Craig Russell (1) (1956–)

Oblique and obscure most of the time, but sometimes it is taut and gripping with a lot of atmosphere solidifying into an emotional reaction. Could do with way less description of absolutely everything and more getting on with the plot. Which brings me to the element of the supernatural that I could also do without, but it's close to Halloween so we'll see how it goes.

With a push, I finished and while it wasn't exactly unsatisfying, the amount of time spent both knowing and with the true villain wasn't enough compared with how much time we spend getting there. I like it when authors balance narrative time more evenly so endings don't feel tacked on and villains don't pop out of the woodwork. This has both, but not egregiously so. Looking back, there were some hints at the Dark Guild leader, but not enough to make the reveal less than surprising. In the end the supernatural feel was really just madness and a lack of understanding about mental illness and how the mind copes with trauma and things it would rather not deal with.… (lisätietoja)

Lennox, un detective que podría ser el hijo del mismísimo de Philip Marlowe, --cínico por fuera pero con un corazón de oro— vuelve a las calles de Glasgow para resolver un caso que no pinta nada bien para él.
Cuando el corredor de apuestas ilegales y criador galgos Calderilla MacFarlane aparece con la cabeza machacada en su estudio, más de uno empieza a levantar un dedo acusador. Sin embargo, Lennox tiene una coartada sólida como el oro: ha pasado la noche con la hija de MacFarlane. Esto, lejos de ayudar, inevitablemente provoca que Lennox se vea envuelto en la búsqueda del asesino de MacFarlane y que descubra los otros muchos negocios turbios que el corredor de apuestas tenía. Algunos de ellos con Willie Sneddon, uno de los Tres Reyes del lumpen criminal de Glasgow. Y con éste más vale no meterse si uno no quiere acabar tiñendo la alfombra de casa con un brillante tono 0 negativo…… (lisätietoja)