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“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster
And when you gaze long into an abyss then the abyss also gazes into you”.

With those words from philosopher Nietzsche, we get a glimpse into the soul of Detective Sergeant Max Craigie, in this, the first of the series featuring Max and his colleagues in the Serious Organized crime team at Gartcosh, Scotland.

Max is a serious cop, a man who has faced trauma, both on the job, and in his previous time with the military – and it has left it’s mark. Looking for a new beginning, Max has left the London Met and taken up shop in Scotland, where he now comes home to a remote cottage with idyllic views after spending his days battling the darkest criminals of the Scottish underworld.

Thick with detail, this procedural novel rings with authenticity, as we follow Max, his partner, DC Janie Calder, and his boss, DI Ross Fraser, along with a whole host of homicide unit specialists, through the investigations of a series of brutal murders.

Along the way Max uncovers a centuries-old feud, a horrific crime family headed by a monster nicknamed “the Peeler”, and a river of corruption, extending deep into the darkest corners of the Police Services itself.

Tightly plotted, tensely paced and filled with action, this book reads like the best of Jack Reacher meets Harry Bosch (or better yet, Inspector Rebus) – with D.S. Max soon finding himself a lone-wolf cop facing a momentous and deadly task, surrounded by enemies with no clear sense of who can be counted on to help him.

My stop on the #HQStories #Blogtour for #DeadMansGrave by @NeilLancaster

A great big thank you to the author, and HQDigital for an ARC of this book. All thoughts provided are my own.