No Less The Devil: The unmissable new thriller from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Logan McRae series

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Well, Lucy does her utmost to follow all the leads they have, starting with revisiting the homes of the victims where they indeed find some clues to work with. These clues take them to such unfamiliar places as the home of Benedict’s parents and to a very, very posh school for gifted children. Soon after Lucy and Dunk make some progress, there is another spanner in the works because now Lucy seems to be followed, not only by a suspect, but also by Charlie, a policeman from Professional Standards.

I am now hoping for a Study Notes guide to accompany No Less The Devil so that I have a smidgeon of a chance of understanding what on earth actually happened in the end No Less The Devil is written in third from the perspective of DS Lucy Mcveigh as she chases down gory serial killer ‘The Bloodsmith’ and attempts to help recently released child killer Benedict.This is book 5 in the Oldcastle novels. I am always a bit dubious about joining a series when I haven't read the others but I was mostly put at ease. Anyway, there were also parts of this book that made me wonder if I'd lost my mind so look out for that...

I view Dunk as the alter ego of the author. MacBride is laughing at himself. Not just comedy relief, but a statement of where he fits into this cultural environment—-fiction based on reality. Dunk is constantly complaining about writers who don’t use punctuation properly in their reports and, at one point, likens himself Dr. Watson following Holmes (Lucy)—in other words, a writer, telling a story about Lucy’s investigative prowess. The storyline is as expertly plotted as I've come to expect from the MacBride books. As an author myself, I love deconstructing the plot lines and following the different strands through. As a reader, every twist and turn, every carefully placed piece of additional information, every morsel of information all come together to a satisfying, grab you by the throat, fast paced read. It’s been nearly 18 months since the Bloodsmith killed his first victim of five and a few months since the last one. The investigation entitled ‘Operation Maypole’ is getting nowhere fast in apprehending this callous killer and the press and police top brass are getting impatient for results. DI Tudor is now placed in charge and DS Lucy McVeigh is made part of the team. Lucy however, is very distracted as not only is she struggling with possible PTSD, she has a stalker and if that’s not enough Benedict Strachan, a recently released child killer is pleading for her help and protection. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of No Less the Devil by Stuart MacBride for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. 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.Launching into this novel, I'd expected a tightly-plotted police procedural, featuring complex characters, gritty themes and dark humour. And that's exactly what it was ... up until about the 80% point. Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery & Detective, General, Police Procedural, Traditional, Thrillers, Suspense When previous trauma and a recent head injury turn Lucy into a seemingly unreliable narrator, everything you thought was true will be questioned. It's been 17 months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer catching him. Not Logan McCrae, nor Ash Henderson, but another cop heads up this book and this time it is a woman - DS Lucy MacVeigh. I searched around but could not discover whether this is the start of a new series or whether it is a standalone. Whichever, it is an excellent book.

And so to UNIVERSITY, far too young, naive and stupid to be away from the family home, sharing a subterranean flat in one of the seedier bits of Edinburgh with a mad Irishman, and four other bizarre individuals. The highlight of walking to the art school in the mornings (yes: we were students, but we still did mornings) was trying not to tread in the fresh bloodstains outside our front door, and dodging the undercover CID officers trying to buy drugs. Lovely place.

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Wow, I get so excited when a new Stuart MacBride book comes out and I try to savour it ... However, that doesn't always go to plan, because master of storytelling, gritty crime fiction and tartan humour, MacBride, generally has me wheeching through the book at a rate of knots. No Less The Devil is an object lesson in how to use, and manipulate, a terrifyingly bloodthirsty basic plot, and capture and hold the reader’s attention over a sustained period. MacBride is a prolific author whose style stays fresh and even topical and who handles extreme gore dispassionately, as if he is a pathologist or a police family liaison officer. As well as the wonderfully vivid and descriptive language (perhaps too vivid in the case of some of the crime scenes!), MacBride also proves adept at plotting a tense and compelling crime novel. I genuinely raced through this (and it is quite a long book) because there was variety, humour and a very high body count – never a dull moment.