Review: Blind Eye

HOME > BOOKS > ARCHIVES 2009 >

POSTED: 26 JULY 2009

Stuart MacBride, Blind Eye

(HarperCollins; 528pp paperback; $32.99)

The macabre crime of eye gouging and then burning out both eye sockets is a blood chilling act of violence in Blind Eye by Stuart MacBride. And when it is carried out again and again, in a set of serial attacks on the Polish community in Aberdeen, the fear levels soar.

Tracking down the perpetrators when the victims are too terrified to speak, or are members of the crime fraternity itself, poses a special challenge for DS Logan McRae, the savvy but self-punishing young detective of previous thrillers such as Cold Granite and Broken Skin.

Logan’s hunt for the culprits leads him through underground gang warfare, potential high-level corruption, old Soviet bloc torture and treachery, and the odious repugnance of paedophilia.

All this is gripping and good reading.

Unfortunately there are several side plots — such as DI Steel’s lesbian marriage and her pursuit of Logan’s sperm — that are trite and act to diminish an otherwise interesting character’s credibility.

Tighter editing would have helped reduce the irksome distractions and ramped up the tension of the main game.

HOME > BOOKS > ARCHIVES 2009 >