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A review by rowingrabbit
A Song for the Dying by Stuart MacBride
4.0
There are a couple of things I have to do before I start a new book by Stuart MacBride....wait 'til I have a day off & turn on the answering machine. Once I begin reading I can't put the damn thing down. The streak continues.
In this outing, we catch up with ex-DI Ash Henderson. He's been a guest of Her Majesty's prison system for two years now due to a combination of bad decisions & being framed for his brother's murder. At least that part was cleared up. He was killed by the infamous Mrs. Kerrigan, psycho crime boss & Ash's arch nemesis.
She continues to ruin his life inside by arranging to have the crap beat out of him every time he's up for parole. Seems they frown on releasing inmates with "anger management issues". Some prisoners dream of walking on a beach or reuniting with family when they get out. Ash dreams of killing Mrs. K.
After being turned down (and assaulted) again, he gets a surprise visit. DS "Bear" Jacobson has a proposition for him. He'll get Ash out (fitted with a snappy GPS ankle bracelet) if he'll help with a case.
Six years ago, Ash was on a team tracking a serial killer known as The Inside Man (TIM). His MO was abducting a nurse, cutting them open & leaving a plastic baby inside before stitching them up. Some survived, most didn't. Ash almost caught him but he got away. Then strangely, he stopped. Now, it seems he's come out of hibernation.
Bear heads up the Lateral Investigative & Review Unit, a temporary department he wants to make permanent. It's one of three separate police groups working the case, supposedly all smiles & cooperation, but in reality it's a giant pissing contest as each wants the credit for catching this guy.
Ash takes the deal. If he can help solve the case, great. But while Bear's priority is nabbing TIM, his is planning the demise of Mrs. K. Just one tiny obstacle....he's been assigned a sponsor who also wears an ankle bracelet & he can't be more than 100 yards from them at any time or he'll face the wrath of a SWAT team. His sponsor? Dr. Alice McDonald, a forensic psychologist (profiler). She worked with Ash before he went away & volunteered for the job. Alice is young, brilliant & talks like she's mainlining Red Bull.
Before he knows it, he's out, staying in a rented hovel with Alice in Kingsmeath & joining the other members of the team at an old pub that's been set up as an incident room. His days are full of going over the old case files, briefings, visiting crime scenes & planning Mrs. K's death with Shifty, an old friend/cop.
Then another nurse goes missing. But the killer should have done his homework. She's the daughter of Fraser "Wee Free" McFee, a hard man who's part criminal, part religious zealot & part crazy. Between being assaulted by him & Mrs. K's goons, Ash starts to wonder if he should just off himself....it would hurt less.
There are several side plots & a whack of peripheral characters to flesh out the story & keep you turning the pages. It's like the literary equivalent of a movie by the Coen brothers (think Scottish version of "Fargo"). Yes, there are scenes of brutal assaults & graphic murders but McBride has such a gift for sharp, hilarious dialogue that you may find yourself laughing out loud while you cringe.
The characters are well rounded & entertaining, running the gamut from pompous police brass to sociopathic criminals with a soft side. No one is a caricature, all good or all evil. There are several that appear in previous books but one of my favourites here is Babs Crawford, a prison guard who befriended Ash inside & acts as his backup when he confronts McFee. She's a muscular, tattooed woman armed with wit & a sawed off she calls Mrs. Thatcher. She also enjoys any opportunity to give someone a good thumping.
But it's Ash himself who keeps you coming back to this series. He's a decent guy who was a great cop before tragic events twisted his focus. He's more than paid for his mistakes but can't seem to catch a break. He can be ruthless & violent to those who deserve it but gentle & sensitive to those in need (when his daughter's guinea pig died, he told her it had decided to go live on a farm). He's smart, loyal, tough & flawed...and a guy you'd want in your corner.
As usual, the plot is finely constructed & the main story line, intricate. There are several credible candidates for TIM but those pesky red herrings keep getting in the way & you may change your mind more than once before the killer is revealed.
