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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Bigtoria tumbles Edward into the pit. Stands there, staring down at him for a moment, head on one side. Shovel held like an executioner’s axe. Then she grunts. Grabs her high-vis from the branch. 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. The shovel growls as Bigtoria stabs it into the ground, stones and dirt adding their mouldy-bread scent to the peppery ozone tang of falling snow. Despite this, I’m not put off the author’s books and I’m hopeful he’ll return to his usual form soon.

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. 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. 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.)

Customer reviews

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'. OK . . .' Edward raised his eyebrows at Bigtoria. 'So we've no mobile signal, the Airwaves are shagged, and the landlines are down. We're completely cut off, aren't we.' In a village populated with sex-offenders, murderers, and the general dregs of the criminal justice system. Only, what do you do when society is, quite rightly, really sodding concerned about a virus that’s officially killed four million of us (though estimates say the real total is probably more than twelve million)? I’m not a fan of the other narrator, Cathleen McCarron. I find her breathy, slow, over performed narration very irritating in general, but to be honest in this book - although she did that - it wasn’t quite as pronounced as it usually is. 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.

The hole’s already waist-deep, a pile of dark earth slumping beside it. A wooden-handled shovel poking out of the heap, like a skeletal flag. 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.Full of dark humour, violence, gore and unsavoury characters along with a fast paced plot full of twists and turns, this was a book I really enjoyed. There are many laugh-out-loud moments, moments that make you wince and several "no way" moments that had me swiping my screen at a great rate of knots desperate to find out how it was all going to end but also not wanting it to. 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.” Everything is calm and still and crisp, marred only by a line of deep footprints and a smooth-edged scar where something heavy has been dragged through the drifts. 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. Perhaps I’d have found more to like if the narration of the lead female cop was better. Although Greg McHugh was very skilled with everyone else, his ‘voice’ for this DI sounded very amateurish and quashed any life the character might have had.