By my calculation the fifth in the Logan McRae series, Blind Eye is MacBride on top form. There is always a temptation for writers of series to take their protagonist out of his usual setting, and MacBride gives into that temptation here, sending Logan to Poland to follow up leads. More often that not, relocating our hero is unmitigated disaster. Not so here: whilst the story could certainly survive without the excursion, it is probably the better for it.
Someone is going round gouging the eyes out of Polish migrants in Aberdeen. Grampian Police find a stash of weaponry. They find Simon McLeod, brother of Creepy and son of the appalling Ma McLeod, another victim of the Oedipus killer. And DI Steel wants Logan to impregnate her wife.
MacBride is the darkest of Tartan Noir, saved from unremitting gloom by equally dark humour and an obvious love for the Granite City. The very last line expresses it perfectly: "That's what happens when you fuck with Aberdeen."
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