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The story begins with a prologue, the murder of a homeless man by two children (preteens), then shifts into typical MacBride country—a police station in Oldcastle, a fictitious city in Scotland that serves as the setting for most of the author’s darker stories—madcap with a somber overcast. So the reader knows what to expect. The characters constantly say “fudging” which was another thing that I found irritating. I would have expected police officers to have a more varied vocabulary. The storyline is as expertly plotted as I've come to expect from the MacBride books. As an author myself, I love deconstructing the plot lines and following the different strands through. As a reader, every twist and turn, every carefully placed piece of additional information, every morsel of information all come together to a satisfying, grab you by the throat, fast paced read.
Right from the very beginning Stuart MacBride yanks you into the intriguing storyline and keeps you gripped in the icy hands of a tense, fast paced and unpredictable plot. It’s a very clever combination of excellent humour (I laugh out loud, titter and snort my way through the blood and gore!) and a darkly enigmatic puzzling mystery with an investigation that seems hindered at every turn. I’d really become invested in this storyline, a typically gripping crime thriller from Stuart Macbride, until we got to about 80%, and then it just seemed to veer off into the realms of fantasy from whence it completely lost the plot, and so did I! DC Reekie is an inspired characterand with most of the narrative being form his viewpoint, I was totally gripped - his humerous antipathy towards his boss, his caustic observations combined with his vulnerability makes him a fascinating character. Introducing a truly unforgettable, surprising and original new detective, D.S. Lucy McVeigh. The ambitious new crime novel from number one Sunday Times bestselling author Stuart MacBride.I have read many books by this author and enjoy the ‘Logan McRae’ series but I’m afraid I struggled a little with this one. It felt like a fairly long read and my opinion seemed to change regularly throughout the novel. There were times when I thought I was getting to grips with it and enjoying it to other times when I couldn’t wait to finish. Some good characters written in the authors usual writing style but failed to grip me in the way MacBride’s novels normally do. This is a difficult review to write. Throughout most of the story, I felt it was a five-star read, then came the ending, which disappointed me—it didn’t feel right—and so I lowered my internal rating system to four stars. Then waited a while to ensure I got it right. The storyline is unique and intriguing and I was instantly drawn in. To be honest, I've never before read anything quite like this. But there was always the writing (well, that's not true, the writing only started two chapters above this one). I fell victim to that most dreadful of things: peer pressure. Two friends were writing novels and I thought, 'why not? I could do that'.
This is a difficult review to write. Throughout most of the story, I felt it was a five-star read, then came the ending, which disappointed me — it didn’t feel right — and so I lowered my internal rating system to four stars. Then waited a while to ensure I got it right. A homeless man is found brutally murdered in a dilapidated cottage in the woods outside Oldcastle. The words "Help Me" written in blood on a nearby wall link the crime to a gruesome series of murders committed a couple of years previously by a killer dubbed "the Bloodsmith" by the baying press. What should have been a straight forward assignment for Detective Constable Edward Reekie turned out to be far more. His task was to collect a dying prisoner from HMP Grampian and deliver him to Glenfarach to live out his last remaining days in peace. It sounds like paranoia, but what if he's right? What if he really is caught up in something bigger and darker than Lucy's ever dealt with before? What if the Bloodsmith isn't the only monster out there? And what's going to happen when Lucy goes after them? I view Dunk as the alter ego of the author. MacBride is laughing at himself. Not just comedy relief then, but a statement of where he fits into this cultural environment — fiction based on reality. Dunk is constantly complaining about writers who don’t use punctuation properly in their reports and, at one point, likens himself Dr. Watson following Holmes (Lucy) — in other words, a writer, telling a story about Lucy’s investigative prowess.Some reviewers have complained that MacBride is only recycling his Logan McRae series by changing the character names. Yes, Reekie is rather a close match for McRae, but Bigtoria is not