Customer Reviews

Flesh House

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one book that grabs you by the throat and won't let you go. Not to mention that it has many more twists and turns than the average amusement ride.

Over twenty years ago, the serial killer called the Flesher stalked and killed in Scotland. The police thought they caught the man, and Insch, who was in charge of the case, was deeply upset that never find the evidence to pin all the killings on Wiseman.

Now Wiseman is out of jail and once again the bodies begin to pile up. Worse, much worse, body parts appear in butcher shops.

The story line is as terrifying as it gets, and the number of the murdered is truly astonishing.

I lucked onto the first DS Logan MacRae book at the public library and have preordered them all since from Amazon. The quirky crew at Grampian police were a real change of pace, and the dialog between the characters is consistently terrific. The players themselves make the books worth reading, particularly DI Roberta Steele. This last installment is no different, but it's the story, particularly the conclusion (or lack thereof), that disappoints. Well written, great characters and dialog, but a nearly 500 page "shaggy dog story".

First Sentence: `No, you listen to me: if my six year old son isn't back here in ten minutes I'm going to come round there and rip you a new arsehole, are we clear?'

Twenty years ago, there was a serial killer knows as "The Flesher" who was purported to kill people and eat them.

Now, seven years after the killer has been released from prison, human meat has been found in a local butcher shop and DS Logan McRae are trying to track down a serial killer dressed in a butcher's apron wearing a Margaret Thatcher mask.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. Be aware that murders are very graphic and gruesome, but I can deal with that.

My issue is the characters. McRae is about the only remotely likeable character and, even for him, you have very little background or real sense of who he is. The characters are realistic but largely unpleasant.

On the other hand, the plot, while unrelentingly grim, is thoroughly engrossing and delightfully twisty. There was less humor in this book than in ones in the past. A bit more light to offset the dark would have helped.

McBride is definitely a good, skilled writer. I can't say I enjoyed the book, because of the theme, but I couldn't stop reading it.

I have listened to all of the Logan MacRae series on audiobook with the exception of "Flesh House", since I can't find it as an audio download anywhere. It's only available on audio CD in unabridged form (Flesh House) for almost $100. I can wait until it comes out in abridged format. Stuart MacBride is absolutely BRILLIANT and, IMHO, this book is some of his best work. I love the characters in the series (especially DI Steel) and DS Logan MacRae is definitely not one of your run-of-the-mill crime novel heroes. He's smart, cranky, and makes loads of mistakes (and frequently gets the mickey taken out of him by Steel, et al), while still managing to catch the bad guys. I love the way MacBride ends his books. He sort of leaves you hanging a bit and very often introduces a new conundrum to make you anxious for the next book in the series. He uses humor to lighten up what could otherwise be quite gruesome crime scenes. Many of his characters are very UN-politically correct and it seems pretty obvious to me that he has fun writing these novels.

If you like edgy and darkly humorous crime fiction, you will LOVE Stuart MacBride's books.

I've read the other MacBride mysteries and enjoyed them, but this one just didn't do it for me. I don't mind a gory mystery from time to time -- I've read most of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels -- but this one was just over the top, including what happens to several of the recurring characters. I stopped about a third of the way through, read the ending and figured that was enough time spent. In MacBride's previous books, the city of Aberdeen has been a character in itself. This book is a more typical slasher novel, albeit with some atmospheric touches. I just got bored with it. I'm hoping MacBride gets back on track with his future novels in the series, which, apart from this book, is really quite good.

This is my first Stuart MacBride novel and I must say I enjoyed it very much, despite the grim subject matter and the incredibly gruesome murders depicted. The plot is terrific and the dialogue between the various characters is very good as well. The only thing I wasn't quite satisfied with was the characterisation of Det. Logan Macrae, the main character of the book, the one through whose eyes we see the story unfold. I did not get a good "feel" for him, the way I have in other novels based on a detective. For example, Ian Rankin's characterisation of Det. John Rebus is so thorough, I feel that I almost know him as a friend. Likewise, Det. Harry Bosch from Michael Connelly's series of novels. MacBride's plotting and dialogue is strong, though, and makes up for this minor quibble.

For fans of the crime genre, this is a must-read, and I look forward to reading more of the Logan Macrae series. It's a 4-star recommendation from me!

Picked up one of his books in England, and have now read them all.
He has an interesting approach to character development.

I would like to find another like him. Any suggestions welcomed.

