Member Reviews

This story was a real puzzle which gradually opened up. Lots of very dfferent characters and non stop action. Its not who you are but who you know!!

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This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

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Wow, now wasn't this a ridiculously twisty tale??

Malkie is back with another case to be solved, and this time it involves a high-ranking Scottish police officer. What was her role in a case from decades ago? And will Malkie ever stop blaming himself for what happened to his mum?

A very good story where we find out the lengths of what one person is prepared to do, for another. And Malkie shows us his softer side :)

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing.

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last to die was a super great page turner!!!! very well written and i thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish

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Thank you for allowing me to review this book. This story demonstrates how Police procedures can both help and hinder the solving of a murder. Set in Scotland, Malkie is a DI who operates on his own agenda, which has irritated his colleagues and the senior officers. He has been told to curb these tendencies or risk losing his future. He is also dealing with personal trauma surrounding his role in the death of his mother. This case is a mystery, why did he find a dead man, when it was an old lady who had been reported to have been a victim? Several more bodies are found before the case is solved. Athough I found the story gripping, I did quite quickly guess who might be at the top of the chain, although not all of it was so clear cut. Malkie and his DS Steph are well written. Their relationship and back stories are incorporated well & I'm sure we will learn more in the next book.

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Last to Die is a fast paced mystery set in the world of policing in Scotland. I really loved the setting, I thought the characters were great and nuanced, I loved the twists and turns of the tale and I especially loved that our MC is not your typical star - he’s a bit of a grumpy and tortured soul really.

But ultimately, the reason this only got 3 stars from me is that I saw this whole story coming from a mile away. I saw every ‘twist’ and every ‘turn’ coming and that just really impacted my ability to enjoy this.

I hadn’t read the first book in this series but this can definitely be read as a stand alone so don’t worry too much about that. Although, as is almost always the case, I am confident there were lots of easter eggs here which would have had a bigger impact if you’d read the first book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

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This was a fast paced crime thriller that I didn't want to put down. This was the second book in the series but read great as a standalone.

The series follows DS Malcolm McCulloch aka Malkie, a detective sergeant with the Livingston police department. His characters development throughout the story I great and.i enjoyed him as the MMC. The plot twists were good and unpredictable but nothing too crazy or jaw dropping. I look forward to the next book in the series.

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I loved this book so much that I read it in one sitting. I had to know what was going to happen. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat with this book. I would definitely recommend this book.

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I really enjoyed this second book by Dougie Sinclair and I am looking forward to reading more mysteries that need solving.
well written and easy to follow the story.

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Oh my goodness, this was a fantastic book! DS McCulloch has his good days and bad days. There are some memories that he is trying to forget, but he is not able to. He keeps trying to remember, but the memories remain elusive. But now, there is another case to solve, and this one is going to take all the talent he has to figure out.
When an elderly police woman goes missing, everyone fears the worst, but when a younger criminal is found, instead of the body of the elderly woman, McCulloch is confused at first. How could an older woman get the jump on a much younger man? Is there something that they don't know about this woman?
As more bodies begin to turn up, the case takes a more serious turn, and there are some clues hidden in blood - clues that lead back to where they started.

Could not put this one down! I was hooked from the start. Look forward to reading more in this series.

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I really enjoyed this second book in this series and I absolutely look forward to future books. I loved the mystery in this book and it sucked me in from the very beginning.

I live the character of Malkie and I liked seeing his growth from where he was at in the first book and I would love to continue seeing him grow on his journey.

I can’t wait to follow him on more mysteries.

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A great read it kept me interested all the way through. Loved all the dead ends and clues. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

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Last to Die was my first introduction to this author and the DS Malcolm (Malkie) McCulloch series, although it turned out that this is the second book in the series. The main character is a very outspoken detective sergeant with the Livingston police whose great sense of justice and his problem to curb his tongue when he sees injustice done brings him in regular conflict with his superiors.

When an old lady, a former police officer is attacked and goes missing and a criminal with a long criminal record is found nearby it appears to be a robbery gone wrong. But why is the old lady missing? Pretty soon other former police officers are killed and a second person goes missing. All have links to a 40 year old case where a young girl was released from prison and died of hypothermia.

