I have read and enjoyed a few books by Mr MacBride but this one has me in a quandary as whilst it had me on the edge of my seat at times, there were also times when it didn't.

For the majority of the book it appears to be your 'usual' hunt for a killer story with excellent characters, intriguing plot and twists but then it develops into something else which, I can only say, had me reading with my mouth hanging open and wondering if I had stumbled into an alternative universe. I can't go into detail here as it will give the game away but what I will say is be prepared!!

This is a dark and gritty read that you definitely need to keep your wits about you and your mind open and I must thank Random House UK / Transworld Publishers via NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in order to share my thoughts.

This is by far the most unsettling and intricate story I’ve read in a long time. From the first page, you are immersed in the story, in the thoughts and actions of Lucy McVeigh and her partner ‘the Dunk’. Well, he’s a DC but aside from useful for driving the car and running errands, he is not yet a very sharp and insightful policeman. On the contrary. We follow Lucy and Dunk all over Oldcastle and back, trying to find serial killer The Bloodsmith before he strikes again. Already five bodies have been found, not only dead but also horribly mutilated. To make Lucy’s life even more difficult, all her superiors are insisting this case should be solved very, very quick and there is also the matter of Benedict Strachan, who’s been in prison for eleven years after confessing to the murder of a homeless man. He desperately wants Lucy to help him. And if this not enough already, Lucy is tormented by her own memories, including the loss of her parents and her best friend after an event so gruesome she doesn’t want to think about it anymore.
Well, Lucy does her utmost to follow all the leads they have, starting with revisiting the homes of the victims where they indeed find some clues to work with. These clues take them to such unfamiliar places as the homes of Benedict’s parent and to a very, very posh school for gifted children. Soon after Lucy and Dunk make some progress, there is another spanner in the works because now Lucy seems to be followed, not only by a suspect, but also by Charlie, a policeman from Professional Standards.
So far, nothing points us readers in the direction this story is finally taking. That is, if you miss the small hidden clues throughout the story. And of course, you need to be on your guard when reading a book by MacBride, because he’s a master in leading you one way, and the plot another. Still, as many other readers/reviewers, I was not completely prepared for what happened after the first shock. What can I say? This book touches a lot of subjects, neither of them very nice. But together they make for an astonishing reading experience.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for this review copy. (I immediately bought the paperback because this is a book to be re-read soon.)

EXCERPT: Lucy stopped.

That feeling of being watched had returned, even stronger than before.

She spun around.

There - standing on the corner, twenty feet away, where the road played host to another row of crumbling warehouses. It was the man in the corduroy jacket. The one who'd been outside the cottage this morning. The one who'd got away.

Not this time.

ABOUT 'NO LESS THE DEVIL': 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?

MY THOUGHTS: 'We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.'

If you don't believe that the human mind is the most dangerous place on earth, you are probably not going to get the most out of this book. Stuart MacBride delves into the deepest recesses of the mind: PTSD, paranoia, delusions, hallucinations and psychopathy. Delicious stuff for me!

Set in the fictional Scottish town of Oldcastle, MacBride treats us to a new protagonist, DS Lucy McVeigh and her sidekick, the very out of condition DC 'the Dunc' Fraser, a bit of a whinger, but a good hearted one. Lucy has, of course, a traumatic past, but it turns out to be a bit more traumatic than we first think. Which is part of the problem. If it is a problem. It may be her salvation.

I couldn't help thinking, as I got to the end, that Lucy may have made a deal with the Devil, and we all know the Devil likes to come out on top. He just might have met his match in Lucy. This is definitely going to be an interesting series.

Now for those of you readers who don't have a great deal of psychiatric knowledge/background, there comes a point a little over 3/4 of the way through the book when you're going to be thinking 'wtf?' I thought that. I thought 'Has Stuart MacBride lost his marbles?' The short answer is no, he hasn't. Stick with it. Go with the flow. It will all become clear. Or clear enough . . .

MacBride goes in hard and fast with No Less the Devil. There's no fannying about. No sitting around drinking cups of tea and eating scones. It's breathtaking.

