Book Review: A Song For The Dying by Stuart MacBride

A Song For The Dying

By Stuart MacBride

A song For The Dying is the sequel to Birthdays for The Dead  and is definitely as thrilling, compulsive and poignant as its’ prequel.  After reading Birthdays I was concerned that the darkness that made it so compelling would signal the demise of those wonderfully vibrant yet different characters Ash Henderson and Alice MacDonald. 

We left Birthdays with Ash at his lowest point; both daughters murdered, himself fitted up for his brother’s murder, a close friend and confidante dead, divorced and penniless … where was he headed from there?

In A Song for the Dying Henderson is two years into his prison sentence, kept there not for his brother’s murder but because the long arm of that delightful money lender Mrs Kerrigan (everyones favourite grandma) reaches within the prison walls to make him look like a troublemaker. 

However the resurgence of a serial killer that Ash failed to stop years ago is his Get Out of Jail Free Card; he is brought out of prison to work as part of a lateral investigative team incorporating Alice Macdonald the psychologist to try to stop the killer now.  As also has his own agenda- he wants to kill Mrs Kerrigan.

Stuart MacBride

Again, I question the snobbery that values genre fiction less than literary fiction.  MacBride is a beautifully evocative writer – his descriptions are powerful, his characters vital and diverse and his plotting tight and convincing.  The only difference that I can determine between a Song For the Dying and literary fiction is the pace… for each MacBride page pulsates with energy that drives the novel forward.

So, if you like your crime dark with a bit of shortbread, this is a must for you.

Available on Amazon: £8.49 HB and £7.47 Kindle (PB due in August 2014 £6.41)

ALSO

 THE COMPLETELY WHOLESME ADVENTURES OFSKELETON BOB

Also, in a sideways move, as part of the Million For a Morgue campaign Stuart Macbride has released a children's book called The Completely Wholesome Adventures of Skeleton Bob  

This book, both written and illustrated by Stuart MacBride is fantastically funny.  It features a skeleton whose mummy knits him a pink button suit so he blends in.    His father ... well... I'm not going to tell you who daddy is - you'll have to buy to find out.

As an ex Primary school teacher I can in all honesty say that MacBride hits just the right note of scary, funny and disgusting to keep kids totally absorbed.

Peter James recommends the book saying:

 "MacBride shows his wonderfully sick and twisted mind is every bit as capable of scaring and distressing children as it is adults!.  This is a  brilliant, funny and gorgeously illustrated story - a real gem."

If you go to www.millionforamorgue.com website 100% of proceeds go to the campaign and postage is free.  Cost £10.99