Still Midnight: Amazon.co.uk: Denise Mina: Books

Review

'the added mystery element could make this Mina's breakthrough book from critics' darling to big seller' (THE BOOKSELLER )

'The strength of this well written novel lies in the characterisation...I felt as involved with the villains as with the police and victims' (SHOTS )

'Gritty, bizarre, true to life, and hinting at racial tension running high in the city, this enthralling story will hold your mind hostage until the shocking climax' (WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY )

'There is a rich ordinariness, a believability, a recognisable quality about Mina's characters, who are better drawn than those of anyone else writing in her genre in Scotland. A good example is Mina's heroine. Detective Sergeant Alex Morrow is instantly believable, instantly placable' (David Leask SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )

'Suburban Glasgow has a new cop to conceal the cracks. But even DS Alex Morrow finds she's up against it when a grandfather is snatched by an armed gang and the attacks presents more questions than answers' (DAILY MIRROR )

'She's probably not that chuffed being dubbed the Queen of Tartan Noir, but we'll do it anyway' (THE LIST )

'Good fiction is defined by characters we can believe in. Denise Mina, author of the Garnethill and the Paddy Meehan trilogy, has won herself many fans by writing thrillers with realistic characters. Still Midnight, a rather tame title for a robust book, is an honest depiction of Glagow's south side community, as well as a beguiling crime novel' (GLASGOW HERALD )

'Mina's bungling crims, the cops chasing them (including bolshie DS Alex Morrow, with her conflicted past), her 'innocent' victims and even her minor characters are startlingly believable, and she conjures up the seamier side of Glasgow with flair' (METRO )

'Unquestionably Britain's finest unheralded crime novelist' (Paul Connolly LONDON LITE )

'Mina is acutely sensitive to characters' mental states, rendering them with a precision which blurs the line between heroism and villainy. At the same time, her prose is both nimble and muscular' (John O'Connell GUARDIAN )

'It's Ian Rankin saying that Denise Mina is one of the most exciting writers to have emerged in Britain for years - and I think he's right. She has a fresh voice, her own style and a talent for telling a good story. I'm looking forward to reading more of her work' (THE BOOK BAG )

'Like all the best crime writers, Mina can make melodramatic events seem credible because her characterisations and settings are so authentic: if she described Alex sprouting wings and flying to Pluto she would make it plausible. There are probably now as many crime writers in Scotland as criminals, but Mina may be the pick of the bunch' (Jake Kerridge DAILY TELEGRAPH )

'Morrow juggles personal problems and a difficult case in this dark, edgy story told with verve, bite and bleak humour' (BIG ISSUE IN SCOTLAND )

'Still Midnight is suffused with telling social commentary and wry humour, while exposing the hypocrisy and passive racism at the heart of modern, intercultural Scotland' (Janette Curie TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT )

'Still Midnight is classic Mina. Not one word is wasted, every page counts, and the end result never disappoints' (Shari Low DAILY RECORD )

'The narrative is inspired by a real-life kidnapping, but Mina parleys this into something richer and stranger than the real case, taking on board politics, racism and a prickly but basically sympathetic community. The final effect of Still Midnight is both unsettling and exhilarating' (Barry Forshaw THE INDEPENDENT )

'page-turning' (EDINBURGH EVE NEWS )

'This crackling police procedural is lovingly marinated in the dank atmosphere of grimmest Glasgow' (TIME OUT )

'I suspect it's her rare ability to make readers explode with laughter in the middle of reading about grimness and tragedy that has seen Denise Mina rise so rapidly to the first division of British crime writers' (Mat Coward MORNING STAR )

'There's something all too real in all of Mina's characters that might make you squirm just a little bit! Sure Alex and Maureen come from different sides of the law, but they are both flawed, complicated and frequently annoying characters who seem somehow familiar and extremely sympathetic. Add to that strong procedural elements, a great sense of place and pace, and STILL MIDNIGHT is a terrific book - let's hope it's the start of a new series' (DEADLY PLEASURES )