Lead on, Mr MacBride. I'm following.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#NoLesstheDevil #NetGalley

I: @stuart.macbride @randomhouse

T: @StuartMacBride @randomhouse

#contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #mentalhealth #murdermystery #scottishnoir #thriller

THE AUTHOR: Stuart MacBride lives in the northeast of Scotland with his wife Fiona, cats Gherkin, Onion and Beetroot, some hens, some horses and an impressive collection of assorted weeds.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of No Less the Devil by Stuart MacBride for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Having enjoyed previous Stuart MacBride detective novels I was looking forward to enjoying ‘No Less the Devil’. Certainly, the MacBride trademark elements of fully drawn characters, intricate plots, and the sparky relationships between lead characters were all present and correct. And yet, somehow, some key elements were missing. This book defeated my effort to simply go with the flow of the narrative; previous enjoyable MacBride novels have maintained a fluency even when the plot may move quite sharply from scene to scene or from character to character. In this book, however, the fluency never really became established. As for the final section, there was certainly vintage MacBride action narrative that moved the story along at a pleasingly hectic pace. However, the lead character - through whom the story is told - appeared to be experiencing a whole series of psychological disturbances that disrupted the plot even more. It was hard not to conclude that the author might have been suffering from post-viral hallucinations while writing this section. Not perhaps MacBride’s finest effort, for this reader.at least.

3.5 stars

Stuart MacBride is not a new author to me so it was a surprise when I had a bit of difficulty getting into No Less the Devil. When I did though, it was full steam ahead.

You know what to expect when you pick up a book from this author and this one is no different.

Near the end, the story took on a different persona almost and this impacted my enjoyment of the story from that point in.

However, for any reader that likes crime thriller, this one is definitely for you.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Transworld Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘No Less the Devil’ by Stuart MacBride in exchange for an honest review.

This is the latest work of Tartan Noir from Stuart MacBride set in the fictional city of Oldcastle that has featured in his previous novels.

Just a few plot details to avoid spoiler territory:
Operation Maypole is the task force set up to capture the killer known as the Bloodsmith. It’s been seventeen months since his first victim and the police are still no closer to catching him. With the media whipping up a storm and the top brass demanding results, everyone is concerned that the investigation is sinking fast.

Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh and her partner, D.C. Duncan ‘The Dunk’ Fraser, are assigned to revisit the Bloodsmith’s crime scenes. Yet Lucy becomes distracted by the case of Benedict Strachan, who was only eleven when he hunted down and killed a homeless man. After sixteen years Benedict has been released though he is frightened and convinced that a shadowy 'They' are out to get him. He begs Lucy for help.

Lucy is already under considerable stress as there is a representative from Professional Standards seemingly following her every movement and a campaign of harassment against her linked to a previous case. With all this going on can she and the Dunk make the breakthrough needed to solve the Bloodsmith case?

While this is only the second novel by Stuart MacBride that I have read, I was impressed by its strong characterisations and dark gritty plot. There was also plenty of great dialogue and wry gallows humour.

Stuart MacBride does take the narrative into an unexpected direction that has divided his readers. Personally, I applaud authors taking risks and I certainly plan to read more of his writings and look out for news of his future projects.

Another brilliant book by Stuart Macbride. Elements to keep you guessing and the usual grit you’d expect.

I enjoyed this and would recommend it to other Macbride fans, but who need a new character to get to know.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Another excellent thriller from Stuart Mcbride.Like the rest of his work,it’s Complex and dark with an excellent cast of characters, well written. Fast paced and enthralling with an unexpected twist. A real page turner as you expect froM Stuart

I love MacBride’s books; I have all of them but this one…

The Bloodsmith killed their first victim 17 months ago & the police are no nearer catching them. The team has gradually been reduced & the powers that be are distancing themselves whilst demanding that the case is solved.
DS McVeigh is involved in the ongoing case but she is also distracted by the return of Benedict Strachan. He was 11 years old when he & an unknown accomplice killed a homeless man. He is now a free man but claims ‘They’ are after him.

80% of this book is pure MacBride - great plot, fabulous characters & plenty of acerbic & slapstick humour. The final 20% is a mismatch & will divide his readership - more like a Wes Markin tale (who I also love but not in MacBride’s writing!). Fantasy to the fore & I felt it didn’t fit. I was invested in the story & where it was going but in the end I lost interest. I finished it but meh.

