Review: Dark Blood

Dark Blood by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stuart MacBride is one of my favourite authors, and with each additional book I read he manages to remind me why such is the case. Whilst I do not consider Dark Blood to be the best in the Logan McRae series – that title is still held by Broken Skin, which I had far too much fun with – it was a great read.

Blink Eye, book five, allowed us to see Aberdeen in summer along with taking Logan across the sea to mainland Europe for a while. In book six, we’re back to what we know and love. The exaggerated terrible Aberdonian weather (I say this, and yet when I was walking down Union Street the other day a voice in the back of my mind mumbled ‘this is what Stuart MacBride is always speaking of’) and the craziness of Grampian Police Headquarters.

Speaking of the craziness that is Grampian Police Headquarters, I wish to make a quick point. Throughout I felt as though there was something missing with this one. I was constantly looking for something that wasn’t there. As soon as I started reading book seven, I knew what was missing from this one – Rennie! I know, I know, you wouldn’t expect to miss him all that much. It turns out, it’s very clear when he is not around. I missed him in this book, I missed his banter much more than I had expected, but what saddens me more is that it took picking up book seven for me to realise what it was I was missing so much.

Even without Rennie, the book was a lot of fun. It wasn’t quite as fast paced as some of the other books in the series, but as always there was a lot going on. The many different aspects of the story were linked together, each brining something to the overall storyline. Admittedly, it took a while for these things to come together, and I wasn’t as pulled in as I sometimes am, but the payoff was worth it in the end. As always, MacBride manages to give us a wonderful story with multiple parts that will keep you interested throughout.

Overall, it was another wonderful read. As I said, it’s not my favourite, but I still loved it.

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