Fans of Stuart MacBride's novels will be particularly familiar with the way that he likes to keep his police characters, in particular, at the end of their tether, under pressure from all sides, and frequently having a bit of a dummy spit by way of a coping mechanism.
NO LESS THE DEVIL starts out with a couple of very young teenagers killing a homeless man, then switches focus to a current day police team, and the search for a serial killer, dubbed 'The Bloodsmith', with two members of the team looking for him as the main focus. DS Lucy McVeigh and her colleague DC Duncan (the Dunk) Fraser, a search which is increasingly lost, bewildering, frantic and slightly manic. Not helped by the PTSD that McVeigh is obviously suffering from (explained later on in the novel in more detail), with the slightly lighter relief provided by the Dunk, who is out of shape, out of his time period (he dresses like a hippy from the 1960s), providing a constant scathing source of pithy commentary about the so-called uppercrusts of society. He's got plenty to work with in that department as the investigation seems to be increasingly circling the confines of the super-exclusive St Nicholas College for gifted children. Readers may find themselves with quite a bit to reflect on in the character of the Dunk, the confines of the School, the mental state of McVeigh and the nature of police investigations if they want to take the time for a bit of a ponder. Although the whole tale is told with typical MacBride mayhem, always with a somber, considered core.
Everything sort of potters along in that slight downbeat, whinging, carping environment that is often the way with a MacBride book before everything, and I mean everything, goes to hell in a handbasket in the final twists and turns - a lot of which sure couldn't have been more clearly signposted than, well a heavily signposted destination I guess. Including the connections and the fallout from that homeless man killing, which weighs heavily on McVeigh in particular. But as is often the way with the better thrillers, the story gets to the end and some of the baddies get what's coming to them, but some don't. Some of the good guys end up even more damaged than they started out, and there are plenty of subtle, and not so subtle, digs at society, people, class systems, parenting and child abuse. It's always hard to get to the end of one of this author's novels without feeling vaguely bruised and battered, but with lots of stuff to think about.
NO LESS THE DEVIL is dry, pointed, uncomfortably funny and extremely thought provoking stuff. It very much felt like one of those books where you're not meant to be comfortable or say it was enjoyable. But you should definitely find it memorable and thought provoking.
Vale Grendel MacBride.
No Less the Devil
'We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.'
It's been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer to catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, the top brass are demanding results, but the investigation is sinking fast.
Now isn't the time to get distracted with other cases, but Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh doesn't have much choice. When Benedict Strachan was just eleven, he hunted down and killed a homeless man. No one's ever figured out why Benedict did it, but now, after sixteen years, he's back on the streets again - battered, frightened, convinced a shadowy 'They' are out to get him, and begging Lucy for help.
It sounds like paranoia, but what if he's right? What if he really is caught up in something bigger and darker than Lucy's ever dealt with before? What if the Bloodsmith isn't the only monster out there? And what's going to happen when Lucy goes after them?
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