This book is a fast paced story with lots of interesting characters. The plot twists are interesting although until the very last couple of pages I kept thinking that some plot lines would be unresolved but in the end the author management to bring everything together convincingly.
Apart from the main story there are also some interesting things going on in Malkies private live which give an even deeper dimension to the book and which make me want to read the first episode in the series too and makes me look forward to next instalments.

Thank you to Storm, the author and NetGalley for an advance copy of this great thriller.

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Another fantastic gripping read by Doug Sinclair. A book that I found hard to put down once I had started to read.

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I like this series, Malkie the main detctive is an interesting character with his own problems. These cases are quite intricate and concern the past and present time. and revenge. It does come together well though it takes a bit of concentration to sort out who everyone is and their relation to others in the book. A great read and I look forward to reading more
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

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Humans tend to believe what we're told. And when a previous police investigations names a young police woman as responsible, and she left the force, no questions were asked, and it fell into the memory books. But now Malkie arrives at this former policewoman's house to find out that a young man was apparently attacked at her home and fled and died, and she appears to have gone on the run. He's not sure what to believe. But as another murder with ties to the former policewoman occurs, he starts to wonder if there was more to the old investigation than anyone realized, and if it could have dominos effects today. This is a super twisty thriller mystery, as more clues and red herrings lead the reader on a merry chase, as Malkie and his team deal with more and more strange occurences, and the appearance of a serial killer. How are they tied together, are they they same person? They'll have to suspend preconceived notions to solve these cases! Don't miss this new series!

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This was certainly a police procedural with a twist!
My first read from Doug Sinclair and it certainly won't be the last. Doug, you definitely CAN do this writing lark!

When it came to the characters, I loved reading so much from other points of view and not just the main law enforcement character. The fact that we could see inside the minds of victims and perpetrators alike as well as our main hero's, was both fascinating and in turn puzzling, as you still didn't get told 'who done it', until the end. I loved the reality of the situation too, being that sometimes the police can do a thankless and exhausting job and it feels like they are going absolutely nowhere fast. The reality of corruption in the police and the very real struggle for women in the force, especially in the 60's and 70's was well done, as was the fact that some people could do absolutely horrific things to ensure that reputations remained untarnished, and sometimes the bad will go unpunished because of modern policies and politics.

I enjoyed the pacing and found it very hard to put down. Although I hadn't read the first in the series, it wasn't necessary to, as the important information was leaked to you in bits and pieces throughout the book. Malkie was a very realistic character who (as is common in modern people) tortured himself unnecessarily with blame and other psychological factors that often weren't his fault. I liked the banter and relationship between him and Steph and appreciated that the author is revealing bits about all the main characters throughout the series that have nothing to do with the crime storyline. It makes the characters so much more realistic.

All in all, it is a book series that I can see myself following closely to make sure that I don't miss out. 4.5 stars from me!
Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read and review this title.

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The story is well written with plenty of plot twists and turns to keep you from guessing the ending.

Thank you to Doug Sinclair, NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the arc of this book

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Livingston is perhaps a change from the Glasgow/Edinburgh often crime strewn streets, but the choice of location only moves the action a matter of miles and changes little.
Decent read and plausible characters.

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Malkie McCulloch, a demoted, disillusioned detective sergeant, struggles to follow the rules. His life is falling apart around him and a complicated case is the last thing he needs. When he is called out to a fatal stabbing, he expects to wrap things up quickly. When he finds a trail of blood leading away from the body he follows it back to a nearby house and sees a man attacking an elderly woman. As he tries to intervene, he is knocked unconscious and comes round to an empty house.

Worried for her safety, he knows that he has to find the woman and begins to dig. He discovers that she is a retired police officer who has already been reported missing... 45 years earlier! Malkie discovers that she left the police under a cloud, after a young woman she released on New Years Eve, froze to death in the park. As he tries to find Crosbie, he realises that others who were on duty that night are also dying.

This was a gritty read, which I enjoyed enough to go back and read the first book in the series.

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