'I found myself completely gripped and also convinced' (Antonia Fraser THE LADY )

'Still Midnight is further evidence that Mina is one of the best writers in the genre' (Barbara Fisher MYSTERY SCENE ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'Mina proves what a consumate storyteller she is...' -- Cath Staincliffe TANGLED WEB

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

Still Midnight 3 Aug 2009

By Ted Feit

Format:Hardcover

Two young men, cloaked in balaclavas burst into a non-descript residence in suburban Glasgow in a home invasion. When the attack is over, they have kidnapped the elderly grandfather, terrorizing the family and demanding a huge ransom. The police who investigate the crime are baffled - did they have the wrong house? It would appear that the family is of modest means and could only manage to scrape up a fracture of the millions of pounds demanded. The answer to this question is not made clear till very near the end of this character-driven novel, although the reader is teased with small hints from time to time.

DCI MacKechnie, DS Bannerman and DS Alex Morrow of Strathclyde CID are assigned the case, but it is the latter who is the most interesting of these. The reader is told little of her backstory, although similarly teased with occasional small hints. We are made aware, early on, that her career has been and is affected by office and societal politics of class, race and sex, but her personal problems appear to have put up somewhat of a buffer against much of the anger and resentment thus aroused. She is a careful and clever detective, and is determined to find the kidnap victim before the kidnappers' threats are made good.

I have read and loved the Garnethill trilogy written by this author, and found this standalone an engrossing read. Ms. Mina captures even small roles eloquently: A college professor whose "office and personal appearance spoke of a man who lived for pretentious obfuscation and all things dusty," an automobile showroom where "the cars were even shinier inside, their lines beguiling and the colours bright, like perfect children lined up for adoption." Despite an ending that was unexpected in its suddenness, I very much enjoyed this book, and recommend it.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

A book of two halves... 24 May 2010

By bloodsimple

Having previously enjoyed Mina's Sanctum, I looked forward to this book. For about half the novel, I enjoyed it. The plot was interesting and had some substance in it; the key detective was shaping up nicely.

But then? Well, what went wrong? Did Mina run out of energy or time? Something happened. The plot itself petered out quite miserably; I can't imagine any reader finding the conclusion satisfying. Key details emerge in a quite unrealistic way; the tension in the basic set-up just dissolves; and so there is no drama in the final third at all.

Still Midnight is frustrating. There was enough there in the first half of the book to make you feel that Mina is a writer of some talent; you want her to succeed. But really, to do so she needs to think through the second half of her novel more convincingly than this. Crime books depend on a certain momentum and ratcheting up of the tension as it proceeds to a climax. This did not have it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Thing is, we don't have *anything* like that kind of money! 8 Feb 2011

By Eileen Shaw TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

A very competent and lucid police procedural, starring DS Alex Morrow, haunted by a domestic life that has gone badly wrong, up against a kidnapping that threatens the life of an Indian man, Aamir who arrived in Glasgow from Uganda with his two sons and a daughter and now runs a small local newsagent's shop. Why have a criminal gang abducted him asking for �2m in ransom? Morrow has to work out what's going on while fending off the self-serving DS Bannerman who seems to have become their DCI's golden boy.

Meanwhile, one of the kidnappers, Pat, can't stop thinking about the beautiful Indian daughter and fantasizing that they will get together, if she can get past the fact that he shot three fingers off her hand by mistake. Aamir is being held in a wrecked old house where Malki, the driver of the getaway car and a mild-mannered drug addict is left in charge, along with Shugie, a wreck of a man who, sent out for refreshments, buys a loaf of white bread and half a ton of lager. Things get complicated for DS Morrow who is surprised to find herself working well with Bannerman for a change, but then, just as things begin to look positive, the case stirs up Morrow's past connection to a very well-known crime family and the difficulties seem to multiply.

I enjoyed this thriller enormously. It is fast-paced, intelligently worked out and rife with wry humour and dark and dirty impulses. Excellent work.