This is a book for readers who enjoy intelligent police procedurals that are gritty, edgy &
served with a big side of black humour.
In this outing, we catch up with ex-DI Ash Henderson. He's been a guest of Her Majesty's prison system for two years now due to a combination of bad decisions & being framed for his brother's murder. At least that part was cleared up. He was killed by the infamous Mrs. Kerrigan, psycho crime boss & Ash's arch nemesis.
She continues to ruin his life inside by arranging to have the crap beat out of him every time he's up for parole. Seems they frown on releasing inmates with "anger management issues". Some prisoners dream of walking on a beach or reuniting with family when they get out. Ash dreams of killing Mrs. K.
After being turned down (and assaulted) again, he gets a surprise visit. DS "Bear" Jacobson has a proposition for him. He'll get Ash out (fitted with a snappy GPS ankle bracelet) if he'll help with a case.
Six years ago, Ash was on a team tracking a serial killer known as The Inside Man (TIM). His MO was abducting a nurse, cutting them open & leaving a plastic baby inside before stitching them up. Some survived, most didn't. Ash almost caught him but he got away. Then strangely, he stopped. Now, it seems he's come out of hibernation.
Bear heads up the Lateral Investigative & Review Unit, a temporary department he wants to make permanent. It's one of three separate police groups working the case, supposedly all smiles & cooperation, but in reality it's a giant pissing contest as each wants the credit for catching this guy.
Ash takes the deal. If he can help solve the case, great. But while Bear's priority is nabbing TIM, his is planning the demise of Mrs. K. Just one tiny obstacle....he's been assigned a sponsor who also wears an ankle bracelet & he can't be more than 100 yards from them at any time or he'll face the wrath of a SWAT team. His sponsor? Dr. Alice McDonald, a forensic psychologist (profiler). She worked with Ash before he went away & volunteered for the job. Alice is young, brilliant & talks like she's mainlining Red Bull.
Before he knows it, he's out, staying in a rented hovel with Alice in Kingsmeath & joining the other members of the team at an old pub that's been set up as an incident room. His days are full of going over the old case files, briefings, visiting crime scenes & planning Mrs. K's death with Shifty, an old friend/cop.
Then another nurse goes missing. But the killer should have done his homework. She's the daughter of Fraser "Wee Free" McFee, a hard man who's part criminal, part religious zealot & part crazy. Between being assaulted by him & Mrs. K's goons, Ash starts to wonder if he should just off himself....it would hurt less.
There are several side plots & a whack of peripheral characters to flesh out the story & keep you turning the pages. It's like the literary equivalent of a movie by the Coen brothers (think Scottish version of "Fargo"). Yes, there are scenes of brutal assaults & graphic murders but McBride has such a gift for sharp, hilarious dialogue that you may find yourself laughing out loud while you cringe.
The characters are well rounded & entertaining, running the gamut from pompous police brass to sociopathic criminals with a soft side. No one is a caricature, all good or all evil. There are several that appear in previous books but one of my favourites here is Babs Crawford, a prison guard who befriended Ash inside & acts as his backup when he confronts McFee. She's a muscular, tattooed woman armed with wit & a sawed off she calls Mrs. Thatcher. She also enjoys any opportunity to give someone a good thumping.
But it's Ash himself who keeps you coming back to this series. He's a decent guy who was a great cop before tragic events twisted his focus. He's more than paid for his mistakes but can't seem to catch a break. He can be ruthless & violent to those who deserve it but gentle & sensitive to those in need (when his daughter's guinea pig died, he told her it had decided to go live on a farm). He's smart, loyal, tough & flawed...and a guy you'd want in your corner.
As usual, the plot is finely constructed & the main story line, intricate. There are several credible candidates for TIM but those pesky red herrings keep getting in the way & you may change your mind more than once before the killer is revealed.
This is a book for readers who enjoy intelligent police procedurals that are gritty, edgy &
served with a big side of black humour.