I have a mixed view of this book, in the beginning I felt it needed tighter editing then came an interesting angle that compelled me to continue reading and the bits that annoyed me drifted away.

The premise, a good old cop story, a female dectective trying to crack the case of a serial killer. As you cheer for the cops one minute, there becomes monets when you questions their integrity the next.

Can they catch the killer or will there be more deaths along the way?

I’ve read many Stuart MacBride books in the past and this is right up there among the best. The Bloodsmith has been terrorizing the public for over seventeen months and the police operation Maypole has nothing to show for their investigation. DS Lucy McVeigh and her sidekick DC Duncan Fraser are returning to the scenes of the crimes hoping to find something to help turn the investigation round, but Lucy has other things on her mind. She thinks she is being followed, she is being targeted by the family of a former suspect and to top it all Benedict Strachan has been released from jail and turns to Lucy to ask for help as he thinks that “They” are out to get him. Just who is it who is being paranoid?
The story spins along at a cracking pace and develops some interesting twists.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more about DS McVeigh.

Let me start by saying I have read all of Stuart MacBride’s books and especially enjoy the Logan McRae series of novels, however some of his recent Ash Henderson books I’ve found difficult to get into. With his new book ‘No Less the Devil’ I thought we were heading down a similar road, the police procedural plot line, the good but troubled cop, the nice but dim cop & of course a series of brutal murders, all I can say is how wrong I was. This is an excellent stand alone novel with twists & turns galore that just add an extra layer of depth to the story. I’m not going to spoil the plot line and I’m sure some readers will guess some of the turns along the way, however I don’t believe anyone with see the twists and emotional roller-coaster of the last third of the novel.
I hope that his is a start of a series of books with Lucy McVeigh, if so I cannot wait for the next instalment.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Stuart MacBride for a copy of No Less The Devil for an honest review.

I had two books I had to read and chose the other book first - my mistake. It took me awhile to actually start reading this one. Once I started I loved it. Lucy and The Dunk work well together and I loved the sense of humour from the author and the way he wrote the book.

I got about 70% through the book and had already allocated 5 stars for this one because I absolutely loved it and could not see how the book still had so many more pages to read when it could have been wrapped up in another 10 pages and would have been a fantastic read with the opportunity of many more sequels to follow.. However, the book then went off at a tangent and it was difficult to know what was truth and what was imagination..

The last 30% I would have only given a 2 (or possibly 3) star rating, so combining it all I will give this one a 4 star.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. Having read many of Stuart MacBride's previous novels from the Logan McRae series, I was really looking forward to reading this new book. The author writes police procedurals in an engaging and amusing way, which really draws the reader in. So far, so good for the first 75% or so, with some laugh out loud moments which are always found in MacBride's witty writing. However, the book then took a really odd turn which I found totally baffling and seemed almost like a completely different and very unsatisfactory book. I will quite happily reread the author's older books, but not this one.

A fantastic thriller with so many twists and turns that you start to question yourself as well as the characters. Absolutely gripping!

This started as a rather gruesome, visceral and brutal police procedural amongst some very black humour. DS Lucy McVeigh is back at work although still traumatised from an earlier case; she's ably assisted by the Gothic Dunk given to bad clothes, bad hair and bad jokes - but they work together well and their dialogues, or should I say two monologues, are a hoot. All set around Aberdeen which, clearly, the author loves - no-one could be that rude or observant if not. His descriptions are fantastic. Bloodsmith is a gory, murdering bastard whom no-one can catch. Jump. Twenty years ago an 11 year old and mate hunted and killed a homeless man. The 11-year old was banged up but is now out with his own gory demons. Lucy has sympathy for him at one level because she has dark episodes in her past. Jump. Bring in a very posh school with students having a ripping good time, what, and things get even more complicated. All well and good, story progressing erratically slowly from the police point of view until about 70-80% I obviously got blootered and lost out until about 97% - given the reviews of some other people we must have had a really good party! I think the paracetamol (other pain killers are available) helped and I think that I understood the end, maybe. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

A superb dark crime drama from Stuart MacBride. Like all his books, it is absorbing and tense, keeping you guessing throughout.

I am a huge Stuart McBride fan, have his books on my shelf as I type, so I was very excited to read the start of a possible new series.

Bloodsmith is a serial killer who has been operating for approx 17 months, randomly killing his victims, and there seem to be no leads for the police.

For the first 70% of the book, I was very interested in the story (albeit it is very dragged out) and then the book goes in quite a different way and becomes just puzzling! I just couldn't see what the point of the last 30% was for? Just plain silly!!

