You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
It's hard to start a series with the 12th book, but I found Stuart MacBride's writing to be very entertaining. The best part of the book for me was not the murder mystery itself, but the dialogue between the other police officers when they were in the station office. It reminded me a bit of the film MASH where all the characters are talking over each other. I will have to read some more of the books in the series.
Fantastic, even after 14 books, the trials and tribulations of Logan McRae continue to be entertaining.
Any author who starts out a blurb with "darkness is coming" and then gives Logan McRae a happy home life needs a damn good glaring at. The only saving grace is that things are typically shit creek / broken paddle at work so it's not a massive glaring at...
Book number 12 in the Logan McRae series, ALL THAT'S DEAD, finds him still an Inspector in Professional Standards, sucked into an ongoing murder investigation when the lead investigator is himself about to be outed by the papers as a member of a Scottish Nationalist group. Most inconvenient timing as a high profile anti-independence campaigner goes missing, minus a sobering amount of his blood at his house (what happened with his dog I hear you all wonder), and that disappearance is down to what seems for all the world to be somebody with a massive "issue" with Anti-Independence supporters. Aka a Scottish Nationalist. McRae is part assistant Investigator, bunny on the spot in the event that the upper brass need somebody to blame, and part agony Aunt for Inspector King - whose dalliance with the Nationalists as a teenager with a hard on for a girl is just one more thing, added to the grief he's getting from his wife about her affair with an unnamed one of his colleagues, and the complications of a possible kidnap victim still alive, but badly injured.
Of course Tufty, Rennie, and the gloriously over-the-top Steel are all in place to provide "moral support" to an increasingly pissed off McRae, freshly back at work after 12 months off recovering from stabbing wounds. Situation normal then. Sort of. The case is complicated by another high-profile disappearance, and made murky / mucky by the receipt of various body parts belonging to the presumed alive earlier victims. It's a twister, that's helped somewhat by a tiny mistake on the part of one of the suspects, not helped by the less than tiny mistake by Steel and King in the pursuit of same suspect, and definitely not helped by the media attention, and the ever-hanging threat that one of the less than favoured journalists is happy to dump the news about King's past right smack bang in the middle of an investigation that's struggling for traction.
So everything as you'd expect it to be in a Logan McRae book, and absolutely nothing to dent favourite reading status. Except maybe for that happy home life thing, which, now that I think about it, is worrying. We all know what happened last time Logan was happy. We all know the deviousness that can lie at the heart of a beardy crime writing genius from Scotland.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/all-thats-dead-stuart-macbride
Book number 12 in the Logan McRae series, ALL THAT'S DEAD, finds him still an Inspector in Professional Standards, sucked into an ongoing murder investigation when the lead investigator is himself about to be outed by the papers as a member of a Scottish Nationalist group. Most inconvenient timing as a high profile anti-independence campaigner goes missing, minus a sobering amount of his blood at his house (what happened with his dog I hear you all wonder), and that disappearance is down to what seems for all the world to be somebody with a massive "issue" with Anti-Independence supporters. Aka a Scottish Nationalist. McRae is part assistant Investigator, bunny on the spot in the event that the upper brass need somebody to blame, and part agony Aunt for Inspector King - whose dalliance with the Nationalists as a teenager with a hard on for a girl is just one more thing, added to the grief he's getting from his wife about her affair with an unnamed one of his colleagues, and the complications of a possible kidnap victim still alive, but badly injured.
Of course Tufty, Rennie, and the gloriously over-the-top Steel are all in place to provide "moral support" to an increasingly pissed off McRae, freshly back at work after 12 months off recovering from stabbing wounds. Situation normal then. Sort of. The case is complicated by another high-profile disappearance, and made murky / mucky by the receipt of various body parts belonging to the presumed alive earlier victims. It's a twister, that's helped somewhat by a tiny mistake on the part of one of the suspects, not helped by the less than tiny mistake by Steel and King in the pursuit of same suspect, and definitely not helped by the media attention, and the ever-hanging threat that one of the less than favoured journalists is happy to dump the news about King's past right smack bang in the middle of an investigation that's struggling for traction.
So everything as you'd expect it to be in a Logan McRae book, and absolutely nothing to dent favourite reading status. Except maybe for that happy home life thing, which, now that I think about it, is worrying. We all know what happened last time Logan was happy. We all know the deviousness that can lie at the heart of a beardy crime writing genius from Scotland.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/all-thats-dead-stuart-macbride
5 Stars from me!
This is book 12 in the Logan 'Laz' McRae series so don't be a numpty - go back and start with book 1, Cold Granite.
Once you've done that and read your way up through all of the books in the series, then, and only then, will you be worthy of appreciating book 12 - All That's Dead.
This book - this work of genius - is stuffed full of cleverness and cuttingly witty observations.
In All That's Dead we follow Inspector Logan McRae - who is presently fulfilling a role working for Professional Standards (a version of AC12, think 'Line of Duty') and is essentially only involved in the case because he is monitoring DI Frank King who is successfully hitting self destruct.
As well as a great storyline, we get treated to some exceptional throwaway comedic moments between Steel, McRae and Tufty and somehow among all the gore, horror and swearing there is a very tangible human side to all involved.
Pure brilliance - go buy it!
Synopsis: Darkness is coming…
Inspector Logan McRae was looking forward to a nice simple case – something to ease him back into work after a year off on the sick. But the powers-that-be have other ideas…
The high-profile anti-independence campaigner, Professor Wilson, has gone missing, leaving nothing but bloodstains behind. There’s a war brewing between the factions for and against Scottish Nationalism. Infighting in the police ranks. And it’s all playing out in the merciless glare of the media. Logan’s superiors want results, and they want them now.
Someone out there is trying to make a point, and they’re making it in blood. If Logan can’t stop them, it won’t just be his career that dies.
http://readandrated.com/2020/02/02/all-thats-dead-by-stuart-macbride/
This is book 12 in the Logan 'Laz' McRae series so don't be a numpty - go back and start with book 1, Cold Granite.
Once you've done that and read your way up through all of the books in the series, then, and only then, will you be worthy of appreciating book 12 - All That's Dead.
This book - this work of genius - is stuffed full of cleverness and cuttingly witty observations.
In All That's Dead we follow Inspector Logan McRae - who is presently fulfilling a role working for Professional Standards (a version of AC12, think 'Line of Duty') and is essentially only involved in the case because he is monitoring DI Frank King who is successfully hitting self destruct.
As well as a great storyline, we get treated to some exceptional throwaway comedic moments between Steel, McRae and Tufty and somehow among all the gore, horror and swearing there is a very tangible human side to all involved.
Pure brilliance - go buy it!
Synopsis: Darkness is coming…
Inspector Logan McRae was looking forward to a nice simple case – something to ease him back into work after a year off on the sick. But the powers-that-be have other ideas…
The high-profile anti-independence campaigner, Professor Wilson, has gone missing, leaving nothing but bloodstains behind. There’s a war brewing between the factions for and against Scottish Nationalism. Infighting in the police ranks. And it’s all playing out in the merciless glare of the media. Logan’s superiors want results, and they want them now.
Someone out there is trying to make a point, and they’re making it in blood. If Logan can’t stop them, it won’t just be his career that dies.
http://readandrated.com/2020/02/02/all-thats-dead-by-stuart-macbride/
In hindsight I should probably have read the rest of the series first, but I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters. I will just have to read the other books to get the full picture which I'm really looking forward to.
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No