Natural Causes by James Oswald
May. 10th, 2016 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Sixty years ago a young girl was brutally murdered – her internal organs were removed and her body mutilated. Until now she lay undiscovered, sealed in an underground chamber.
For the Edinburgh police force the six-decade-old case is not a priority, but Detective Inspector McLean is haunted by the dead girl’s ritualistic murder and the six trinkets placed carefully around the body.
As a wave of high-profile and bloody murders hits the city of Edinburgh – each one bearing an uncanny resemblance to the last – the same name begins to recur. As McLean digs deeper he must question just how many coincidences there can be, realising that the most irrational answer might be the only one possible …
When a property developer makes a grisly discovery while renovating a house, recently promoted DI Anthony McLean is assigned to investigate the cold case of a mutilated girl murdered 60 years earlier with her internal organs removed and with six strange objects positioned around her body. For McLean the case is low priority, second to a series of burglaries that target the houses of the recently deceased but he’s working with limited resources thanks to a series of murders targeting Edinburgh’s social elite that’s being investigated by DCI Duguid (a bully with limited imagination). But while Duguid is keen to wrap his case up quickly to appease the great and the good, McLean is finding an increasing number of links between the current murders and his own cases but as the connections line up, he finds himself pushed towards an answer – and a killer – that defies a logical explanation …
James Oswald’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a great addition to the crowded Tartan noir field, introducing a detective with an interesting personal background and adding a genuinely creepy supernatural twist. What I really loved about the book was the confidence with which Oswald reveals McLean’s character – I liked the slow reveal of key facts about his background, the relationship with his grandmother, his romantic life (which leaves a lot of gaps that I assume will be explored in future books) and his professional relationships. Although Duguid is too thinly drawn to be a truly interesting antagonist, I enjoyed the characterisation of Chief Superintendent McIntyre (whose part politician, part pen pusher and part station mum) and Grumpy Bob’s loafing makes an interesting foil to McLean’s dedication. There are some first novel issues with the book – the pacing sags in a couple of places, a sub-plot regarding crime scene photo leaks doesn’t get a satisfying resolution and the coincidences do veer towards contrivance at times. I could have also done without the love triangle element for McLean, mainly because it was one element too much for an already packed story and if I’m being picky, then I wished the supernatural elements had been threaded through a little earlier and a little more vigorously to give more oomph to the conclusion. This aside though, I really enjoyed this book and kept turning the pages and will definitely be reading the next in the series.
The Verdict:
James Oswald’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a great addition to the crowded Tartan noir field, introducing a detective with an interesting personal background and adding a genuinely creepy supernatural twist. What I really loved about the book was the confidence with which Oswald reveals McLean’s character – I liked the slow reveal of key facts about his background, the relationship with his grandmother, his romantic life (which leaves a lot of gaps that I assume will be explored in future books) and his professional relationships. Although Duguid is too thinly drawn to be a truly interesting antagonist, I enjoyed the characterisation of Chief Superintendent McIntyre (whose part politician, part pen pusher and part station mum) and Grumpy Bob’s loafing makes an interesting foil to McLean’s dedication. There are some first novel issues with the book – the pacing sags in a couple of places, a sub-plot regarding crime scene photo leaks doesn’t get a satisfying resolution and the coincidences do veer towards contrivance at times. I could have also done without the love triangle element for McLean, mainly because it was one element too much for an already packed story and if I’m being picky, then I wished the supernatural elements had been threaded through a little earlier and a little more vigorously to give more oomph to the conclusion. This aside though, I really enjoyed this book and kept turning the pages and will definitely be reading the next in the series.
For the Edinburgh police force the six-decade-old case is not a priority, but Detective Inspector McLean is haunted by the dead girl’s ritualistic murder and the six trinkets placed carefully around the body.
As a wave of high-profile and bloody murders hits the city of Edinburgh – each one bearing an uncanny resemblance to the last – the same name begins to recur. As McLean digs deeper he must question just how many coincidences there can be, realising that the most irrational answer might be the only one possible …
When a property developer makes a grisly discovery while renovating a house, recently promoted DI Anthony McLean is assigned to investigate the cold case of a mutilated girl murdered 60 years earlier with her internal organs removed and with six strange objects positioned around her body. For McLean the case is low priority, second to a series of burglaries that target the houses of the recently deceased but he’s working with limited resources thanks to a series of murders targeting Edinburgh’s social elite that’s being investigated by DCI Duguid (a bully with limited imagination). But while Duguid is keen to wrap his case up quickly to appease the great and the good, McLean is finding an increasing number of links between the current murders and his own cases but as the connections line up, he finds himself pushed towards an answer – and a killer – that defies a logical explanation …
James Oswald’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a great addition to the crowded Tartan noir field, introducing a detective with an interesting personal background and adding a genuinely creepy supernatural twist. What I really loved about the book was the confidence with which Oswald reveals McLean’s character – I liked the slow reveal of key facts about his background, the relationship with his grandmother, his romantic life (which leaves a lot of gaps that I assume will be explored in future books) and his professional relationships. Although Duguid is too thinly drawn to be a truly interesting antagonist, I enjoyed the characterisation of Chief Superintendent McIntyre (whose part politician, part pen pusher and part station mum) and Grumpy Bob’s loafing makes an interesting foil to McLean’s dedication. There are some first novel issues with the book – the pacing sags in a couple of places, a sub-plot regarding crime scene photo leaks doesn’t get a satisfying resolution and the coincidences do veer towards contrivance at times. I could have also done without the love triangle element for McLean, mainly because it was one element too much for an already packed story and if I’m being picky, then I wished the supernatural elements had been threaded through a little earlier and a little more vigorously to give more oomph to the conclusion. This aside though, I really enjoyed this book and kept turning the pages and will definitely be reading the next in the series.
The Verdict:
James Oswald’s debut crime novel (the first in a series) is a great addition to the crowded Tartan noir field, introducing a detective with an interesting personal background and adding a genuinely creepy supernatural twist. What I really loved about the book was the confidence with which Oswald reveals McLean’s character – I liked the slow reveal of key facts about his background, the relationship with his grandmother, his romantic life (which leaves a lot of gaps that I assume will be explored in future books) and his professional relationships. Although Duguid is too thinly drawn to be a truly interesting antagonist, I enjoyed the characterisation of Chief Superintendent McIntyre (whose part politician, part pen pusher and part station mum) and Grumpy Bob’s loafing makes an interesting foil to McLean’s dedication. There are some first novel issues with the book – the pacing sags in a couple of places, a sub-plot regarding crime scene photo leaks doesn’t get a satisfying resolution and the coincidences do veer towards contrivance at times. I could have also done without the love triangle element for McLean, mainly because it was one element too much for an already packed story and if I’m being picky, then I wished the supernatural elements had been threaded through a little earlier and a little more vigorously to give more oomph to the conclusion. This aside though, I really enjoyed this book and kept turning the pages and will definitely be reading the next in the series.
