Stuart MacBride does not pull punches and knows just when the right time is for an interesting nickname or slight bit of levity to punch through the dark subject matter. His writing is raw and gritty, and reminds me of a Scottish version of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane. The Blood Road does not disappoint, and I urge those who have never read a MacBride book to pick this one up and give it a go.
Stuart MacBride has written another intensely gripping novel that puts our hero through the wringer, as McRae investigates people pushed to their limits and the violence that too often breaks out when desperation commingles with evil. Mr. MacBride doesn’t flinch when it comes to depicting casual brutality, as here, where a masked man known only as Number One is punishing a transgressor in front of a frightened female witness ... The Blood Road is another terrific entry in the outstanding Logan McRae series, and I’m only sorry that I still haven’t found the time to read the earlier novels that I bought in large bundles after falling in love with Mr. MacBride’s writing in the preceding installment.
...In The Blood Road MacBride pushes himself harder than ever both in terms of weaving together complex plot strands – including a powerful portrait of how far one mother is prepared to go to get her missing son back – and in terms of style. Every sentence is hewn and polished so they all slot together to make an elegant whole, like a drystone wall with rocks large and small all in exactly the right place. The almost 500 pages turn effortlessly.
