Blind Eye (Logan McRae) [Hardcover]

Stuart MacBride (Author)

Book Description

Series: Logan McRae | Publication Date: September 29, 2009

Blind Eye, the new Logan McRae thriller set in gritty Aberdeen, Scotland, from Stuart MacBride, the award-winning author of Cold Granite and Flesh House, finds the long-suffering detective sergeant on a brutal new case.

It’s summer in the Granite City, but even the sunshine can’t improve the mood at Grampian Police Headquarters. Aberdeen’s growing Polish community is under attack from a serial offender who leaves mutilated victims to be discovered on building sites—eyes gouged out and the sockets burned. Detective Sergeant Logan McRae is assigned to the investigation, code-named Operation Oedipus, but with the victims too scared to talk, it’s going nowhere fast. When the next victim turns out to be not a newly arrived Eastern European, but Simon McLeod, owner of the Turf ’n Track betting shop and long the uncontested ringleader of Aberdeen’s shadier element, Logan suddenly finds himself caught up in a brave new world of drug wars, prostitution rings, and gun-running courtesy of Aberdeen’s oldest and most vicious crime lord.

Stuart MacBride’s signature combination of hard-hitting suspense and dry humor has won him many fans, and Blind Eye is another stellar entry in this rising star’s multiple award-winning series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Det. Sgt. Logan McRae, who's still recovering from the bloody events of 2008's Flesh, investigates a series of brutal attacks on Polish immigrants in MacBride's excellent fifth novel to feature the Aberdeen, Scotland, cop. A local xenophobe, bitter about the influx of Polish workers, appears to be the culprit, but when one of the city's local crime bosses is assaulted, McRae begins to wonder if the violence is the result of a brewing turf war between Scottish crime figures and encroaching Eastern European thugs. Meanwhile, McRae and foul-mouthed Det. Insp. Roberta Steele are stuck babysitting Rory Simpson, a pedophile who becomes an inadvertent—but key—witness. MacBride's liberal use of humor, especially in the often slapstick rapport between McRae and the crusty Steel, never detracts from the action. A lesser writer would have fumbled such a complexly layered plot, but MacBride is in his element the more dark and twisted the story—and characters—become. (Oct.)
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Review

Praise for Stuart MacBride

“Superbly unsettling . . . A crackling thriller.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review, one of PW’s best mysteries of the year) on Flesh House

“MacBride may have hit his stride in book one, but here he breaks into a run.”
—Booklist (starred review) on Flesh House

 “What is there in the Scottish air that makes its new writers among the best in the business?”
—Chicago Tribune on Bloodshot

“MacBride fills his Aberdeen fun house with hearty, clever, and usually profane humor that lightens every chapter. . . . As Ian Rankin’s long-running crime series begins to sound like a leaky bagpipe, Scottish writers such as MacBride arise to take up the kilt-waving in earnest.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Bloodshot

“McRae is an interesting and subtle detective, and his investigation is both inventive and imaginative.”
—The Dallas Morning News on Cold Granite

“Grade: A . . . Tartan noir has a fresh new voice with an Aberdeen brogue in Stuart MacBride, whose first mystery, Cold Granite, bids well to keep up with Ian Rankin and Denise Mina.”
—Rocky Mountain News on Cold Granite

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312382642
• ISBN-13: 978-0312382643
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,104,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Mother's Scottish Crime Fiction!, October 12, 2009

By 

Lisa Marie (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blind Eye (Logan McRae) (Hardcover)

I've read all MacBride's Logan novels and this one was a welcome return to form. The last one, Flesh House, while good was very violent and dark - a real departure from earlier outings. While Blind Eye isn't short on the more vicious aspects of the crimes committed (the title is a major clue), I'm happy to say the overall tone is considerably lighter than the past few entries and much more in line with the first book, Cold Granite. Another reviewer felt the banter between Logan and his crass, lesbian boss Steel was far-fetched and weak. I respect the reviewer's opionion but strongly disagree - I laughed out loud several times during their exchanges...especially when Steel and her partner want children and she practically orders Logan to volunteer his "services"! I delighted in this scruffy, oddball duo with their warped yet winning cameraderie (if you can even call it that). Yes you have to suspend disbelief to a certain degree - after all, nearly everyone in the book - good and bad guys - are barmy, but that is what makes it all the more enjoyable a read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "In the country of the blind, a one eyed man is King." Michael Apostoulis, June 6, 2010

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blind Eye (Logan McRae) (Hardcover)

In Aberdeen, Scotland, Det. Sgt. Logan "Laz" McRae is investigating a series of attacks on Polish immigrants. The attacker gouges out their eyes, cauterizes the eyes and leaves them in their injured state. One note that was left stated that the Poles have taken our jobs, our women and our God. The attacker is given the nickhame Oedipus.

As this case is being investigated, one of Aberdeen's major crime bosses is found with his eyes gouged out in the same manner. Shortly afterwards a large quantity of weapons and ammunition is found. Police fear that this could be preparation for an all out gang war to take over the gang leader's operation.

Logan is under the strick disciplinarian, DCI Finnie, who never seems satisfied with Logan's work. Logan also works with Det. Inspector Steel, a fiesty lesbian officer who needs a curse box to donate to because she curses so much. She's currently under stress because she and her partner, Susan, have been turned down for adoption and now Steel wants Logan to donate the sperm needed for artificial insemination.

This is a madcap police procedural. Since the police in Scotland don't normally carry guns, there are a number of skirmishes that could have involved the Three Stooges; police officer hit with a beer bottle, kicked in the crotch and shot at without rear of return fire.

There's lots of action presented in a realistic manner where the reader gets to see the mistakes that police, who are human, can make. McRae is an excellent protagonist with a strong sense of right and wrong. He's moral, determined and as relentless as a hungry pit-bull.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong Scottish police procedural, September 30, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blind Eye (Logan McRae) (Hardcover)

Although Aberdeen, Scotland Detective Sergeant. Logan McRae is still healing from the brutal Flesh House case he investigates nasty hate crime assaults on Polish immigrants; even the cops are horrified with what has happened to the eyes of the victims. DCI Finnie believes the prime suspect Gilchrist is a malcontent who loathes the influx of foreigners from East Europe for taking the jobs away from locals.

However, Logan wonders if something else is the motive beyond the attacks when even a crime boss is beaten. Instead Logan considers a mob war between Scottish mobsters and Polish gangsters while Finnie tells him to stop thinking as that is not standard operating procedure for a DS. Meanwhile, McRae feels a double whammy when Finnie punishes him by sticking him with loud mouth Detective Inspector Roberta Steele to keep witness Rory Simpson, a pedophile, safe from an angry female stalker.

This is a strong Scottish police procedural that is owned by Logan but contains a deep support ensemble especially the cops. The investigation is cleverly devised so that Logan is once again an outsider in trouble with his superiors especially pompous Finnie. Fans will enjoy his latest case as he works around the bureaucrats to solve the hate crimes. His back case load is also worth reading (see BLOODSHOT, DYING LIGHT and COLD GRANITE).

Harriet Klausner