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The storyline is unique and intriguing and I was instantly drawn in. To be honest, I've never before read anything quite like this. THE AUTHOR: Stuart MacBride lives in the northeast of Scotland with his wife Fiona, cats Gherkin, Onion and Beetroot, some hens, some horses and an impressive collection of assorted weeds.
It’s perhaps unfair to compare this to the McRae series but unfortunately I became very bored with the story. The characters weren’t strong enough to drive the story and in some ways they felt like really diluted, much less funny, versions of McRae and Steel. There are a few plot twists, although I guessed who the murderer was very early in the tale. Other revelations were somewhat of a surprise, but were not completely startling. Most of the readability comes from the dilemmas that Reekie lands in. He is continually cold, miserable, and wet. (There are 285 references to “snow” in THE DEAD OF WINTER, 62 references to “cold”, and numerous mentions of related concepts such as “freezing”, “wet”, “shiver”, etc.)The Dead of Winter is a very complicated story that in the end is not so complicated if you think it through. It’s just that it’s full of twists and turns and red herrings. It’s also full of interesting characters, starting with DI Victoria Montgomery-Porter and DC Edward Reekie – on the good side. There are a lot – and I mean a LOT – of criminals in this book but the most important one is Mark Bishop and frankly… he’s as interesting as Victoria and Edward. Maybe even a little more interesting even. This is a real gem of a novel, and in my opinion, Stuart Macbride’s best for many years, if you like gritty, dark, Scottish crime fiction with a dose of really dark humor thrown in then you need to rush down to the bookshop, and buy The Dead Of Winter, you won’t be disappointed. We learn right off the bat in the “0” chapter what happens to Edward, but you’re not even halfway through the second chapter before you start to suspect you might not much care what happened or be very sad to see him go. He is an annoying little know-it-all who has no doubt he’s smart, funny, and has to get in the last word. Even death doesn’t seem to have shut him up. It’s a constant stream of comments, complaints, whining, pronouncements about Bigtoria’s attitude, behavior and incompetence, the food, the weather, the cold, the snow, and if only they would just have listened to him. The more time we spend with him the more we agree 100% when he says, “I never really wanted to be a police officer.”
It's bad enough that everyone else is huddled at home during this blizzardy weather. But policeman don't have that luxury and DC Edward Reekie is on the job. He's just gotten a new boss, DI Victoria Montgomery-Porter and he's not sure how that will work out. His current assignment is to take a dying prisoner to a place where he can live his last few months. I liked Reekie as a character. He is trusting, out upon by his superior, and a bit of whipping boy at times (sound familiar?), but he is determined, if a little accident prone. His enthusiasm is endearing, and sometimes draining, and his attempt to get the community on side using the sugar not vinegar approach leads to some really comedic moments, highlighting that touch of naivety which endeared him to me. As for Montgomery-Porter (aka Bigtoria), she's abrupt, dismissive and very much distracted. A hard character to warm, with or without the thigh high snow drifts. I pushed through the story, but had it not been an advanced reader’s copy I’d have likely DNF’d it. The prologue was intriguing, and I was genuinely interested in seeing where the story would lead me. I am a complete aficionado when it comes to Scottish crime. I really enjoy reading about places I’ve seen and travelled to, that’s why I thought MacBride’s work would’ve been a good punt – I used to live in Aberdeen and I had my second child there, and although I cannot fault his picture setting of the location I just couldn’t find myself caring about the characters – something that is an absolute must for me to be able to enjoy a story. I am very familiar with Stuart MacBride’s writing and used to the mixture of interesting characters, twisty plots and zany dialogue so I was really looking forward to his latest offering, This was a novel that the more I read the more I enjoyed it. The characters grew as the story developed and became a very enjoyable read. Well ... this book certainly opens up in an unexpected manner. The prologue really is one of those killer (every pun intended) moments that draws me into a story, whether I like it or not. And I really did like it. Intriguing, chilling, quite literally for the characters, and with the kind of ending which catches you unawares and, in my case, made me absolutely want to know just what in the hell is going on. It's also the kind of prologue that Stuart MacBride is a master in, creating an overwhelming sense of suspicion from the start, particularly when it comes to one of the key characters. But as to their true nature, and the meaning of that opening scene - well the only way I was going to find out was to read the rest of the book, something that proved to be a rather unexpected, but enjoyable, experience.Now onto my biggest issue – DI Montgomery-Porter. My god, that woman is absolutely insufferable. She’s ratty, defensive, and just a good old-fashioned bitch. I really felt for DC Reekie, not only did he have to manage the problems that the case brought but having to constantly apologise for his DI’s unacceptable behaviour. I mean, I get that the constant problems that kept cropping up is infuriating but my god the woman took it out on everyone. I found myself muttering to my kindle “stop yelling at everyone.” You cannot say the Stuart MacBride writes ‘easy to read’ thrillers. I’m happy with that because I like to be challenged by a good story, with an intricate plot and surprising characters.
