A Dark So Deadly by Stuart MacBride

A gripping standalone thriller from the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series.

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A gripping standalone thriller where a down-on-his-luck detective is in a race against to track down a deadly killer…

Description

A detective no one believes in. A killer with nothing to lose…

Beware of the dark…

Welcome to the Misfit Mob – where Police Scotland dumps the officers it can’t get rid of, but wants to. Officers like DC Callum MacGregor, lumbered with all the boring go-nowhere cases. So when an ancient mummy is found at the Oldcastle tip, it’s his job to track down its owner.

But then Callum uncovers links between his mummified corpse and three missing young men, and life starts to get a lot more interesting.

No one expects the Misfit Mob to solve anything, but right now they’re all that stands between a killer’s victims and a slow lingering death. Can they prove everyone wrong before someone else dies?

My Thoughts

This is a stand-alone book and as I’ve wanted to read something by Stuart MacBride this seemed an ideal opportunity.

What a distinctive style MacBride has and uses to tell a quite gruesome murder story containing a bunch of last-hope police officers and not without humour.

The Mistfit Mob lead by ‘Mother’ with a second in command McAdams, who is terminally ill, are a bunch of coppers who for one reason or another have been kicked into touch – Callum, the newbie Franklin, Watt and Dot. They aren’t allowed to work big cases since they are assumed to be a liability. Yet they end up getting a murder case and not just one but several seemingly connected deaths, it looks like there’s a serial killer on the loose.

There are several themes along side that of the murders, this book is full of plots, twists and turns and it all helps to keep the reader interested, the book flowing and the action moving along. The characters are terrific, realistic and you warm to them. Well written with a sense of humour this is a strangely enjoyable story.  It’s a long book, perhaps a little too long, but there’s a lot being packed into it. Alongside the murder is an unofficial ‘cold case’ involving Callum who finds out that it’s an abduction/Murder investigation on the day that his personal life shatters to bits. Also, there’s the young mother with three small children who Callum worries over, for good reason; then there’s the matter of a nasty criminal out to harm Callum and another police officer DCI Powell. There may be a moment or two were you feel you need to suspend belief or there’s been a twist too far but MacBride pulls everything together masterfully.

If you enjoy a good police procedural with a serial murder investigation and don’t mind a bit (well a lot) of rain, some odd quotes interspersed through the book that at first seem pointless and the fact that you might never want to eat smoked fish again then give this a go I think you might be glad you did.

With thanks to HarperCollins for an eARC of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest opinion.

Rating: 4*

Information

Paperback: 608 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (8 Feb. 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0007494718
ISBN-13: 978-0007494712

Next Book: The Blood Road (Logan McRae, Book 11) out in Hardcover – 14 Jun 2018

Author: Stuart MacBride

Stuart MacBride was born in Dumbarton near Glasgow but grew up in Aberdeen. He is the number one bestelling author of several novels featuring DS Logan McRae. He has been shortlisted for the Theakstons’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice. Stuart won the 2007 CWA Dagger in the Library, awarded for a body of work, and was named Best Breakthrough Author at the 2008 ITV Crime Thriller Awards.

Stuart MacBride is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Logan McRae and Ash Henderson novels. He’s also published standalones, novellas and short stories as well as a children’s picture book.

Stuart lives in the northeast of Scotland with his wife Fiona, cats Grendel, Gherkin, Onion and Beetroot, some hens, horses and a vast collection of assorted weeds.

Twitter: @StuartMacbride