Too long, but I still enjoyed this Scottish noir mystery. Very dark, brutal, but with just enough humour to lighten the grisly topic and enough idiotic excuses to exasperate. ( )

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Steve Worsley who does a great job. If anyone cares, I started listing audiobooks under ebooks, partially because it's easier than searching all the audiobook versions to find the right one, and also because audiobooks have no page count, a statistic I might want to know in the future.

This one was typical for the series, which I happen to like a lot. There's a lot of humor, interesting people, and pretty intricate plots. The police sometimes seem like a slapstick comedy, but Logan McRae always seems to come through in the end in spite of all the obstacles, mostly put in place by his boss, Detective Chief Inspector Steel, a lovable character who complains all the time, insults people constantly, blames them when things go wrong but takes credit when they go well, and is very demanding. Perhaps she's not so lovable by the people she works with, but it seems like in spite of their complaining, they don't dislike her. A typical move by her was to write in one of her teams notebook: ‘FIND THOSE BLOODY TRAMPS, YOU LAZY WEE BAWBAG!!!’ above a list of three names and a crude drawing of male genitalia. Or the way she gives orders, such as "‘I don’t give a badger’s hairy arsehole if they’re on Jeremy Kyle with “My Girlfriend Won’t Swallow”: I told you to get your finger out and visit the bloody parents and at least look as if you’re doing something.’"

There are lots of laughs, such as when someone reported they had arrested one person, and was told "you said he was dead". He answered "Well, he got better."

There are some pretty horrific crimes committed, so the humor is a welcome relief. People are getting their kneecaps smashed up by a hammer, and refusing to tell the police anything. One guy died by getting a tire wedged over his head and shoulders, accelerant added, and set on fire. So be prepared for some crazy crimes and crazy people. ( )

Oh my god, it took me an entire month to read this book.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the read, but this has been one of those times in my life when I've been simply too tired to read much at night, and haven't had the time to read during the day. So it took a while.

I can't help but wonder, however, if it had been a little more engaging would I have read it faster? Probably not. I was really busy. Still, this was a bit of a let down. From an emotional standpoint, I enjoyed reuniting with the folks in Aberdeen. Logan is still an acting DI, Steel is one run up herself, and her participation happens over the phone more often than not. That was OK, because it works in the nature progression of things. I like Logan as DI, it gives us a sense of how he handles the responsibility of being in charge. There's a nice little parallel, too, as he struggles with the pressure from Wee Hamish to take over Hamish's criminal empire (it makes sense if you've been reading the series).

The mystery at the center of things is also solid, for the most part. Interesting, all that. What I didn't like about it was the implausible "twist" at the end, when we find out who was really behind the murder that started the book off. It just didn't seem believable, likely because the culprit really had very little involvement until the end, making it seem a bit deus ex machina-y for me. Ultimately, this is the reason for the 3 star review. It's a mystery procedural, and it feels cheap, and I feel cheated, to have this ending come out of nowhere.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Logan and Samantha, and I'll leave it at that. If you read the book, you'll understand. Though, I feel as if the author thought he was fooling people about the context of the relationship, and he wasn't. I wouldn't have minded reading more that was provided. Same with the reemergence of Logan's former girlfriend, but that felt neglected and pointless, as it was.

An uneven novel. Worth a read if you're in the series, and I will certainly look forward to the next. Just hope this isn't a sign of things to come, along the lines of the later Harry Bosch novels. We'll see. ( )

The 8th book in the Logan McRae series, Close to the Bone by Stuart MacBride finds Logan in the midst of several investigations. He is currently working as an acting DI and would like to make the position permanent, but, as usual, things have a habit of going awry. Rival drug gangs are fighting over territory, two teenagers are missing, someone is beating up Asian immigrants, and Logan keeps finding small packages of bones on his doorstep.

The book is dark, gritty and laugh-out-loud funny as Logan and usual gang of characters struggle to put all the pieces together. It’s been quite some time since I have read this series as the last book left me a little under whelmed, but this time around I thoroughly enjoyed the story. As usual Logan’s immediate supervisor DI Steele is hilarious in her over-the-top style and in this outing and we learn what the missing ex-DI Insch is up to these days.

I enjoyed Close to the Bone but did find this character driven police procedural at 500 plus pages about 100 pages too long. I would warn newcomers to the Logan McRae series that it is a very dark, gruesome and violent read and not for everyone. ( )

Another lovely MacBride. ( )