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No Less The Devil

The unmissable thriller from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Logan McRae series

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No Less The Devil

By: Stuart MacBride
Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE CHILLING AND COMPULSIVE NEW NOVEL FROM THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR.

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

It's been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer 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?

Praise for Stuart MacBride:

'A brutal, visceral read, laced with the blackest of humour and travelling to some very dark places' Guardian

'A magnetic mix of creepy places, dark humour, horror and violence' Sun

© Stuart MacBride 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 Crime Thrillers Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Thriller Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Crime Suspense
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Critic Reviews

Wow. What a ride! MacBride has always possessed the ability to pull you into dark, gritty tales - served up with a large dollop of great characterisation and a side of dry humour. NO LESS THE DEVIL is no exception to that but, take my word for it, it is EXCEPTIONAL in one other major way. Hold on to your pants because you will NOT see it coming. A must read. Crime fiction that slaps you around the chops and demands that you sit up and take notice.
Stuart MacBride is an automatic must-read for me... always fast, hard, authentic - and different.
'A clever, disturbing story about a police officer with a terrible past and a hunt for a serial killer. As always, he writes with energy and colour'
There can be no question that MacBride is one of this country's finest crime writers.
All stars
Most relevant
I was so eager to hear this new work, but I was disappointed.
I found it hard to get into the story at the start, but I believe that was mainly due to the narrator. Her voice, while quite pleasant in and of itself, I found entirely distracting, and more suited to a children’s television host than to the narrator a “gritty” crime novel.
Eventually, I discovered that listening at 0.8 speed made the experience more bearable, with rather less breathy insouciance, but that had the unfortunate side effect of causing all of the male characters to sound like village idiots.
After some perseverance, and quite a few rewinds, I did get caught up in the story … only to find it went off the rails at terminal velocity in the latter stages.
I did not find the characters engaging or even amusing, as so many others are in previous works. My favourite character all through this was Charlie, and even he turned into a parody of himself, so I’d gone off him, rather, by the end.
The plot was elaborate and torturous, and so unlikely, even allowing that it is fiction, that it might more properly be called crime fantasy.
I really could not recommend this book, not even to die-hard fans.
I can only implore the author to bring back Logan McRae, or any of the other great characters from earlier works, and to PLEASE ensure that his books are narrated by someone with a voice more suited to the style … or even better, narrate some more himself, as I love listening to him read his own works!

Bring back Logan McRae!

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This sodding book is a sodding disappointment. There’s a serial killer who cuts his victims up and takes bits away; there’s a police officer on his trail who has just come back to work after a traumatic incident; there’s even a meat works with plenty of hanging carcasses. And every 4th word is “sodding”. So far, so Stuart MacBride. Then things start to get all weird. The main character appears to go insane and it becomes unbelievably tedious, and just plain unbelievable. There’s lots of people getting battered over the head and the narrator gets to scream a lot - which is pretty hard to take as it’s an ugly sound.

The plot loses it and the main character is no Logan McRae or Ash Henderson; she’s barely likeable when it comes down to it. And she goes “arghhhhhhhhhh” way too much.

Disappointing.

What a sodding disappointment

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This is classic Stuart MacBride!
Police work and psychosis combined.
I wish I hadn't read the reviews as I would've not come in with low expectations. In any case, I'm glad of this purchase!
The narration isn't as wanting as reviews lead you to believe. I think as the book went on, the narrator got a good feel for the story and her characters.
This one will get a 2nd and 3rd listen from me.
I hope this leads to a series! The twisted characters really developed and I'm wanting more!

Don't let the reviews fool you

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I personally didn’t enjoy this very much. First half was good. The story became a bit predictable in the second half. Lacks the humour I’ve come to expect from MacBride’s work. Well written but didn’t appeal to me personally. Narrator was good but not a patch on Steve Worsley.

Not the Usual Stuart MacBride

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really enjoyed this book, Stuart McBride at his best , highly recommended, nicely narrated

brilliant

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