Product Description

The latest Logan McRae novel from the rising star of crime
fiction, following the huge successes of `Cold Granite' and `Dying Light'.
Scottish crime fiction in the vein of Ian Rankin.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Reginald Hill
`If you're looking for taut narrative, gut-churning incident,
strong characterisation, all shot through with savagely dark humour, then
look no further'

Mark Billingham
`Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is
crime fiction of the highest order by a writer whose dark star is most
definitely on the rise.'

Synopsis
A new Logan McRae thriller from the bestselling author of Cold Granite and Dying Light, set in gritty Aberdeen. In the pale grey light of a chilly February, Aberdeen is not at its best! There's a rapist prowling the city's cold granite streets, leaving a string of tortured women behind. But while DS Logan McRae's girlfriend is out acting as bait, he's dealing with the blood-drenched body of an unidentified male, dumped outside Accident and Emergency. When a stash of explicit films turns up, all featuring the victim, it looks as if someone in the local bondage community has developed a taste for violent death, and Logan gets dragged into the twilight world of pornographers, sex-shops and S&M. To make matters worse, when they finally arrest the Granite City Rapist, Grampian Police are forced by the courts to let him go: Aberdeen Football Club's star striker has an alibi for every attack. Could they really have got it so badly wrong? Logan thinks so, but the trick will be getting anyone to listen before the real rapist strikes again. Especially as his girlfriend, PC Jackie 'Ball Breaker' Watson, is convinced the footballer is guilty and she's hell-bent on a conviction at any cost!

Customer Reviews

Rebus this ain't !!
Stuart MacBride is good - but he's not great. His stories have very little depth and there are far too many people involved.

The main character, DS Logan MacRae, is bullied by two foul mouthed DI's. The constantly bra re-arranging Steel and jellybaby-noshing Insch. Both of these activities become very tedious after a couple of chapters.

Rebus would never have put up with being bullied by these two.

MacBride needs to give MacRae some backbone - and some personality.

Room for improvement - meanwhile a good book, but not a great one.

Best so far
Definitely the best of the three books so far but if you haven't read the first two yet, I recommend you do so as this one will feel better if you have. I had worried at the end of the last one that McBride was getting himself into a rut of writing some pretty horrific stuff which can be unpalatable to many [and I mean really horrific!] but this one doesn't have that in the same way. Brutal crimes, yes, but he's begun to handle things differently. Bit more about real people rather than decomposing bodies. Especially good on the mental effect of rape. Still some problems remain however. First, I wish he'd drop sex crimes involving children. Also, he needs to start widening the scope of his characters. This book is good in that he does develop Insch much more and Steel becomes a bit more likeable but he'll need more staple figures if this is to become a long series. I loved the ending!!!!!!!!! Absolutely no give-aways but it lends itself brilliantly to the next novel. Need to know what happens!!!
Not fair, I think, to say he's better than Rankin. Certainly not so far. Rankin's first three or four weren't too brilliant as I recall and nowhere near as good as what he's writing now. Also, don't forget it's Rebus that's retiring, not Rankin!! Anyway, thoroughly recommended. I'm looking forward to the next one.

What rubbish!
One can only hope the Aberdeen police either don't read this appalling novel or have a long fuse coupled with a thick skin. The Police, whether it be constables or senior officers are portrayed as incompetent and deeply unlikeable, incapable of speech unless larded with foul language. What passes as a plot is tedious and wholly unconvincing. All combining as a book to avoid at all costs.