Review: Halfhead

Halfhead by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Stuart MacBride is one of my favourite crime writes – in fact, I often imagine Stuart MacBride and Sharon Bolton engaging in fisticuffs for the number one spot – and I gladly dive into any new book he releases. The Logan McRae series is my favourite – partly because I live in Aberdeen and I love going around the city and being able to say ‘that is where it happened’, but mostly because my addiction to the series grows stronger and stronger – but I do not shy away from his other releases. For quite some time, Halfhead intrigued me. It was something outside the Stuart MacBride norm, and I was curious for more.

Although Halfhead has a sci-fi theme to it, it’s still very much a Stuart MacBride read. The classic Stuart MacBride elements shine through in this one, giving us a futuristic crime novel that brings his fans something outside his norm. While I did enjoy Halfhead – it certainly had me turning the pages and curious to see what came next – I did not enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed Stuart MacBride’s other work (both the Logan McRae books and the Ash Henderson novels).

Personally, I found Halfhead did not hold the attention in the way a usual Stuart MacBride book does. As I mentioned, I was turning the pages through curiosity; however, I was not as desperate for my answers as I would have liked to be. In fact, I found it was possible to put this one down and do other things, whereas I usually find myself powering through a Stuart MacBride novel with no cares for the world around me.

With plenty going on throughout this story, you do find yourself engaged. I simply wish there had been a little bit more with this one – with some of the things being a bit too obvious from the start, and other things never really reaching the full potential.

I’m glad I finally gave Halfhead a read, but it wasn’t all I had hoped for.

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