Black Isle-based writer keeps hero on mission to clean up Police Scotland
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It's time to check back in with Detective Sergeant Max Craigie and his team hellbent on flushing out corruption from Police Scotland.
Blood Runs Cold, is the fourth book in the series from ex-Met covert and surveillance specialist Neil Lancaster.
And the winning combination of authentic dynamics from the team taking on the cache of embedded corrupt operatives rotting Police Scotland from the inside out, makes for the writer’s signature page-turning reader experience.
For Highlanders, the landscapes of home are once again where we find our Black Isle-based writer pointing Max.
Here, Max is drafted in to help locate a vulnerable Albanian teenager, Affi, who goes missing on the top of Fyrish hill.
Rescued as a 12-year-old from delivering drugs for her paymasters, Affi’s idyllic second chance in the Highlands comes to an abrupt end when she is kidnapped while out for a run.
For Max, boss Ross Fraser, work partner DC Janie Calder and tech-specialists Norma and Barney, it doesn’t take long to work out there is something bigger going on they need to get a handle on – and fast.
As Max says: “So where are the rest of them, all these other girls in almost exactly the same situation? Who is leaking this stuff? It’s not only one perverted cop, is it?”
We are never allowed to forget the size of the mission Max and team have taken on within Police Scotland: “I think we can make things better in Scotland by actually looking for bent cops and those that profit from corrupting them... If we don’t look, we won’t find!”
And we get to hear the voice of the 'inside man' tracking and trying to stay one step ahead of Max's investigation.
As ever, the writer never lets us underestimate the criminal enemy either – in this case it's the Albanian crime boss nicknamed ‘Kirugu’ – the surgeon, for his brutal violence.
But counterbalancing the convincingly authentic dark stuff, there’s the banter of dedicated staff using black humour as a shield. A bonus in this outing is the fun had by the writer with the pseudo-rapstarspeak of young Highland would-be gangster Lewis MacPhail.
All the time, Lancaster's signature high-speed plot keeps the chapters flashing by with the odd devastating twist to keep you on your toes.
Blood Runs Cold (Harper Collins HQ) is out this week (April 13) on e-book £3.99, hardback, £13.99.
Neil Lancaster will be in conversation with writer Mark Billingham at the Cromarty Crime And Thrillers Weekend on Sunday, April 23, 9.30am at The Stables. Details:
