Stuart MacBride

No Less the Devil

E J Doble

[NOTE: This book should come with trigger warnings about rape, assault, kidnapping, trauma, and personality disorders - I will say, as I have always said, that it should be the responsibility of the author and publisher to put these in EVERY SINGLE BOOK where they are present, and it is appalling that it is not standard practice, but there we go]

3.5 ⭐ rounded up to 4

This is the first book by Stuart MacBride that I've read, and I went at it without knowing anything about his writing or the kind of stories he produces. With that being said, I can surmise from this book that MacBride is good at telling a story, and good at writing significant themes, but the writing often comes with its shortcomings.

At the beginning of the book, we're introduced to a number of characters who, by and large, are quite jarring and difficult to associate with. The scene is set in a gritty, grim Scotland better than even the best Rankin books have managed in my opinion, and the double-plotline of the serial killer and the recently-released killer works fantastically well. 

The books pacing is really good, and there is not one point where I'd say it slows down. Every crime scene or clue is part of an unravelling narrative that draws you in and refuses to let go. Lucy McVeigh is your archetype sarky, angry copper and is very well written - however, one of my main sticking points with the book is how Lucy's character is sarky and flippant, but so is the narration, and the narrative voice almost takes away from Lucy as a character which was a shame when reading. It almost read like an angry journal about an angry woman.

The book handles it's motifs and themes well too: class divides, societal corruption, and in the last 100 pages the whole book explodes with its "evil is everywhere" plot that left me gobsmacked. I was genuinely stunned reading it. MacBride wrote trauma, and in particular short-term head trauma, perfectly - without any spoilers, Lucy's story by the end of the book is like nothing I've read so far. It's like reading Freud and Albert Camus all in one. 

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the story, and the exploration of themes, but the narration and writing style was not well done for me, and the lack of any trigger warnings in books like these is a constant issue of the genre.

No Less the Devil

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