Customer Reviews
Good but flawed - By: N. Frary, 02 Jul 2008 
I enjoyed this despite it's faults (and there are several) but read through quickly so can't reallly 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 & of DI Insch have to include sweets - WE GET IT okay!), repetitive at times (how many times do you have to mention the rubbish & magazines in the car) the swearing did get annoying sometimes & 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 - By: Tracy Collier, 27 May 2008 I just loved reading this book & once I started, I literallly couldn't put the book down!
I love the author's work having read the first book also & 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 - By: Hector Parkinson, 10 Apr 2008 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 galllows humour is as evident as before, & Steel, who also features in BROKEN SKIN gets her first outing here. She is a nice contrast to Logan's old boss, Insch, & behind her raucous humour & 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 & saves the day. It is a bold move, which is one of the great appeals of the series. McRae is likeable & believable, not adverse to making mistakes, though clearly better at his job than some of his superiors. It is the sympathetic & 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 & 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 & 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 & I would recommend the other two, as well. Can't wait for the new one.
Pretty good, but.... - By: Jeff, 03 Mar 2008 
OK, there's a lot in this book that I like & 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' & 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.......................... - By: L. Hay, 23 Feb 2008 As one born & 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 & the chain-smoking D.I. Steele. Local police hero D.S. Lazerus MacRae, is up to his eyes in murder, & the story twists & turns but never bores. Never short on humour, the characters are so natural & 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 & I look forward to the third in the series.
Well worth reading.
