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I rarely comment on dialogue included in a story, but MacBride does a superb job of moving the narrative forward in a very natural way. Professor Nicholas Wilson is a stridently prominent voice supporting the union and ridiculing independence supporters. Logan McRae is one of my favourite fictional detectives, and I’m always eager to dive into a Stuart MacBride book. Are you the kind of groovy individual that likes to be kept up-to-date with all the latest info, gossip, and lies?
Many of the characters that normally bring a brilliant kind of dark humour to the table were now just plainly getting on my nerves.But that is just window-dressing for the real treasures in this novel: the wonderful writing and the amazing characters. There is a lot of good old fashioned police work as well as interesting forensic details and an entertaining young policeman who knows his way around computers.
Someone is targeting high profile, anti-(Scottish)-independence, pro-English rent-a-mouths, and they are not just throwing milkshakes and eggs. An Englishman, who lectures at Aberdeen University, goes missing, with only spattered blood stains to indicate what might have happened. All that’s Dead Stuart MacBride a crime novel littered with sardonic humour contrasted with a bloody gore fest. Sometimes those strong threads of brutality and banter can make it easy to overlook that he's also got a great touch for character and character relationships in his storytelling, and bringing the setting and some relevant social issues to life.Who knew, apparently using the postal service to mail human body parts is very illegal, especially if the outspoken gruff professor is an anti Scottish independence bugle, is still using those body parts like hands, heads, Torso.
It managed to bring Stuart MacBride’s humour and beautiful writing to life like I wouldn’t be able to do it myself by simply reading. Well ok, just that if you are looking for quality writing, brilliant observation and genuinely addictive plots within your crime fiction, this series and this author should be high up on your reading list. Personally I could swing for Tufty, who annoys the hell out of me, but I've got to admit that I laughed a lot as I read and listened. His careers include scrubbing toilets offshore, graphic design, web design and IT/computer programming. Sometimes it can be far fetched especially with how the characters talk to each other but for me it’s a break from the usual police procedural and the crimes and plots at the centre are very well developed.Brutal violence, shocking beliefs, hate and anger mixed with swearing galore - if these guys had a swear box they would be minted, and dark humour. I started reading MacBride years ago and fell away when I discovered new authors after reading this it was like putting on an fav blanket and catching up with old friends.
And, to top it all Logan is the one set to help out the investigation because the powers to be needs a scapegoat. The dark sardonic humour is as great as ever and helps break up the brutal crimes and investigation into the two killers by giving the reader some light relief. Book number 12 in the Logan McRae series, ALL THAT'S DEAD, finds him still an Inspector in Professional Standards, sucked into an ongoing murder investigation when the lead investigator is himself about to be outed by the papers as a member of a Scottish Nationalist group. But when a second man vanishes in similar circumstances, the media turns its merciless gaze on him, and he has no choice. From there it was a roller coaster ride (in that it made a lot of people feel decidedly unwell) from web designer to web manager, lead programmer, team lead and other assorted technical bollocks with three different companies, eventually ending up as a project manager for a global IT company.
Like many all-male environments, working offshore was the intellectual equivalent of Animal House, only without the clever bits. I am not a huge fan of political stuff, I don't always get it, some of it is above my head and if I am honest I get bored with it very quickly. I have come to love and appreciate the quirky if not downright absurd shenanigans of Logan's slightly off kilter cohorts or maybe crew of knuckleheads would be a better description. It’s pretty dark and extremely gruesome, but the general atmosphere of humour stops it from ever becoming grim. ABOUT THIS BOOK: Inspector Logan McRae was looking forward to a nice simple case – something to ease him back into work after a year off on the sick.
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