Deeply disturbing A Dark So Deadly is an incredible thriller
A Dark so Deadly by Stuart MacBride HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction HarperCollins Mystery & Thrillers Pub Date 20 Apr 2017
Review
A Dark So Deadly is a novel as alluring as it is repelling. You need to know what happens next, despite how disturbing the contents are. Systematic abuse, kidnapping and rape, paedophelia, cannibalism and murder all play a role. This novel is definitely for mature readers only. It isn't a cozy and is far darker than a lot of British police procedurals.
The Misfit Mob are where all the detectives that no one else wants are sent. DC Callum MacGregor is assigned to the group when he takes the blame for his pregnant girlfriend’s mistake - a mistake that got a known criminal off a murder charge. They get all the crap cases, but this time they get something special. What looks to be an ancient mummy, possibly stolen from a museum is in fact the mummified form of a missing young man. And he is only the first to be discovered.
The narrative alternates between Callum’s perspective, that of the serial killer, and that of his dying victims. The devastating damage caused abuse and the extreme evil that men can do is all laid out among the pages. Part of what makes the novel readable is DC Callum MacGregor. He is a good man and a good detective. It is easy to feel for him when he suffers the indignities of unjust accusations and the betrayal of his pregnant girlfriend. The other members of the Misfit Mob are also easy to empathize with, except for DS MacAdams who spouts doggerel and takes every opportunity to wind up Callum. Even then you feel for him because you know he’s dying.
This is not a novel for everyone. There is a lot of violence and many disturbing themes. A Dark so Deadly is a well written thriller, with quite a few surprises in store for the reader.
4 / 5
I received a copy of A Dark so Deadly from the publisher and Netgalley.com
--Crittermom
Description Gripping standalone thriller from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series. DC Callum MacGregor’s career was going pretty well until he covered up for a cock-up to protect his pregnant crime-scene tech girlfriend. Now Callum’s stuck on a squad with all the other misfits – the officers no one else wants but who can’t be fired.Never likely to get within reach of a decent case again. Until they accidentally get handed the biggest murder investigation Oldcastle has ever seen. When a mummified body is found in the local rubbish dump, the top-brass assume pranksters have stolen it from a museum. But as Callum and his colleagues investigate, it starts to look less like student high-jinks and more like the work of a terrifying serial killer…
