Close to the Bone (Logan McRae, Book 8)

by Stuart MacBride Narrated by Steve Worsley

Overview

The third consecutive No.1 bestselling crime novel from the author of the DI Logan McRae series and Birthdays for the Dead.The first body is chained to a stake: strangled, and stabbed, with a burning tyre around its neck. But is this a gangland execution or something much darker?Someone¿s leaving little knots of bones outside Detective Inspector Logan McRae¿s house, but he¿s got more pressing things to worry about. Rival drug gangs are fighting over product and territory; two teenage lovers are missing; someone¿s crippling Asian immigrants; and Logan¿s been lumbered with an ambitious new Detective Sergeant, a mountain of paperwork, and the unwelcome attention of his superiors and the local crime boss.When another body turns up, it looks as if the similarities between these murders and the plot of a bestselling novel are more than just a coincidence. And perhaps those little knots of bones are more important than they look¿

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Scottish author MacBride’s predictably grisly but cleverly twisted eighth thriller featuring Det. Insp. Logan McRae (after 2011’s Shatter the Bones), the Aberdeen cop looks into the case of a man found strangled and stabbed with a burning tire around his neck, suggesting a gangland execution. The local filming of a popular fantasy novel, Witchfire, makes Logan realize that the horrific manner of death is straight from the novel’s story of an alt-universe Scotland. Suspecting a crazed fan of turning fiction into reality, Logan revisits a neglected missing persons case, the disappearance of teenagers Agnes Garfield and Anthony Chung, uncovering disturbing connections. Saddled with an over-eager new underling, Det. Sgt. Lorna Chalmers, Logan must stay one step ahead of a killer whose crimes are becoming even more horrific. MacBride’s humor is as dark as his plot, and Logan continues to impress as a scarred but persevering hero. Agent: Philip Patterson, Marjacq Scripts. (May)

From the Publisher

Praise for Stuart MacBride:‘MacBride is the natural heir to the late and much lamented Reginald Hill’ Andrew Taylor, SPECTATOR‘MacBride is a damned fine writer – no one does dark and gritty like him’ PETER JAMES‘Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order’Mark Billingham‘Some of the grittiest crime-writing in the field’Independent‘Admirers of tough, modern crime novels will be in seventh heaven – or should that be hell?’Express‘Ferocious and funny’Val McDermid‘Hard-hitting prose with a bone-dry humour and characters you can genuinely believe in, Stuart MacBride’s novels are a real treat’Simon Kernick

Library Journal

In his latest outing (after Shatter the Bones) Scottish DI Logan McRae is working under Acting Detective Chief Inspector Steel, who is dumping cases and more paperwork on Logan than he can handle. Among his cases are rival drug gangs fighting over the cannabis trade in Aberdeen, a pair of missing teens, and a jewelry store robbery. Logan also has a new detective sergeant assigned to him who is efficient but very ambitious and eager to make a name for herself. Plus, Wee Hamish Mowat, the Aberdonian mob boss, is still trying to involve him in criminal enterprises. Meanwhile, strange little knots of bones keep turning up on his doorstep, and then a body is found with a burning tire around the neck. VERDICT MacBride keeps the tension high and never fails to provide a tightly woven story with plot twists galore. Fans of "Tartan noir" will enjoy this.—Lisa O'Hara, Univ. of Manitoba Libs., Winnipeg

Kirkus Reviews

A full plate of grisly and baffling crimes challenges Aberdeen DI Logan McRae and his contentious colleagues. The scene of a screaming man trapped in a burning tire turns out to be from a movie filming locally, but the next morning, Logan is called to a murder site that uncannily resembles the film shoot. Unfortunately, an annoyingly chipper new sidekick, DS Lorna Chalmers, has beaten him to the scene and is eager to impress. More female annoyance comes from his acerbic boss, Chief Inspector Steel, and from his far-from-helpless old Mum. The medical examiner determines that the male victim was stabbed, burned and strangled, but Steel balks at the expense needed to sort out the crime. A turf war with another ME complicates the matter still further. Meanwhile, other cases beckon. A distraught mother, Mrs. Garfield, seems to blame police inertia for the plight of her missing teen daughter Agnes, but Logan and Chalmers find more evidence of escape from a repressive environment than of abduction. Agnes' boyfriend, Anthony Chung, provides a solid lead in the ensuing search. More corpses in tires are discovered around the city, a gang war breaks out, and Asian immigrants fall victim to disabling attacks. Could some or all of these cases be related? Can Logan adjust to his chirpy new partner? And what sick perp has been leaving random skeletal remains around his house? MacBride's gritty prose and righteous, reckless hero (Birthdays for the Dead, 2013, etc.) improve his overstuffed, overheated plot.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173831958
Publisher:	HarperCollins UK
Publication date:	11/15/2019
Series:	Logan McRae , #8
Edition description:	Unabridged

Related Subjects

• Mystery & Thrillers
• Fiction
• Mystery & Crime
• Other Mystery Categories
• Thrillers
• Mystery & Detective - Other
• Suspense Fiction