Not for me and won't read anymore of this series

Would not recommend

I am a big fan of Stuart MacBride’s writing plus the characters he creates and having lived in the NE of Scotland on and off from the 1970’s to the 2000’s, I can tell you he captures the spirit, colour and humour of the region, perfectly! This, his latest book, is no different and we are introduced to two wonderful new characters, DS Lucy McVeigh and her sidekick DC Duncan Fraser who operate in the fictional city of Oldcastle. Lucy is young, ambitious and clearly a very good detective but also the owner of a troubled past, the effects of which she cannot seem to shake off. Duncan or “The Dunk” is the complete opposite, useless, lazy and as annoying as the fly you can’t get out of the car and that won’t be still long enough to be squashed. As such he is the root of much of the deprecating humour and together they make an amusing but effective duo.
The central case is that of a serial killer aka “The Bloodsmith” who has struck multiple times over a 17 month period and the Oldcastle Police seem no closer to catching him. Lucy and The Dunk are assigned to “Operation Maypole” as a fresh pair of eyes though they and their boss suspect all are being positioned as sacrificial lambs should efforts fail and the news hounds demand blood. Thus set up, the story progresses into a fascinating and superbly written mystery / police procedural the likes of which we are well used to seeing crafted by MacBride. Then everything gets turned on it’s head!
Without giving anything away, the last 20% of the book questions your understanding of the previous 80% and I was left convinced hallucinogenic drugs were involved I just did not know who had taken them, the main character, the author or even myself! All I would say to any reader is pay attention throughout the story and just hang on for the ride at the end.
I would like to thank the Author, Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to preview this book.

Stuart Macbride is one of my favourite authors so when I was chosen to read this I was so excited. I got drawn into the story from the first page and galloped through it until about 80% in when,in my opinion, it just turned a bit strange. I struggled from to keep up with what was happening in the story, the main characters delusions and hallucinations made it difficult for me to understand what was going on. This may be because I'm ill and on antibiotics but I couldn't actually tell you who the murderer was in the end. I think I will have to reread it to get a clearer picture. Not my favourite book of this authors I'm afraid.

A stupendous book,, Where do I start? I loved Stuart’s other series of books, so was excited to learn about the development of a new police character Lucy McVeigh.

I loved how this novel started out focusing on the police procedural, chasing the “Bloodsmith” serial killer, trying to stop them before they struck again. The relationship between Dunk and McVeigh is perfectly balanced, his annoying habits just enough to be slightly endearing.

The plot twist is divine and had me chopping and changing my mind, right up to the very last pages about which way it was going to play out. An absolute magnificent feast of a crime thriller read!

This is a standalone novel from MacBride, although set in the same fictional Scottish city, Oldcastle, as his Ash Henderson series. MacBride is an absolute master of understated dark humour and this book is absolutely shot through with it. That's not to say it's a comic novel, though - it's absolutely not, in any way.; for me, it stands somewhere between a police procedural and a thriller.

Characterisation is excellent, all the main players are well drawn, well rounded characters who exist in shades of grey, there is no black and white here. As well as the human characters, Oldcastle itself is becoming more and more fleshed out with each book and plays a major part in the story.

The "twist" at about three-quarters of the way through the book, however, is telegraphed and to any reader paying attention it won't come as a surprise. Perhaps it should have come earlier when it was less obvious, but nevertheless it doesn't detract from the novel.

The only slight negative is that the book is perhaps a little too long, at about double the length of the normal entry into this genre - it meanders a little at certain stages and might have benefitted from some judicious editing. This is not unusual for MacBride, however, and regular readers will be expecting this style.

Despite my minor criticisms above, this book is very worthy of five stars. Readers of this genre will find it enjoyable.

Over the last year someone has been killing people, cutting them up and stealing body parts. Nicknamed the Bloodsmith the police haven’t made any progress on finding the killer.
The case is dumped on DI Tudor who dumps it on DS Lucy McVeigh .
Lucy is suffering from PTSD after a recent attack and her bosses are worried about her.
This is fast paced, full of McBride’s humour and complex characters.
I loved the book for the most part but struggled with the ending - it is so out of left field that I didn’t see it coming, in reflection I think it is an interesting direction - certainly different from the author’s usual focus.
4 Stars ⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review.

I was really looking forward to reading this as the blurb sounded so good but afraid I didn’t enjoy it’s much as I thought.
The character of Lucy was ok but The Donk I just didn’t take to, he would go off on a tangent complaining about people with money etc, I wondered while reading if it was just the author talking.
There seemed to be a lot of stories in one that lost me though I would have liked to have read more about Lucy and what happened to her

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an advance copy of No Less the Devil, a stand-alone police procedural featuring DS Lucy McVeigh, set in the fictional Scottish town of Oldcastle.