Stuart MacBride's third installment in the Logan McRae series is one of the darkest, most gruesome, grisly books you will ever read. Without the comic relief delivered in the badinage, especially in the person of DI Roberta Steel, the book would be nearly impossible to read. MacBride is a master of pace, of alternately bringing events to a fever pitch and then throttling them back into the more mundane and boring tasks of policing. While he threatens to plumb his characters more deeply, the effort falls short, a prisoner to plot and action. This is what keeps MacBride a few paces behind Ian Rankin, though, in fairness this is his third book.

The Flesher has returned to Aberdeen. Hannibal Lector has nothing on this literal butcher of couples. Not only does the Flesher kill and dismember the victims, often the remains are part of a repast fed to surviving members or introduced into the food chain. The shrill paranoia of the media also plays a role in this police procedural.

Detective Sergeant McRae remains the favorite boy of two Detective Inspectors, Steel and David Insch, an overweight task master given to consuming massive quantities of sweets. McRae's leaps of logic, dogged police work, inquisitive mind and intuition make his a formidable opponent. McRae is a sergeant, a step or two above a constable, but still closer in age and character to the rank-and-file than he is to the middle management of the force. He is an everyman of sorts, not above pub crawling or hanging with his mates. As in the previous books, he also finds a way to get himself trashed physically along the way, with some of the punishment doled out by his colleagues.

What troubled me as a reader is unfinished business. The lack of resolution in novels, especially series novels, is annoying at best, a cheat at its worst. James Patterson and Nelson DeMille are experts at this, to their detriment. There is a difference in not being able to bring the antagonist to justice because of legal or evidentiary issues, quite another to allow the story to arc to a subsequent book. At 467 pages, I am not looking for a serial.

Like Rankin's Edinburgh, Aberdeen is as much a character as any other. The city supports the offshore oil industry, and even by Scottish standards, the weather is harsh.

While Flesh House is not MacBride's best effort, it is a page-turner.

Stuart MacBride is a great find! He just keeps getting better and better. As long as he keeps writing the series I will keep reading it. Very enjoyable!

First Line: "No, you listen to me: if my six-year-old son isn't back here in ten minutes I'm going to come round there and rip you a new arsehole, are we clear?"

When the newest Stuart MacBride mystery arrives here, I feel as though Fort Knox has just delivered another gold bar. Yes, I love these books, but if a blend of (often) black humor and very gruesome scenes aren't your thing, save yourself some time and skip this review (and the book).

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae works the mean streets of Aberdeen, Scotland, and he'd probably tell you that police headquarters is often more dire than the streets. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, a strong sense of duty, and he often has brilliant flashes of intuition. He is also a piece of taffy pulled between two of the most obnoxious detective inspectors you'll ever find in crime fiction-- and they both have death grips on him. If I were McRae, sooner or later I'd snap and wear my "Some Mornings It's Not Worth Chewing Through the Restraints" t-shirt to work where I'd tell both inspectors exactly what I thought of them as I turned in my warrant card.

Twenty years ago "The Flesher" was butchering people all over the UK until the Grampian Police put him in prison. It's eleven years later, he's out on appeal, and now he's missing and people are being turned into oven-ready joints again. When members of the original investigation team begin disappearing, McRae realizes that the case might not be as clear cut as everyone else seems to think.

Flesh House begins slowly and continues to build-- typical MacBride. Most of the humor is in the first half of the book. I've begun to think of this as a diversionary tactic. MacBride wants you to keep laughing while he moves his chess pieces into position all over the board. Hopefully by the time you wipe the tears from your eyes and calm down, his trap is set and you don't have a prayer of escape. Me? I'm a sheep to the slaughter when it comes to this particular crime fiction writer. He can be hilarious. I'll give you a few examples:

"Logan had met their state-of-the-art security system-- it was a sixty-eight-year-old man called Harold. Logan had sneezed more alert things than him."

"Which sounded incredibly unlikely to Logan: Insch wouldn't ask for help if his crotch was on fire. From the look on her face, Isobel didn't believe it either."

"As Logan watched, Detective Constable Simon Rennie boogied his way past them, doing a pretty good impersonation of an octopus being electrocuted."


This is MacBride's most complex mystery yet, and since cannibalism is one of the strong themes running throughout the book, I'm wondering how many fans he lost with Flesh House . He definitely doesn't sugar coat the theme. (I have a very high tolerance of such things, and it even bothered me a time or two.) But I kept reading because I love his writing and I love the character of Logan McRae. The slapstick, the underlying seriousness, the gruesome scenes are all woven into stories that I can't resist. A carrot was dangled in front of McRae in this book, and it seems to have changed his way of thinking a bit. All the threads weren't tied off neatly at the end, and I'm just going to have to see what happens in the next book.

I can't wait.