From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Det. Sgt. Logan McRae, who's still recovering from the bloody events of 2008's Flesh , investigates a series of brutal attacks on Polish immigrants in MacBride's excellent fifth novel to feature the Aberdeen, Scotland, cop. A local xenophobe, bitter about the influx of Polish workers, appears to be the culprit, but when one of the city's local crime bosses is assaulted, McRae begins to wonder if the violence is the result of a brewing turf war between Scottish crime figures and encroaching Eastern European thugs. Meanwhile, McRae and foul-mouthed Det. Insp. Roberta Steele are stuck babysitting Rory Simpson, a pedophile who becomes an inadvertentβbut keyβwitness. MacBride's liberal use of humor, especially in the often slapstick rapport between McRae and the crusty Steel, never detracts from the action. A lesser writer would have fumbled such a complexly layered plot, but MacBride is in his element the more dark and twisted the storyβand charactersβbecome. (Oct.)
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Review
'Hard-hitting prose with a bone-dry humour and characters you can genuinely believe in, Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae series of novels are a real treat.' Simon Kernick 'Cracking dialogue ! a standout crime novel' Metro 'Makes Ian Rankin's noir seem blanc' Observer Praise for Stuart MacBride: 'Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order.' Mark Billingham 'If you're looking for taut narrative, gut-churning incident, strong characterisation, all shot through with savagely dark humour, then look no further' Reginald Hill 'Ferocious and funny' Val McDermid 'The novel rattles along like a bolting horse and the dialogue crackles like a firework display ! DI Steel should be declared a national treasure' Andrew Taylor, Spectator 'Grim, gritty and great fun' Daily Sport 'Riveting and gruesome' Daily Telegraph 'Stuart MacBride goes straight for the jugular with a tight, thrilling novel' Glasgow Herald 'Another brilliant, riveting police procedural. I'm green with envy!' R D Wingfield 'This intelligent, exciting police procedural should make the leading writers of the genre start looking over their shoulders' Sunday Telegraph 'An impressive debut ! an edge-of-your-seat page-turner' Publishers Weekly 'A gritty, roller-coaster, in-your-face thriller' Aberdeen Press and Journal 'A cracking new writer on the crime scene who hooks you from the first page and never lets you go. The action is ferocious and the pace unrelenting' Northern Echo 'Compelling reading' Telegraph 'This is Ian Rankin on Speed ! the humour is black, the violence is apalling, the language is, well, realistic, the entertainment is unflagging. I hunger for the earlier novels ' Adelaide Review