime, and peopled by police and criminals who could share the same padded cell. His characters reach almost cartoonish levels of misbehaviour but, and this is one of MacBride's great strengths, remain believable. From Logan McRae, a very imperfect hero, through D.I. Steel, manic lesbian bacon-sarnie muncher, to grandmotherly money lenders and sundry Scottish hard men, all are beautifully described and perfectly developed as the books continue.

Add to those characters MacBride's ferocious dialogue and expertly paced plot developments, with enough intertwining story lines to keep many other authors in business for several books at a time, and you get one of my favourite authors. If you want a rollicking good read that you wouldn't let the vicar see, go for any and all of these books.

Stuart MacBride books reviewed:
   Cold Granite
   Broken Skin
   Flesh House
   Dark Blood

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Two sites that you might want to look at: Stuart MacBride's own blog and his official site. The blog was updated recently, the main site is lagging (shame on an ex web designer!). If you fancy a trip to Shetland, just as the winter snows are starting, you can meet the author in person. See blog for details.