The weather's closing in, tensions are mounting, and time's running out - something nasty has come to Glenfarach, and Edward is standing right in its way... The scenery and settings of the various locations are well described as always. The cover also fits well with the story. Yes, it’s probably a lot bonkers but it’s also a highly entertaining, mad caper which I enjoy from start to finish.
The characters constantly say “fudging” which was another thing that I found irritating. I would have expected police officers to have a more varied vocabulary. A claw-foot bath dominated one wall, topped by a mildewed shower-curtain. Crusts of dark-orange and brown limescale around the drain. Lid and seat up on the toilet, showing off a whole Formula-One- season of skid marks.” There you have it, the writing style of Stuart MacBride enriched with toilet humour, rude rather than crude remarks, a list of very colourful and dur Scottish characters hidden loosely under crime/noir. Now let me say from the start I have been reading this authors books from the early days of Cold Granite, the first Logan McCrea novel and have always found his style refreshing and indeed at times highly amusing (who could forget DCI Roberta Steel and her testing sense of humour most of it at the expense of Logan who she rather fondly called Laz :) What should have been a straight forward assignment for Detective Constable Edward Reekie turned out to be far more. His task was to collect a dying prisoner from HMP Grampian and deliver him to Glenfarach to live out his last remaining days in peace.
About three years ago I discovered Stuart MacBride’s Logan McRae novels, and devoured the entire 12-novel series within a year. Since then, I’ve read his Ash Henderson series and several standalone books. MacBride has become one of my favourite authors. But there was always the writing (well, that's not true, the writing only started two chapters above this one). I fell victim to that most dreadful of things: peer pressure. Two friends were writing novels and I thought, 'why not? I could do that'. Our two main stars are Detective Constable Edward Reekie and his boss, Detective Inspector Victoria Mongomery-Porter, the opening chapter is a scene on a freezing day somewhere in the snowy woods in Scotland. It would appear that DC Edward Reekie is being buried in a shallow grave in the cold ground and that grave is being dug by none other than DI Victoria aka Bigtoria Montgomery-Porter….and that my dear followers, is the absurd setting that starts The Dead Of Winter.
Barely a chapter into this book and I was hooked with a brilliantly concived twist that I wasn't expecting and, the writing just got better from there on in. This is one creepy story. In fact all of Stuart MacBride’s stories are creepy. Even the titles are creepy. Creepy and so compelling that you can’t put them down. You have to know the next horrible thing one horrible character is going to do to an equally horrible character. The well written plot always goes smoothly on and on and on, pushing you, pulling you, dragging you, rolling right over you. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Dead of Winter by Stuart MacBride for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. Then came a spell of working for myself as a graphic designer, which went the way of all flesh and into the heady world of studio management for a nation-wide marketing company. Then some more freelance design work, a handful of voiceovers for local radio and video production companies and a bash at being an actor (with a small 'a'), giving it up when it became clear there was no way I was ever going to be good enough to earn a decent living.
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