No Less The Devil by Stuart MacBride

No Less The Devil by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 1 week

Pages - 480

Publisher - Bantam Press

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

'We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.'

It's been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, the top brass are demanding results, but the investigation is sinking fast.

Now isn't the time to get distracted with other cases, but Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh doesn't have much choice. When Benedict Strachan was just eleven, he hunted down and killed a homeless man. No one's ever figured out why Benedict did it, but now, after sixteen years, he's back on the streets again - battered, frightened, convinced a shadowy 'They' are out to get him, and begging Lucy for help.

It sounds like paranoia, but what if he's right? What if he really is caught up in something bigger and darker than Lucy's ever dealt with before? What if the Bloodsmith isn't the only monster out there? And what's going to happen when Lucy goes after them?



My Review

I love MacBride's Logan series and do enjoy his banter throughout his tales. In this one Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh is on the case of the Bloodsmith butcher, seventeen months, taking body parts and the police are seemingly no further forward. Lucy is also contacted by the now released killer of a homeless man, Benedict Strachan who was only a child when he committed the murder. If all that isn't enough Lucy is recovering from an attack, pushed to see a counsellor by her superiors or risk being taken off the case. Tis a busy book with a fair amount of bouncing between the case, Benedict and knowing something bad happened to the sergeant but not what.

It took me ages to settle to the book because it was jumping about. Benedict was a kid when he brutally murdered a homeless man, now released but his delusions have him in a deep grip. Why does Lucy give him any time? So we have that vein of the story. Then we have the something bad happened but we don't really know what because she doesn't want to gab about it but is going to a therapist, reluctantly and under threat. And then then main course, the investigation into the Bloodsmith, the brutality of the bodies, what is the motive, why does he gut them? As Lucy and her colleague dig into the case Lucy is being stalked, is it the butcher?

The book has so much going on and for me it didn't flow, it jumped too much. Then it got to a part where I had to go back and re read a few chapters because I was so confused to what was going on. What had I missed. I am the first to admit my concentration is a bit off just now but I don't think I am alone in feeling like this. It goes from being mysterious and suspense to just off the chart madness and I really struggled to gel with that. 2.5 rounded up to 3 because I do like his work, I did enjoy some of the laughs and the Dunk but otherwise, I can't say this was my favourite nor even close. MacBride is a witty writer, he combines macbre with humour and usually hooks you early on, this one just wasn't my fave of his offerings.

Available for pre-order from Amazon click HERE out to buy 28th April 2022. .

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