Dying Light

View other editions of Dying Light.
View books by Stuart MacBride.

Good but flawed - Rated
I enjoyed this despite it's faults (and there are several) but read through quickly so can't really give it a 4 or less. It's light reading at it's best.
Several characters are extremely cliched (does every single mention of DI Steele have to include cigarettes and of DI Insch have to include sweets - WE GET IT okay!), repetitive at times (how many times do you have to mention the rubbish and magazines in the car) the swearing did get annoying sometimes and the author is still obsessed with the weather (which is pretty true to the Aberdeen character).
But I still enjoyed the book despite it's flaws - just don't expect it to do more than entertain.

It must be bought - Rated
I just loved reading this book and once I started, I literally couldn't put the book down!

I love the author's work having read the first book also and I've just started the next book too since I bought the 3 paperbacks at once.

These books were meant to be for my holiday but looks like I'll have to buy the latest one because I'll have finished the others!

Thoroughly recommended - Rated
Logan McRae is confined to DI Steel's `Screw-Up Squad', investigating a series of horrific murders against Aberdeen's prostitutes, as a maniacal arsonist is terrorising the city. He is in a full-blown relationship with Watson, something begun in COLD GRANITE.

What is interesting is that the author manages to mix things up a bit in terms of his style. It still feels like a series, but offers a different approach which keeps the reading experience fresh. The gallows humour is as evident as before, and Steel, who also features in BROKEN SKIN gets her first outing here. She is a nice contrast to Logan's old boss, Insch, and behind her raucous humour and crass one-liners is a decent, if not terribly efficient police officer.

MacBride hasn't created the usual loner, maverick plod in Logan McRae, whose flashes of inspiration pull the elements together and saves the day. It is a bold move, which is one of the great appeals of the series. McRae is likeable and believable, not adverse to making mistakes, though clearly better at his job than some of his superiors. It is the sympathetic and human core to the novel which keeps the more outre characters in check, although that said, Steel almost steals the show.

The story elements are artfully handled and he is not afraid to leave certain things hanging at the end, which again is the sign of a writer writing with confidence.

Some scenes cut through the black-humour of the dialogue. The newly-orphaned kid, who is no angel, but faces a life in care. The scene is delivered so poignantly, that it reminds you that behind the thrills and spills of the crimes committed, that the victims are soon forgotten. Another scene involves one of the supporting cast that will have you wincing.

Top marks and I would recommend the other two, as well. Can't wait for the new one.

Pretty good, but.... - Rated
OK, there's a lot in this book that I like and on the whole, I enjoyed reading it. However, I can't help wondering where Macbride goes from here. Logan himself is likeable enough but in Insch in 'Cold Granite' and Steel in this one, he seems to have created cliched figures which he won't be able to develop. One eats sweets, the other smokes, both swear a lot. I'm also a bit worried about the gore. Bits of this one are quite bad - one in particular - is he going to go down that road in future books? i.e. even more graphic descriptions of what decaying flesh looks/smells like. I hope not. There's a lot of humour here as well, though much of it 'black'. I'll give No3 a go but it's going to be make-or-break as far as this reader's concerned.

MacBride rocks.......................... - Rated
As one born and bred in Aberdeen - where the weather is not that bad - this book is a worthy sequal to "Cold Granite".Here we have the return of the sweetie-guzzling D.I. Insch and the chain-smoking D.I. Steele. Local police hero D.S. Lazerus MacRae, is up to his eyes in murder, and the story twists and turns but never bores. Never short on humour, the characters are so natural and one feels one is at the scene. I would argue a little about the geography of the place, but much rebuilding has taken place so who knows.
This book not easy to lay down and I look forward to the third in the series.
Well worth reading.