Hello and welcome to my blog! Every Wednesday I write a post about the books I have read during the previous week. I list all of my books on the Goodreads website and use links from there when I am building the post.

Regulars to the blog will know that I have been a voracious reader for most of my life (I wasn’t born able to read although it feels like that sometimes!). Unfortunately, I had a stroke in September 2019 and, since then, I have recovered my ability to read but cannot manage quite as many books as I used to. My target for this year is 50 and I read ebooks on my iPad because the stroke left me with some vision issues.

So, what did I read this week and did I enjoy it? Well, there is more than one story to be told…

Long term visitors will have realised that I am a huge fan of Stuart MacBride. I think that I have read most of his books, so I was really looking forward to this one: No Less The Devil. Let’s begin with the blurb:

“‘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?”

This book appears to be a standalone and is not from one of the author’s brilliant series. Anyway, this is my response on Goodreads:

No Less The Devil by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am struggling to find the right words to describe this book. Usually, I love MacBride’s work. The dark humour and twisting plots are amongst my favourites. I don’t think I have ever struggled to finish one of his books or contemplated stopping reading one altogether!

I really enjoyed a large part of the book. MacBride’s storytelling, characters and amusing but grim plot was as gripping as ever. Then I got to about the 80% mark of this particular book. Having read many of the reviews on here, I am definitely not the only person who was shocked by the change of tone. It took a real effort to finish, something that has never happened to me when reading the work of a favourite author.

After getting through the – I’m not sure what to call it – obstacle, perhaps? The book did reach a quite satisfying ending. But I am now rather nervous about reading another book by MacBride!

As for the star rating. I could give it anything from none to almost four, so I haven’t a clue what to click!

View all my reviews

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Now, I was feeling very ill as I read the book, but my response was not affected by that as many others on Goodreads have reacted in a similar way. Anyway, I think I will choose something very different for my next book!

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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