Those who like their crime thrillers diamond hard (but shot through with macabre humour) need look no further than Stuart MacBride. As Flesh House, his latest, once again proves, he has few equals in this area, and is more than worthy of the ever-growing legion of admirers he is gleaning. His tough protagonist, Logan McRae, is once again negotiating the mean streets of Aberdeen, with violence and threat forever at his elbow. Those who have read Cold Granite, Dying Light and Broken Skin will know what to expect here -- and they'll be aware that they're not in for a comfortable ride.

The city is in a state of fear. Some 20 years ago, the Grampian police nailed a particularly vicious serial killer known as The Flesher, a monster who had claimed victims throughout the country. But one of those frequent legal appeals which so often release dangerous criminals into the community has freed him, and when a container with human body parts appears at Aberdeen harbour, it looks like the stage is once again set for carnage on a massive scale. DS Logan McRae (along with his less experienced colleague, Chief Constable Mark Faulds from Birmingham -- who was on the original team tracking down The Flesher), finds himself in charge of one of the most ambitious manhunts city has ever seen. And then members of the original team tracking down their serial killer prey (whose real name is Ken Wiseman) begin to disappear -- and more human meat is making grisly appearances. All of this is delivered with the requisite grasp of tension and characterisation that we have come to expect from Stuart MacBride. There are those who will feel he has gone too far in Flesh House in confronting the less savoury aspects of human behaviour, but fans of uncompromising crime writing will be in their element. --Barry Forshaw

2008-08-09 Readable but little more

I've read all MacBride's novels but sadly they don't get any better. I can only agree with another reviewer that as a writer, MacBride can't take anything seriously. Because of this, I found some of the quite nasty things in this book, and the so-called gory bits actually quite funny.[e.g. black pudding....has it put me off the stuff? No way!!] My point is that this shouldn't happen in a crime novel. You really should be horrified or feel that the police are getting somewhere in catching nasty villains. What you get here is a Punch + Judy show. Mark Billingham has been a stand-up comedian but knows how far to take humour, when to stop. As a result, he is a very fine crime writer. Equally, I don't think too many people laugh at Stephen King's novels. I think Stuart MacBride is currently caught between a number of stools and needs to take stock.