This is a new Logan McRae thriller from the author of "Cold Granite", set to rival Ian Rankin. It starts with a prostitute, stripped naked and beaten to death down by the docks - the heart of Aberdeen's red light district. For DS Logan MacRae, it's a bad start to another bad day. Only a few short months ago, he was the golden boy of Grampian police. But one botched raid later, he's palmed off on a DI everyone knows is a jinx, waiting for the axe to fall with all the other rejects in the 'Screw-up Squad'. Logan's not going to take it lying down. He's determined to escape DI Steel and her unconventional methods, and the best way to do that is to crack the case in double-quick time. But, Rosie Williams won't be the only one making an unscheduled trip to the morgue. Across the city, six people are burning to death in a petrol-soaked squat, the doors and windows screwed shut from the outside. And despite Logan's best efforts, it's not long before another prostitute turns up on the slab! Stuart MacBride's characteristic grittiness, gallows humour and lively characterisation are to the fore in his unputdownable second novel, confirming his status as the rising star of crime fiction.

2008-09-03 As bad as the first

After reading Cold Granite I swore I'd never read another Stuart Macbride book as it was just so awful. However having bought that and this at the same time, and my wife being busy with what I had planned to read next, I gave this a go.

I shouldn't have bothered. I thought that maybe, just maybe, we'd learn a little more about Logan McRea - but no. He's still a paper-thin character thoroughly devoid of interest or motivation. We still have sweets mentioned every time we meet Insch and smoking every time we meet Steel. Writing doesn't get much lazier.

The plot is a mishmash of poor planning and sleep-inducing boredom.

Never again! I only gave it 1 star because I couldn't give it zero.