This is the first MacBride book that I have not loved & I hope it isn’t a sign of things to come.

A super hard book to review without giving spoilers, but let’s go with intense and deeply creepy, along with another selection of the characters that Stuart MacBride does so well. Bit of a deviation from some of his other books in style, but really enjoyable nonetheless.

3.5 rounded up to 4

For my birthday last year my daughter bought me The Coffin Makers Garden, my first Stuart MacBride book, and I absolutely loved it. Since then I've started to work through his back list so when I saw he had a new novel available I was really excited. This excitement continued for the first 3/4 of the book. I absolutely love MacBride's dry sarcastic wit. I usually listen to his books on Audio as the inclusion of the songs from the radio is pure comedy genius - it has caused me to laugh out loud while wandering the food aisle of M&S, meaning I have received a number of strange looks (especially since my earbuds are usually hidden by my hair.

Anyway, back to the book. My first disappointment was that this is an Oldcastle novel but it doesn't follow on from the other Oldcastle books, there is no Ash Henderson and no Alice McDonald - Dr McFruitloop (one of my most favourite characters EVER).

We have a few threads going on here - crazy posh kids murdering homeless dude, the Bloodsmith murdering people, removing organs and writing in their blood, DS Lucy McVeigh being terrorised by a stalker while struggling with PTSD plus there is a recently released child killer who is convinced that someone "they" is out to get him and so he needs protection. It was sometimes difficult to keep up with all of the different threads that were going on and I did need to concentrate.

And then we hit the twist. We all know that with any good thriller there'll be a twist, and this was no exception, I didn't see this one coming - and I didn't like it. I felt like the ending kind of let down the rest of the book.

It kind of reminds me of Stephen King's The Stand, it's a really long book and then you get to the end and go WTF just happened. I'm not happy with that. Now granted, the hand of God didn't come down and wipe out Oldcastle but still, it would have got 4.5 or 5 stars with a stronger ending.

Complex and dark thriller with an excellent cast of characters. Fast paced and enthralling with an unexpected twist.

I am usually a big fan of Stuart MacBrides novels , however I found this one hard going.
Rather like " The Curates Egg " good in parts.
I am sure others will have enjoyed it, though sadly for me it did not live up to my expectations.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for allowing me the opportunity to read this one.

3.5 Stars
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.
Another well written book with strong characters & a well paced story, it’s not a short read by any means & things look to be heading to a conclusion at about three quarters of the way through then it veered in another direction, which left me a bit gob smacked & I think it would have been better to have concluded without this twist. Not my favourite read by the author.
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I always love books by Stuart MacBride and this is no exception although it does take a rather different twist towards the end.

As always you can expect gruesome murders and very dark humour but with a different detective -LucyMcVeigh and her partner (not) in crime Duncan..

I share my love of Stuart MacBride with my dad so I’ll be popping out to buy him a copy

What a read!
Especially liked the conversations between Lucy and 'the Dunk',their interactions I really enjoyed reading.
The descriptions of the rundown police cars,the buildings and places I really felt I was transported there.
A huge twist partway through totally had me going wow did not expect that.
A brilliant storyteller.

3.5 stars rounded down
I really don't know where to start with this book. If I were to review on, say, the first 80% it would be a completely different review to the one where I added the rest... And I am still not sure I enjoyed the whole book.
I did however love the most of it, until it all went a bit weird on me.
DS Lucy McVeigh is gritty and tenacious and so is the ideal person to be on the case of the Bloodsmith, a 17 month old case that is basically going nowhere. But it isn't the right time for her to be distracted by the release of a man who was incarcerated as an eleven year old child for killing a homeless man. Now 27, Benedict Strachan has never told who was with him at the time. He is paranoid and is really struggling with life on the outside and goes to Lucy for help.
Lucy is paired with "the Dunk" who is quite a character and a bit larger than life in many ways. Lucy has a bit of a past that is still affecting her and which she is getting help for, off and on. But as well as being gritty and tenacious, she is also maverick and appears to have been singled out by Professional Standards for special treatment. She also has a stalker. Yup...
It follows the usual crime novel pattern for most of the book. Lucy and the Dunk follow the clues, unearth the secrets, gather suspects, cross the line, all that stuff. And they do it very well. Ably assisted by an eclectic cast of miscreants and misfits, aiding and abetting their endeavours.
And I really enjoyed this part of the book. Trying to guess ahead, working out my own feelings about what was happening. Trying to connect with Lucy who was pretty disjointed and hard to pin down. Which we discover the reasons for later...
And then it all got weird and the author lost me. And I lost interest. As it all degenerated into farce. Shame cos I was really enjoying what I was reading up to that point. But although I could accept some things, it all went a step too far for me. But I did finish the book. Just. And it won't put me off the author, especially his amazing Logan McRae and Ash Henderson books.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I suspect this one is going to divide the fans of Stuart MacBride’s fiction. In No Less the Devil, we are in the familiar territory of Oldcastle and the crimes are just as dark and full of grit as you’d expect. The writing is fabulous. Full of satire, wit and the sharpest of observations; this time we have new members of the Police Scotland force based there.

