Random by Craig Robertson

Random by Craig Robertson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 329

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Bought (bookstore I think)

Blurb from Goodreads

Glasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter. The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed.
If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him. But as the police, the press and a threatening figure from Glasgow's underworld begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel - with horrifying consequences.


My Review

Told in first person narrative we open with the killer, awaiting his next victim, people watching but instead of usual intrigue and being nosey he is lining up his next victim. We watch him zone out his date and hone in and assess/dismiss whether this could be the person to be murdered. We follow the killer follow his prey until the moment he strikes. We read about his killing via a newspaper which reports every so often throughout the story.

This book is the start of a series, the heart of the book is around the killer, his life, thoughts, routine and eventually we get a better understanding on who he is as a person. It will be interesting to see where the path of the other books go as the police input is flashes between the news clippings and small interactions.

Set in Glasgow which is always nice to read about a place you know and I don't think I have read many books set here. I think this is a good start to a series and I am looking forward to the rest of the series, I have book six I think it is so I need to go buy book two now.

I think this one stands out, for me, as a bit different from the copious amounts of other books I have read like this is the killer is pretty human. Yes yes I know all of them are but some are sadistic, void of humanity but this killer is different, I thought, as he IS pretty human. Yes he is brutal in his killings and at one scene I was like oh God no no don't do that but as we follow him in his mission and learn more about him dare I say you feel a bit sorry for him. He isn't like so many of the other serial killers created in books and once you read this I think you will get what I mean. 3.5/5 for me this time, a good start and I will be buying book two, my first dance with this author it won't be my last.

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