The Dead of Winter: The chilling new thriller from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Logan McRae series

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DC Reekie is an inspired characterand with most of the narrative being form his viewpoint, I was totally gripped - his humerous antipathy towards his boss, his caustic observations combined with his vulnerability makes him a fascinating character.

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 characters constantly say “fudging” which was another thing that I found irritating. I would have expected police officers to have a more varied vocabulary. Yes, it’s probably a lot bonkers but it’s also a highly entertaining, mad caper which I enjoy from start to finish. Some reviewers have complained that MacBride is only recycling his Logan McRae series by changing the character names. Yes, Reekie is rather a close match for McRae, but Bigtoria is not at all like McRae’s nemesis DI Roberta Steele—other than the fact that both are high-ranking female officers. There is the comedy, true, which comes mainly at the expense of placing Reekie in untenable situations. And this is primarily why I can only give THE DEAD OF WINTER four stars. I prefer the edgy directions that MacBride has been exploring in his latest novels, which are not just comedy cop sagas. They provide comedy plus social commentary. The social commentary is missing here. I always find MacBride's prose to be almost poetic in parts and his weather descriptions imbued the weather with its own unique character.

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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.” Snow has fallen, snow and snow in this deadly Winters Tale. The ensuing gritty violent story all starts when DI Victoria Elizabeth Montgomery – Porter AKA “Bigtoria“ (top tip, don’t call her that to her face if you want your bits to remain intact) and DC Edward Reekie collect ageing con Mark Bishop from HMP Grampian after serving a 25 year sentence. They’ve to take him to Glenfarach, a quaintly pretty Scottish village with CCTV cameras everywhere, literally everywhere. This place is as creepy as it gets, think Village of the Damned as everyone here is out of prison on license, ankle monitors and all and they don’t get to leave. These are people who are not considered safe to return to society - scared much?? Unfortunately, neither Bigtoria and Teddy get to leave either as within its joyful environs a dead body is found. It’s a horrifying murder and the beginning of all hell breaking loose. 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.

The storyline is unique and intriguing and I was instantly drawn in. To be honest, I've never before read anything quite like this. 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. I liked the idea for the community of ex-prisoners nestled in the Cairngorms but the plot became a bit far fetched for me and didn’t hold my interest.Now I am a huge fan of Stuart MacBride, and absolutely adore his Logan MacRae novels, however in recent years Stuart has been writing more standalone novels, and The Dead Of Winter is one. 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.