DS Lucy MacVeigh is a very proficient police officer. She is struggling though after a very brutal incident in her past which is still affecting her. Her boss is making her see a therapist, but she resists with every fibre in her being.

MacVeigh is partnered with D.C. Duncan ‘The Dunk’ Fraser, an unfit smoker with a chip on his shoulder and an appetite reflected all the way down his uniform. We learn that Lucy is dogged by the repercussions of that incident in her past. In particular she has made an enemy in Sarah Black, the mother of Neil Black, a vicious predator. Is it Sarah Black who stalking Lucy? Lucy still has bad headaches and moments where she phases out but she powers through these.

Oldcastle Police are struggling to make advances on a case that has been splashed across the front pages and discussed by the media for a long time. The Bloodsmith as he has been dubbed kills his victims in the most horrid of ways, leaving a message behind to identify his handiwork, not that it is needed. His signature is too gory to belong to anyone else. 5 dead bodies and not a single lead nor have they found any discernible connection between the victims.

With a year and a half since his last victim the police are chasing shadows and getting nowhere. ‘Operation Maypole’ is a failure and they know it. So the ‘highheidyins’ have passed the case onto D.I. Alasdair Tudor and his team and that’s what Lucy and Dunk Fraser are assigned to.

Starting from the beginning to examine the cases with fresh eyes Lucy and Dunc begin to take a fresh look at the case by revisiting each of the victims and re-examining their homes and the crime scenes.

Also simmering in the background is Benedict Strachan, a child killer who killed a homeless man when he was just 11 years old. He confessed, but though the police knew he had an accomplice, he has always refused to do anything other than take full responsibility for the crime. Recently released from prison, he is convinced someone is out to get him and has sought Lucy’s help to protect him.

In MacBride’s trademark fashion there’s a lot of humour in this dark tale. Some of it is biting satire, some much more slapstick. When Lucy’s stalker slashes her tyres, she is reduced to using her late father’s Bedford van – bright pink with a much misunderstood logo…

About half way through this story I started to think that not everything was quite as it appeared. Soon after, hints were dropped that confirmed that suspicion and from then on things took a different turn and we were on a rollercoaster ride.

With Lucy’s boss pressuring her to get results and make sure she takes time to see a therapist for her PTSD, Lucy finds she is also being dogged by Professional Standards following accusations made by Neil Black’s mother.

What really works for me though is the combination of Dunc’s running commentary on the class system and inequality and the absolute portrayal of the governance of the country as depicted through a fee paying school with a very long reach.

It is on this level that MacBride’s satire really takes off as he takes an excoriating look at privilege, corruption and the criminal justice system, among others. Lucy McVeigh is certainly an interesting character to add to Oldcastle’s array of misfits and MacBride laces his dark, visceral book with comedic farce and black humour as he takes us to the dark places in the minds of some very dangerous people.

Verdict: I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. When it comes to hitting his targets, MacBride doesn’t miss and hit the wall and there’s a lot of social commentary here that I really enjoyed seeing through the prism of the Oldcastle police force.

