The morning begins with the body of a prostitute, stripped naked and beaten to death right in the center of Aberdeen’s red-light district in Scotland. Just another bad start to the day for Detective Sergeant Logan McRae, especially since he already has more than enough on his plate: a dismembered Labrador in a suitcase, group sex involving city council members and an underage girl, a missing unfaithful husband. The everyday problems of an ordinary policeman in an ordinary Scottish city at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Oh yes! And let’s not forget the maniac who seals houses shut and burns them down with the people inside — once, twice, three times.
On top of that, an internal investigation hangs over McRae, while his boss is doing everything she can to test his nerves to the limit…
Stuart MacBride’s novel is an excellent urban detective story, generously seasoned with black Scottish humor.