Dying
Light
A
Logan McRae Mystery
Stuart
MacBride
St.
Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-33997-6 (0312339976)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-33997-5 (9780312339975)
Publication Date: August 2006
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Detective Sergeant Logan McRae has been bumped to D.I.
Roberta Steel's "Screw-up Squad" after a raid he led on a warehouse
rumored to be full of stolen property ended with no arrests and one
officer critically injured. The backstabbing, limelight-stealing,
laziest D.I. on Aberdeen's police force, Steel's team is made up of the
"no-hopers," the most worthless or inexperienced members of the
homicide department, and Logan will do anything to prove he doesn't
belong there. Including working overtime on two baffling cases: the
murder by arson of six people, and the beating to death of a prostitute
down by the docks, not a high priority compared to the fire. At least
not until another prostitute ends up dead.
Although both cases seem simple on the surface--turns out the fire's
victims are part of a drug dealer's inner circle, and what fate is to
be expected for working girls in Aberdeen's red-light district?--in
Stuart MacBride's hands, what's going on in this rainy Scottish city is
bound to be much more complicated than it appears.
Review:
Dying
Light is Stuart MacBride's
second police procedural to feature Aberdeen (Scotland) Detective
Sergeant Logan McRae. Logan, assigned to a squad of misfits in the
homicide department, is working on several cases, none of which seem to
be connected, but each of which involves a violent crime with no
obvious motive. The crimes being investigated are brutal, and the
violence in the book is often depicted in graphic, sometimes horrific
detail.
Dying
Light is surprisingly vivid
in its descriptions of Aberdeen, and the city is as much of a character
in the book as are the detectives in the homicide department and the
victims of the crimes under investigation. This is not the Scotland
that the tourist boards are advertising to visitors. Much of the
narrative takes place at night or in the rain, giving the book a noir
feel.
There are long stretches where very little happens. No doubt this is
typical of an actual police department investigating any serious crime.
There is a lot of bureaucracy, clues to sift through, many of which
lead no where, stake-outs that are mind-numbingly boring, and the ever
present paperwork. Dying Light
includes all this, making the book somewhat long but never dull.
A word of caution: Though it resembles English, the characters in Dying Light
speak a language that is, at times, "colorful", explicit, and
completely foreign to the American reader. For the most part, unknown
words can be defined by the context in which they are found, but at
times, a handy website of Scottish slang will be helpful to have
available.
What elevates Dying Light
above similar books in this genre is the author's willingness to take
risks in style, tempo, and characterization. The result is a memorable
mystery.
Special thanks to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of Dying Light for this review.
Review Copyright © 2006 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Dying Light? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Cold
Granite
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), June 1905
ISBN-10: 0-312-33995-X (031233995X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-33995-1 (9780312339951)
Dying Light
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), August 2006
ISBN-10: 0-312-33997-6 (0312339976)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-33997-5 (9780312339975)
Bloodshot
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), August 2007
ISBN-10: 0-312-33999-2 (0312339992)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-33999-9 (9780312339999)
Flesh
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St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), October 2008
ISBN-10: 0-312-38263-4 (0312382634)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-38263-6 (9780312382636)
Blind
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St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), September 2009
ISBN-10: 0-312-38264-2 (0312382642)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-38264-3 (9780312382643)
Omnimystery
keywords for Dying Light
...
Location(s) referenced: Aberdeen, Scotland.