Lucy and her sidekick DC Duncan “The Dunk” Fraser are part of operation Maypole which has been hunting a serial killer known as The Bloodsmith for seventeen months. The investigation is going nowhere when Benedict Strachan, who murdered a homeless man at the age of eleven and is newly released after serving sixteen years, contacts her asking for help, because “They” are after him. It’s not the time for distraction but she can’t help but be intrigued.

I thoroughly enjoyed No Less the Devil, which is an engrossing, straightforward read for 80% with the last 20% taking a decidedly conspiratorial turn along with the revelation of Lucy’s secrets. The contrast is stark, but kudos to the author for wanting to try and succeed in something different. It’s certainly interesting, even if I’m not sure I totally understood it all, and I certainly feel challenged in trying to discuss it without giving anything away.

The main body of the novel, Operation Maypole and Benedict’s escapades, is as absorbing as the author’s more standard offerings. The Bloodsmith’s crimes are brutal and his identity remains a mystery for much of the novel with the opening chapter throwing a huge spanner in the works. Where and how does it fit in? I got some of it right, but not enough to count and getting the answer propelled me through the novel as I turned over a myriad of possibilities.

The novel is told from Lucy’s point of view, so her perspective is what colours the reader’s view of events. She has a troubled past, both in childhood and more recently, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. The Dunk bears the brunt of her sarcasm, which is both biting and funny, but no one is immune, even if only in her thoughts. I would be interested to see how she gets on in the years to come.

No Less the Devil is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The Bloodsmith murder investigation is seventeen months old and going nowhere. The top brass have dumped the case on D I Tudor expecting him to fail.

But they reckon without D S Lucy McVeigh and her sidekick "The Dunk" who are revisiting the crime scenes and uncover new evidence. Meanwhile Lucy is fighting her own demons and trying to help Benedict Strachan a killer who was convicted at the age of 11.

Many twists and turns before we discover who the Bloodsmith is.

A strange but unputdownable book

What a crazy book, tricky to review without giving anything away. I felt like I was having a fever dream by the end of it! Typical Stuart Macbride in the black humour and subject matter but personally I didn't like the ending. It was perfectly executed so no complaints there, just left me with a goldfish expression of but....but...but at the end :-) Can't wait to discuss it with someone else when they've read it!

I absolutely love Stuart’s style of writing and was not disappointed with this. He has excellent and hilarious characterisation, exceptionally astute observational and sarcastic humour and this is the perfect accompaniment for the darker and gorier moments in the story. He also has a unique way of painting a scene down to the brilliantly expressive descriptions of noises (got to love a buzzzzzding for starters)
His appreciation of the detail of Police work, the comradeship and the ribbing is spot on and very welcomed.
Coupled with all of this the storyline was original and ingenious, despite the feeling I didn’t feel a hundred percent sure what was going on part of the time, but that is part of the fun of the ride. I think you’re enjoying messing with my head here…..
I wouldn’t say I was as connected with the lead detective as much as I was with the, completely mesmerising, McCrae and Steel combination of previous books, but, to be fair, they are a hard act to live up to and maybe I need to give Lucy more of a chance. She had all the hallmarks of a decent lead detective, with a tragic and complex childhood. I still can’t decide if this is slightly cliche or a deliberate cheeky nod to the (sometimes) predictable mould of other crime writers. All in all, thoroughly enjoyable, a real treat as I predicted.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. Stuart MacBride is the author of two series of novels featuring Logan McRae and Ash Henderson as well as a number of stand-alone stories & novellas. No Less the Devil is one of the stand-alone books (so far anyway), though it is set in the same fictional location as the Ash Henderson series.
Sergeant Lucy McVeigh & her sidekick DC Duncan (Dunk) Fraser are on Operation Maypole, trying to track down a serial killer - The Bloodsmith who has been active for 17 months. The interactions between Lucy & the Dunk are often very funny indeed in Stuart MacBride's inimitable style, as is the relationship between her and her boss DI Tudor.
So far so normal, though some of the scenes are gruesome in the extreme. However about two thirds of the way in the book takes an extreme turn-about - the nearest thing I can compare it to is the movie From Dusk Till Dawn, though here vampires are not involved. I won't say more for the risk of spoilers.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the book, though not an easy read - though I can see why some of the other reviewers have their doubts. One star knocked off for the, to me, somewhat implausible shift in relationship between Lucy and one of her main adversaries.