You cannot say the Stuart MacBride writes ‘easy to read’ thrillers. I’m happy with that because I like to be challenged by a good story, with an intricate plot and surprising characters. Then came a spell of working for myself as a graphic designer, which went the way of all flesh and into the heady world of studio management for a nation-wide marketing company. Then some more freelance design work, a handful of voiceovers for local radio and video production companies and a bash at being an actor (with a small 'a'), giving it up when it became clear there was no way I was ever going to be good enough to earn a decent living.

I liked Reekie as a character. He is trusting, out upon by his superior, and a bit of whipping boy at times (sound familiar?), but he is determined, if a little accident prone. His enthusiasm is endearing, and sometimes draining, and his attempt to get the community on side using the sugar not vinegar approach leads to some really comedic moments, highlighting that touch of naivety which endeared him to me. As for Montgomery-Porter (aka Bigtoria), she's abrupt, dismissive and very much distracted. A hard character to warm, with or without the thigh high snow drifts.There are a few plot twists, although I guessed who the murderer was very early in the tale. Other revelations were somewhat of a surprise, but were not completely startling. Most of the readability comes from the dilemmas that Reekie lands in. He is continually cold, miserable, and wet. (There are 285 references to “snow” in THE DEAD OF WINTER, 62 references to “cold”, and numerous mentions of related concepts such as “freezing”, “wet”, “shiver”, etc.) We learn right off the bat in the “0” chapter what happens to Edward, but you’re not even halfway through the second chapter before you start to suspect you might not much care what happened or be very sad to see him go. He is an annoying little know-it-all who has no doubt he’s smart, funny, and has to get in the last word. Even death doesn’t seem to have shut him up. It’s a constant stream of comments, complaints, whining, pronouncements about Bigtoria’s attitude, behavior and incompetence, the food, the weather, the cold, the snow, and if only they would just have listened to him. The more time we spend with him the more we agree 100% when he says, “I never really wanted to be a police officer.” The storyline is unique and intriguing and I was instantly drawn in. To be honest, I've never before read anything quite like this. Snow has fallen, snow and snow in this deadly Winters Tale. The ensuing gritty violent story all starts when DI Victoria Elizabeth Montgomery – Porter AKA “Bigtoria“ (top tip, don’t call her that to her face if you want your bits to remain intact) and DC Edward Reekie collect ageing con Mark Bishop from HMP Grampian after serving a 25 year sentence. They’ve to take him to Glenfarach, a quaintly pretty Scottish village with CCTV cameras everywhere, literally everywhere. This place is as creepy as it gets, think Village of the Damned as everyone here is out of prison on license, ankle monitors and all and they don’t get to leave. These are people who are not considered safe to return to society - scared much?? Unfortunately, neither Bigtoria and Teddy get to leave either as within its joyful environs a dead body is found. It’s a horrifying murder and the beginning of all hell breaking loose.

The weather's closing in, tensions are mounting, and time's running out - something nasty has come to Glenfarach, and Edward is standing right in its way...I have enjoyed a number of Stuart MacBride's books before; I enjoy his writing style, his dark sense of humour, twisty plots and excellent characters - The Dead of Winter is no different and I loved it. Right from the very beginning Stuart MacBride yanks you into the intriguing storyline and keeps you gripped in the icy hands of a tense, fast paced and unpredictable plot. It’s a very clever combination of excellent humour (I laugh out loud, titter and snort my way through the blood and gore!) and a darkly enigmatic puzzling mystery with an investigation that seems hindered at every turn. THE AUTHOR: Stuart MacBride lives in the northeast of Scotland with his wife Fiona, cats Gherkin, Onion and Beetroot, some hens, some horses and an impressive collection of assorted weeds. The characters constantly say “fudging” which was another thing that I found irritating. I would have expected police officers to have a more varied vocabulary. A claw-foot bath dominated one wall, topped by a mildewed shower-curtain. Crusts of dark-orange and brown limescale around the drain. Lid and seat up on the toilet, showing off a whole Formula-One- season of skid marks.” There you have it, the writing style of Stuart MacBride enriched with toilet humour, rude rather than crude remarks, a list of very colourful and dur Scottish characters hidden loosely under crime/noir. Now let me say from the start I have been reading this authors books from the early days of Cold Granite, the first Logan McCrea novel and have always found his style refreshing and indeed at times highly amusing (who could forget DCI Roberta Steel and her testing sense of humour most of it at the expense of Logan who she rather fondly called Laz :)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Dead of Winter by Stuart MacBride for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. I pushed through the story, but had it not been an advanced reader’s copy I’d have likely DNF’d it. The prologue was intriguing, and I was genuinely interested in seeing where the story would lead me. I am a complete aficionado when it comes to Scottish crime. I really enjoy reading about places I’ve seen and travelled to, that’s why I thought MacBride’s work would’ve been a good punt – I used to live in Aberdeen and I had my second child there, and although I cannot fault his picture setting of the location I just couldn’t find myself caring about the characters – something that is an absolute must for me to be able to enjoy a story. OK . . .' Edward raised his eyebrows at Bigtoria. 'So we've no mobile signal, the Airwaves are shagged, and the landlines are down. We're completely cut off, aren't we.' In a village populated with sex-offenders, murderers, and the general dregs of the criminal justice system. I am very familiar with Stuart MacBride’s writing and used to the mixture of interesting characters, twisty plots and zany dialogue so I was really looking forward to his latest offering, This was a novel that the more I read the more I enjoyed it. The characters grew as the story developed and became a very enjoyable read.

Retailers:

Next up was an elongated spell in Westhill -- a small suburb seven miles west of Aberdeen -- where I embarked upon a mediocre academic career, hindered by a complete inability to spell and an attention span the length of a gnat's doodad. It's bad enough that everyone else is huddled at home during this blizzardy weather. But policeman don't have that luxury and DC Edward Reekie is on the job. He's just gotten a new boss, DI Victoria Montgomery-Porter and he's not sure how that will work out. His current assignment is to take a dying prisoner to a place where he can live his last few months. Edward and his boss are snowed in but that's not the worst. They find a former prisoner murdered in their home and the murders are just starting. Each murder is gruesome and obviously the deaths were preceded by torture. What's the reason? Is there a serial killer just killing to satisfy his urges or is there a secret that is being extracted?