The Missing and the Dead Stuart MacBride

23883863While I’ve so enjoyed every single book in this series bout DC Logan McRae and his hilariously inappropriate but utterly loyal sometimes boss, DI Steele, so far (so much so, I am saving the last few books so I don’t leave this world yet), this one has to be my favourite.

Unlike the earlier books which saw McRae part of division and investigating murders, this installment has him posted (on secondment for professional development purposes – or so he’s told, but you get the impression and his record indicates, it’s more punishment) to community policing. No longer an Acting Di, McRae is once again a constable, but without the “detective” moniker. In charge of three areas in a remote location, he has his work cut out.

From the opening pages, the reader is thrust into both the humdrum and dynamism of this kind if police work. The way MacBride captures this, the almost staccato yet speedy nature of the narrative, how we move between cases, radio demands, conversations, and crimes is exhausting and exhilarating. You live and breathe the job with McRae and his team. Yet, though there are many cases and criminals, MacBride brings it all together superlatively with some overarching cases and interlinking.

Within a few chapters, you’ve grasped the various capes – geographical, people, cultural and feel as embedded as the cops whose shifts we share.

I didn’t want this book to end. It was thoroughly captivating, peppered with its usual wonderful dialogues and character interactions – positive and negative. It has its quirky characters (both on and off the force) and those who you wish would get Steele’s boot up the proverbial.

I know I promised myself I would wait to read the next McRae book, but it’s going to be hard. This was just so good…

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