at all like McRae’s nemesis DI Roberta Steele—other than the fact that both are high-ranking female officers. There is the comedy, true, which comes mainly at the expense of placing Reekie in untenable situations. And this is primarily why I can only give THE DEAD OF WINTER four stars. I prefer the edgy directions that MacBride has been exploring in his latest novels, which are not just comedy cop sagas. They provide comedy plus social commentary. The social commentary is missing here. But, in the meantime, I had to get on with the day job and produce a proper full-length police thriller. One that didn’t include haunted funfairs, mummies, or anatomically impossible taxidermy. And still the question remained: what the hell was I going to do about the pandemic? I received a suprise copy of No Less the Devil by Stuart McBride from Penguin Books Australia and immediately my husband stole it and read it. So here are his thoughts: It’s perhaps unfair to compare this to the McRae series but unfortunately I became very bored with the story. The characters weren’t strong enough to drive the story and in some ways they felt like really diluted, much less funny, versions of McRae and Steel. OK . . .' Edward raised his eyebrows at Bigtoria. 'So we've no mobile signal, the Airwaves are shagged, and the landlines are down. We're completely cut off, aren't we.' In a village populated with sex-offenders, murderers, and the general dregs of the criminal justice system.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of No Less the Devil by Stuart MacBride for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. In loving memory of Grendel MacBride, my constant companion, muse, and very own little fuzzy serial killer. 2004-2021.THE AUTHOR: Stuart MacBride lives in the northeast of Scotland with his wife Fiona, cats Gherkin, Onion and Beetroot, some hens, some horses and an impressive collection of assorted weeds. So, as a social commentary, it worked brilliantly. But as a story, it didn’t provide me closure. Of course, MacBride could argue that in several Patricia Highsmith stories, the criminal gets away with it, and Highsmith is considered one of the world’s greatest crime writers. (Highsmith also loved cats.) So, many will love this book, and many won’t. I loved most of it, and am giving it four stars.
My questions weren't answered as we jumped from reality to fantasy to hallucination to the bizarre, to weird. I have no idea what happened or what ( or who) was real. Well, if you like a read that has you on board the train to crazy town, then jump aboard this one! I usually love Stuart MacBride’s books but I’m extremely confused dot com about this one. In the first three quarters there are some intriguing plot twists, there’s tension and suspense. There are genuine moments of chill as you’d expect from this author and it looks like it’s shaping up for a jaw dropping ending. You are but not in the way you might expect. Lucy is an very interesting central character and a bit different which I do like and there are some good puzzles created through her. He now lives in north-east Scotland with his wife, Fiona and their cat Grendel. He is reputed to be a passionate potato grower, but claims to have a "vegetable patch full of weeds". Snow has fallen, snow and snow in this deadly Winters Tale. The ensuing gritty violent story all starts when DI Victoria Elizabeth Montgomery – Porter AKA “Bigtoria“ (top tip, don’t call her that to her face if you want your bits to remain intact) and DC Edward Reekie collect ageing con Mark Bishop from HMP Grampian after serving a 25 year sentence. They’ve to take him to Glenfarach, a quaintly pretty Scottish village with CCTV cameras everywhere, literally everywhere. This place is as creepy as it gets, think Village of the Damned as everyone here is out of prison on license, ankle monitors and all and they don’t get to leave. These are people who are not considered safe to return to society - scared much?? Unfortunately, neither Bigtoria and Teddy get to leave either as within its joyful environs a dead body is found. It’s a horrifying murder and the beginning of all hell breaking loose. I am very familiar with Stuart MacBride’s writing and used to the mixture of interesting characters, twisty plots and zany dialogue so I was really looking forward to his latest offering, This was a novel that the more I read the more I enjoyed it. The characters grew as the story developed and became a very enjoyable read.
Not Logan McCrae, nor Ash Henderson, but another cop heads up this book and this time it is a woman - DS Lucy MacVeigh. I searched around but could not discover whether this is the start of a new series or whether it is a standalone. Whichever, it is an excellent book.
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