Close to the Bone is one of the better entries in the DS Logan McRae series by Stuart MacBride, although one feature of this grisly, amusing detective thriller series set in Aberdeen is its consistently high quality.
MacBride seems to like taking on various aspects of society and in Close to the Bone he dissects both Hollywood star-crushes and the whole young adult magical fantasy craze. A series of truly horrifying murders are taking place while the movie adaptation of the popular WITCHFIRE book is being filmed around town. Plus there seems to be some kind of incipient gang war between rival marijuana suppliers. And a teenage girl who gets violent when she’s off her anti-psychotic meds and her villainous American-raised boyfriend have disappeared.
These are the mysteries that Logan has to deal with this time, except he’s also saddled with a (temporary) promotion to Detective Inspector while his torturous (and wildly inappropriate) boss Roberta Steel is now Detective Chief Inspector in charge of the entirety of Major Crimes and still determined to have Logan do most of her job while hectoring him to make sure he does his as well. But the most serious thing is that 2 years have passed since the events of the previous book, Shatter The Bones. Logan’s girlfriend Samantha is still in the hospital and he’s living in her old caravan, despite the fact that there’s been more than enough time to repair the apartment that was firebombed (which was the incident that led to both their injuries in the first place). He visits her every night but something seems off....
MacBride is a master at combining multiple seemingly unrelated plot threads into a compelling and thrilling police procedural which is both funny and intriguing and he does some of his best work in Close to the Bone.
I’ve already started pacing myself in reading the books because there’s only 2 more left in the Logan McRae series to date and I enjoy each book so much.
Title: Close to the Bone.
Author: Stuart MacBride.
Paperback: 511 pages.
Publisher: HarperCollins.
Date Published: January 17, 2013.
Date Read: February 2, 2018.
GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★ (5.0/5.0).
OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.91/4.0).
PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.
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