Crime Fiction
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Meantime by Frankie Boyle – REVIEW
Meantime is beautiful in its harsh and brutal narrative. The writing is crystal clear, each word soaks into your skin like the bleak Scottish rain. No happy endings but it is intricate, it settled under my skin and had me craving more. Every mistake carves a deep and unsettling wound. If one sentence could sum it up it would be that. Meantime captures the banal and lively existence of being Glaswegian like a seesaw that drops you into oblivion. There are many downs, but it’s occasionally peppered with some good. It holds a different kind of magic, one where the disappointment from the referendum eats at the shoes of people…
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REVIEW: No Less The Devil by Stuart MacBride
No Less the Devil is most definitely a tale of two parts. The first 80% is a taut, twisty detective novel with wit and sarcasm aplenty…the norm for a Stuart MacBride novel. The last 20% however, had me flummoxed. I uttered the words WTF a lot and found myself physically scratching my head. If this was the plot all along it felt incredibly rushed and didn’t make much sense. I can’t give much more away without big spoilers, trust me, you’ll just have to read it for yourself. No Less the Devil opens with the Bloodsmith still being at large. Seventeen months have passed and the officers conducting Operation Maypole…
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REVIEW: The Killer in the Snow (DI James Walker #2) by Alex Pine
Very few authors can keep me engrossed in a story from the beginning, through the middle until the very end. Alex Pine has done just that with The Killer in the Snow. The cover initially pulled me in, but I stayed for the storyline. A family massacre with mother, father and daughter killed in cold blood. It initially looks like a murder-suicide but as the investigation delves deeper it’s found to have dark connotations to a similar murder/suicide on the same property twenty-four years ago. Are the two connected? Or is this a deathly case of coincidence? If you’ve been a follower of my blog for any length of time,…
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REVIEW: Heads or Tails (DS Malice Series #3) by Rob Ashman
Heads or Tails is gambling on a knife’s edge. Valerie Riggs was thrown into the primordial soup with Two-Face. Who makes life and death decisions based upon the flip of a coin? Valerie does, and she is resolute in its whispered answer. They say everything happens for a reason, but Valerie believes that the toss of a coin will keep her safe … it hasn’t done her wrong yet. It’s an addictive tale of compulsion and delusion with characters that leave you feeling relieved that you walk on the sane side of the street. Heads and Tails opens with a taster of Valerie’s mental capacity. The lady doesn’t display behaviours…
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REVIEW – Exit by Belinda Bauer
Exit by Belinda Bauer was a testament to humour and the conflicting need to do the right thing. Felix, a man that has known his share of hardship in the world with the deaths of both his wife and son longs to do some good in the world. He watched his son depart painfully and doesn’t wish to see others in that position, so after much deliberation, he joins the exiteers. A group that believes stringently in euthanasia and the right to choose. Bauer has created a tightly plotted and dark story that shows investigates the complexities of aided suicide. Exit is as complex as it is touching. Aided Euthanasia…
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REVIEW: Sawbones by Stuart MacBride
Sawbones was a Stuart MacBride first for me and I can gladly say it will not be the last. With brutal imagery and a raw and fantastical landscape, I flew through the pages of this short novella. Who instantly pops into your mind when you think of serial killers? Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Harold Shipman, and Ted Bundy immediately come to mind. Well, MacBride’s Sawbones could give them all a run for their money. A man that kidnaps and tortures young girls to death by the hacking of their limbs for what seems like fun. What happens though when a serial killer takes the wrong girl and ignites the…