The first Stuart MacBride book that I read was ‘The Coffinmaker’s Garden’ which I really enjoyed and so I was looking forward to reading his latest. However, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting especially near the end, and I admired the author for having the confidence to take risks and not write a more conventional thriller. ’No Less the Devil’ begins with two young middle class children, Allegra and Hugo, cornering and murdering a homeless man in a derelict building in local woods. This is a killing that will end up entwined with Operation Maypole, the 17 month ongoing Bloodsmith murder investigation. DS Lucy McVeigh and her sidekick, DC Duncan Fraser aka the Dunk are part of the team. She is edgy, irritable, takes pills for headaches and is suffering from PTSD. The Dunk dresses like a ‘60’s beatnik and spouts forth on equality and redistribution of wealth etc.
Lucy and one of her friends were the victims of a violent prolonged assault from which they escaped by her killing their assailant. However, his mother, Sarah, has dogged Lucy ever since by claiming that it was murder. Dr McNaughton, Lucy’s therapist is unhelpful, and she describes the chains that he wears around his neck as ‘he rattled like Marley’s sodding ghost.’ She also has Charlie from Professional Standards following her round despite her frequent attempts to lose him.
She and the Dunk decide to launch their own investigation and revisit the crime scenes of the Bloodsmith’s victims to see if there are any links between them. They were all isolated people who no-one seemed to miss or notice or care that they had just dropped off the radar. Their research leads them to the very posh, slightly sinister, local fee paying school, St Nicholas, which is no Hogwarts and produces future leaders and movers and shakers in its own determined and unique way. . St Nicholas was the school that she almost got into, but her father couldn’t afford the fees and she now feels a strong sense of what might have been as she’s shown round.
But Lucy is convinced that she’s being stalked as she sees the same middle aged man outside her home or in the street watching her.
She’s also involved with an ex pupil of St Nicholas, Benedict Strachan, who killed a homeless man when he was 11 and is now out of prison. He believes that ‘They’ are after him and Lucy tries to help. But when Lucy and The Dunk find a connection between the victims will it be too late to stop the Bloodsmith from carrying on his killing spree?
There is a lot of very black humour in ‘No Less the Devil’ which I really liked and was also present in ‘The Coffinmaker’s Garden.’ The exchange between Lucy and an over enthusiastic cosmetic saleswomen in a chemist spoke volumes about her and her life. The alliteratively named food stalls and wagons from which Lucy and The Dunk subsist on gut expanding fast food and the cheap shops such as Angus MacBargain which are always trumpeting their wares. A homeless woman’s greyhound is described as ‘toast rack thin’ and The Dunk is off to spend an evening watching ‘an am dram musical version of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ which sounded like an evening to forget. One of the highlights was when Lucy and the Drunk were circling the house of a suspected Bloodsmith victim with Charlie reminding Lucy that she couldn’t just break in. The Dunk is singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and as he reaches the high notes of the refrain ‘we will not let him go’ Lucy makes her decision. These little vignettes leaven the atmosphere of a very dark tale.
However, 80% of the way through, there is a huge, and for me, unexpected twist and the ending was very shocking. I imagine that it won’t please every reader, but I admired the author’s daring in being able to pull it off. MacBride is playing mind games with the reader and, as Lucy sets off in a different life, I did think that I’d like to read more about her. However, this had the feel of a stand alone book which left me feeling a little disappointed. Lucy and The Dunk seemed such a dream pairing. But I read this at one sitting as I just couldn’t put it down.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Well this is my second Stuart MacBride book. The last one I read (the Coffin Maker's Garden) was a four star read from me, so I was looking forward to getting to this one.
The premise of the book was good, interesting and clever. However, I do have some reservations recommending this one to the same degree based on the ARC.
Up front I would say that some of it was lost in my Kindle formatting - perhaps - as the twist was a little lost and confusing at the time. It wasn't clear when Lucy was dreaming and when she wasn't. I'm sure this will be resolved in the paperback/hardback release but please ensure this comes across clearly in the final Kindle version too as it spoilt it for me and turned what was intended to be a very clever twist into something that was just plain confusing.
Overall once you understood what was going on the concept was good - and clever. Lucy and her side-kick Dunk were a good combination of characters roaming around trying to catch a serial killer that's eluded the police for a while. while Lucy was also being constantly pestered by both Internal Affairs and the need to see her therapist.
If the formatting is resolved - I'd recommend this more certainly. As it stands in the ARC it's three stars from me.
Many thanks for the ARC.