Blind Eye - Stuart MacBride

I'd heard of Scottish author Stuart MacBride, but had not sat down with one of his books till now. Wish I'd sat down sooner.....

Newly released from Harper Collins Canada, Blind Eye is set in Abderdeen, Scotland and focused around the Grampian Police Department. The main character is DS Logan McRae his partner DI Steel.

They're put on the "Oedipus" case. Someone is really, really unhappy with the growing Polish population in Aberdeen. Men are found beaten with their eyes removed and the sockets burned. Letters explaining the reasoning behind this appear regularly at the station. Those still alive refuse to talk. The only witness is a local pedophile and he's disappeared. While trying to work on this case, McRae and Steel are at the same time plagued with escalating gang warfare. Not to mention their personal lives.....

Blind Eye is dark and gritty. The underbelly of the streets and alleys of Aberdeen come to life under MacBride's pen. Descriptions paint vivid pictures of both locales and characters.

The strongest and the most interesting by far are that of MacRae and Steel. Both are flawed human beings but possess an innate compass for what is right. That compass may go a little off base once in a while though. I really don't want to give away much more of the details of either character. I had great fun getting to know them throught their interactions. Their dialogue is priceless and the Scottish accent translates to print very well.

The supporting characters are also well portrayed. Their personalities and conflicts come to life and provide excellent secondary story lines. The humour in Blind Eye is dark and biting.

Although this book is part of a series, I never felt lost at all. I will be adding MacBride to my list of favourite crime authors!

It also somewhat reminded me of Guy Ritchie's movie RocknRolla.

Browse inside Blind Eye.

Fans of Mark Billingham, Graham Hurley and Stieg Larsson would enjoy this book.