- Hardcover: 424 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (August 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312339976
- ISBN-13: 978-0312339975
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.5 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 748 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,864,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this savage, darkly comic second American outing for the newest member of the "Scottish noir" school, the action begins with a particularly gruesome crime: a madman has sealed up a squatter's apartment and set it—and the six people partying inside—afire. That same evening, a prostitute is found beaten to death, and Det. Sgt. Logan MacRae, the ambitious star of Cold Granite (2005), is on the case. But his star has fallen; after a botched raid, MacRae has been demoted to the "Screw-Up Squad," led with a droll lack of enthusiasm by one Inspector Steel. Several characters from Cold Granite reappear, but newcomers won't have any trouble parsing this thriller, though some may be unsettled by the jarring but witty contrast between MacBride's wry tone and the story's brutal violence. The city of Aberdeen figures as one of this well-written novel's main characters, a portrait that will warn readers away from its mean streets. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In Aberdeen, Scotland, it doesn't just rain, it pours. The climate perfectly suits surly Detective Sergeant Logan Lazarus McRae, recently demoted to the Grampian Police's "Screw-Up Squad," after a sting operation he was manning left a senior officer dead. Desperately seeking professional redemption, McRae finds himself straddling two grisly cases: the savage murder of a prostitute and a suspicious fire that claimed six lives. Being a detective is grim, often thankless, work, and McRae and his fellow, foulmouthed officers numb themselves with a host of less-than-healthy substances: nicotine, dark ale, bacon sandwiches ("butties"), and greasy chips. There's little rest for McRae, as he navigates a world of sleazy journalists, drug-dealing grandmothers, and slick corporate financiers. But he does manage to slip in time between the sheets with fellow officer Jackie Watson, while trying to steer clear of ex-girlfriend Isobel, a forensic pathologist whose personality is just a few degrees warmer than her specimens in the morgue. Fans of Ian Rankin and Denise Mina will enjoy the mordant MacBride, whose second novel is every bit as dark and riveting as his debut, Cold Granite (2005). Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite as good as his first., Sep 25 2006
By L. J. Roberts - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dying Light (Hardcover)
Detective Sargeant Logan McRae had been a golden boy, hero. Now, he is assigned to the "screw-up squad" reporting to Inspector Steele, known as "the Jinx," after a raid leaves a fellow officer in a vegetative coma. The team is looking for a killer; someone who is stripping and beating prostitutes to death. They are also looking for an arsonist who screws shut the doors and windows from the outside before burning down buildings--with the people inside.I rated MacBride's first book as Very Good, but didn't feel this was quite up to the same level. There seemed to be a strong assumption that readers would have read the first book and, therefore, knew the characters and their history, so individual character development in this book was very thin. I did feel the characters where realistic although not particularly likable. But MacBride's writing is very strong. It is graphically brutal balanced with the type of humor I, again, felt realistic to the characters and situations. I do like MacBride's use dialogue and ability to create sense of place. I shall definitely give MacBride another try.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
fine Scottish police procedural, Aug 13 2006
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dying Light (Hardcover)
Just a few months ago in Aberdeen, Scotland n the Grampian Police Department, Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae was considered a superstar by the media and his peers until a failed raid left a peer dead and "Mr. Police Bloody Hero" reassessed as a screw-up. He now works for a DI called the "Jinx" because his career has ended on the reject squad.Logan enjoys some night time with WPC Watson when a nearby murder occurs. Cops at the scene decide they need adult supervision officially known as an officer in charge; Logan is the only one available so they interrupt his tryst. At the crime scene he recognizes the battered naked corpse of prostitute Rosie Williams. Though he expects working for the "Jinx" to lead to his firing, Logan begins inquiries into who murdered the prostitute, a case no one else wants. Across town an arson and multiple homicide case has the entire department wanting to be the media darling by solving it. There are six dead inside with windows and doors bolted shut from the outside and petrol everywhere. Soon Logan will see links between the cases and the murder of another hooker, but the leadership thinks he is just a reject seeking glory hound.
In his second Scottish police procedural (see COLD GRANITE), Logan sees the prostitute investigation as a chance to salvage his career in spite of working for the unorthodox Jinx and the knowledge that everyone else sees the arson as the flavor of the moment. The secondary cast is solid as they bring the best and worst of human nature to the forefront while Aberdeen comes across as a gritty rough urban center. Still this is Logan's run as his "altruistic" motive is not justice for a deceased "lowlife", but redemption by the brass.
Harriet Klausner
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost 5 Stars, Aug 14 2006
By Vesta "Vesta" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dying Light (Hardcover)
I am a big fan of both Rankin and Mina. Picked this up at the library and read it pretty much in 3 sittings, not because its too easy a read, but because I thought it was so good and I wanted to find out what happened next -- my #1 criteria for a novel. I'd not heard of MacBride before, but am now here at Amazon to buy his first novel.I think he is, or very shortly will be, in league with the best of Scottish -- or any nationality for that matter -- detective authors.
I am tempted to give this review 5 stars -- but I did have a slight issue with the ending (s -- there are a few things going on, and some of the interest of the novel is to try to determine how and if they are related). Logan, our hero-detective, *almost* seems to pull rabbits from hats. The solutions felt a bit too neat and quick -- though, I must admit, there is preparation throughout the novel for most of them. Perhaps, if there was one less story thread, Logan would seem less god-like in his detecting abilities when he neatly wraps it all up in the last 20 pages. But, the many threads are also what makes the book interesting.
Logan is very real, very-human in the best and worst ways. The other characters, particularly DI Steele, are well-drawn which is my #2 criteria for a good read. I highly recommend.
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