Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Jumping the shark?, 13 Jul 2009
I enjoyed Macbride's previous novels, but for me this is a disorganised mess that got perilously close to `jumping the shark' (for those unfamiliar with the term, it means an outrageous plot sequence that removes all credibility from subsequent offerings). Macbride needs to reign himself in, and get back to the basics that were so good in earlier novels.
The character of DI Steel, and her relationship with Logan, is turning into a bad comedy; it is devoid of wit, it stretches credence beyond endurance, and it is increasingly getting in the way of what should be the fundamentals of a police procedural. Logan too, in his indestructibility and his endless drinking, is becoming a cartoon character and a cipher of the `hard-drinking Scottish copper'. It's been done, and done many times. Move Logan towards a character we can believe in.
While parts of this storyline were done very well, with some genuine menace, too much of the plot became garbled, and seemed secondary in the author's thinking. The episode in Poland was too formulaic to be credible; plot changes relied on reaches of logic that seemed forced and artificial; the `bent copper' angle was well-developed but then ruined by a trite and lame finish; the overall ending of the book was messy and smacked of running out of ideas. Macbride has shown that he can write really excellent crime novels; it's a shame he hasn't done so here.
I know Macbride routinely laughs at people who post Amazon reviews of his work. Fine. But for this reader (and fan) he is moving away from what made his books so good; the sense of place, a credible central character, and a decent plot set in the real world. Graham Hurley has shown how it is possible to develop the lives of central characters without becoming cartoonish or clichéd; Macbride needs to do the same with the next book.
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28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
No more for me, 24 May 2009
Stuart MacBride seems to be heading rapidly downmarket. I enjoyed his first three novels, but this one, like his previous one, has lots of gruesome and gory detail. I wouldn't have a problem with that if the plot and the storytelling maintained a standard similar to that achieved in the early novels. But in this one the plot is a real hotchpotch with extra ingredients continually being thrown in to keep the pot boiling.
The character of DI Steel is becoming less and less credible for a senior police officer and her dialogue with DS McRae, though often amusing, is also frequently trite and unfunny in this story. The weaker material should have been edited out.
And towards the end, the main villain makes an unbelievable decision amidst a confused morass of events that hardly constitute a climax.
I got no feeling of satisfaction when I came to the end and I suspect this will be the last novel I read by this author.
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35 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some excellent thriller elements but spoilt at times by ill-advised attempts at comedy, 25 May 2009
Five stars? Let me please introduce an air of reality to the reviewing process. I realise I'm going to be slaughtered for my summation but my title above says it all.
I've met Stuart MacBride and he's a truly lovely man: witty, charming, funny and urbane. Everything this book isn't in fact. I enjoyed his first three novels but thought his fourth - 'Flesh House' which had potentially brilliant ideas - was a confused mess.
It's a similar case here. DI Steel, Logan McRae's boss, is a grotesque caricature of Dickensian proportions and she is totally out of place in a thriller novel. She swears an awful lot, but as the saying has it, it's not big, not clever and it's very definitely NOT funny. Stuart seems to be equating profanity with wit.
As a policewoman she's utterly useless; all she does is spew forth a lot of macho (yes, I know she's a woman) cobblers, the likes of which was last heard issuing from the mouths of Jack Regan (John Thaw in 'The Sweeney') and Gene Hunt in 'Life on Mars' and 'Ashes to Ashes'. Only thing is Gene Hunt is MEANT to embody all that was bad and naff about 70s-80s British cops. She also spends a lot of time insulting fellow officers. Tedious? - Just a touch.
There's a terrible sub-plot (there are TOO many of these in the book) where DI Steel is after Logan McRae's sperm so she can inseminate her lesbian partner Susan, using a turkey baster. This device was last used to comic effect in 'Brookside' almost 20 years ago. DI Steel also hides a vital witness called Rory Simpson - an ageing paedophile - in the home she shares with Susan. Except, to be acceptable to her partner, she passes him off as gay. And of course he camps it up for her benefit. It's complete tosh, being both utterly lame, and incredibly lazy writing. 'Carry-On' level humour in fact.
Oh, and Steel starts up a swear box and keeps feeding it money before going off on yet another foul-mouthed tirade. This is meant to be funny, believe it or not. Need I go on detailing every boring comedy cliché in the book?
I hope I've established that it's not in the slightest bit amusing and that the humour possesses no originality or subtlety.
Alright, I've concentrated on the negative aspects - what about the positive? Luckily there are enough of these in 'Blind Eye': MacBride is capable of being REALLY chilling, and there's an incredibly frightening, gory scene in here that really hits home. There're a couple of other excellent sub-plots and when McRae goes to Poland to chase-up a line on the case, there is some superbly atmospheric and gripping writing.
The serial eye-gouger-outer and his terrifying henchman are also very well drawn - if not 100% believable.
Overall, the excellent aspects of the novel and the ludicrous attempts at 'comedy' just about balance each other out and it emerges as a decent, if overlong, read. I struggled through it at times, but was glad I persevered. It's definitely better than 'Flesh House'.
However, I won't be prepared to slog through another convoluted, over-long book like this again. If it had been Stuart's first novel, or I hadn't previously been a fan, I would have chucked this out the window after six or seven chapters and encouraged the pigeons to defecate on it.
Stuart, I believe you have enormous potential as a crime thriller writer, but you really need to tone down the often teeth-grindingly awful attempts at comedy. Somewhere in this 500-and odd page behemoth, is a fantastic, slick 300 page thriller waiting to be released. Remember the old adage: sometimes less is more.
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