Flesh House

On the front cover of Flesh House by Stuart MacBride it is described as "Fierce and unflinching" and for once it is not an exageration. This is not my usual style of reading matter but I read it through to the end as the narrative exerted an awful fascination rather as one is compelled to look at the result of a motor accident. The story concerns the hunt for a serial killer and the determination of a senior police officer to pin the blame on to one particular suspect regardless of the evidence. Twenty years before the action of this book a killer known as The Flesher had been sent down for life but new forensic evidence had thrown doubt on the conviction and he was released on appeal. Now a new spate of killings has started and the Detective Inspector in charge of the case was a young Detective Constable heavily involved in the original conviction and he is unshakable in his belief that the newly released man is responsible. MacBride writes an uncompromising narrative which is not for the faint hearted with blood chilling descriptions of violence and a cast of characters that one would make every effort to avoid. The hero, if that is the correct appellation, is Detective Serjeant Logan McRae a long suffering sidekick to Detective Inspector David Insch a blustering bully forever in danger of losing his hair trigger temper and exploding into violence. In addition he is also at the beck and call of D.I. Steel a foul mouthed, chain smoking lesbian and, as in all "police proceedurals" these days, the senior officers spend as much time working against each other as they do attempting to apprehend criminals. The police in general are portrayed as cynical, hard drinking jobsworths with little or no concern for the people they are paid to protect. Could this be an accurate portrayal of a modern police force? However, if ones taste is for a pacy "hard boiled" detective story full of violence and foul language the Flesh House will almost certainly fill the bill.