Blood on his Hands

The pacing was just right keeping me on my toes, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. There wasn’t even a second to get bored and in spite of being a new author to me, I felt very comfortable with his writing style. I did get a hint of the way the tale was plotted halfway through the book. But the real deal was the manner the thread was detangled to get to the culprit at the end. I, for one, was surprised by the killer’s identity. The characters were all real, especially Carmichael. He wasn’t made out to be perfect but with flaws which made him interesting and easy to relate to. I found the cast to be intriguing with their interactions and their responses to the situations. All in all, the story made for a delightful and suspenseful read which I would recommend if you are looking for new authors to try out in this genre.

I love a good, gritty crime book, and what better way for one to start than for a man covered in blood to come running into a church, confessing to a murder?! This book’s plot is filled with surprises and unexpected twists, and the blurb is completely right: It did keep me guessing right up until the end! I read a lot of crime books, and love having a guess at ‘whodunnit’ whilst I’m reading, but never before have I changed my mind so many times whilst I read a book! There are so many suspects to look at, so many curveballs thrown into the investigation, it’s impossible to make a guess and stick with it! And with dead bodies turning up left, right and center, it’s down to DI Carmichael and his team to figure it out, and quick. There’s such a colourful array of characters in this story, all with their own quirks and personal dramas on the go. From the detectives, their families, down to the victims and suspects and their respective families, too. There was a good depth to each of them, no one really felt like a ‘filler’ character. This is book 8 of a series following DI Carmichael, which I can’t believe I have only just discovered! I am now keen to go back to the beginning and read them all. I think Ian McFayden has quickly worked his way onto my list of favourite crime writers!

This is a really gripping murder mystery and one with a lot more details than I have ever read before. My usual crime fiction reads are a little shorter than this, but author Ian McFadyen has told this story in full with loads of description. I did like this, as the story felt very realistic and the reader is almost a fly on the wall, but at times it felt a little repetitive as the detectives repeated what they had learned and the clues they had so far. Of course, this is what real detective work must actually be like, and there must have been a great deal of research into the process involved, so this is a criticism only down to my personal taste. “Blood on His Hands” is a well detailed, gripping piece of crime fiction. I was kept guessing who was responsible for the increasing body count right up until the end. It’s 4 stars from me!

Though this was book eight I read this as a stand-alone and this in no way spoiled my enjoyment of the book. The back story was explained enough to let the reader carry on reading. This was a slow burn of a book but the quality and the storyline made me eager to keep reading and I will be eager to read more in this series! As I said slow to start but once it gets moving and the body count starts to rise the reader is gripped. The quality of the writing is of an excellent standard and the characters are all well rounded and essential to the plot. What is unusual in this type of book is that DI. Carmichael works with a small team, but they seem to get the work done. Carmichael himself comes across as a superior and all-knowing boss. A throwback to an earlier time. An excellent read that has me eager to read more of this series. Give it a go!

I really enjoyed this story and found it to be well developed and well written and I liked the punchy length of the chapters. It did take me a little while to get into the story but after a few chapters, I found that I was really enjoying it. I thought that the characters were well developed and they worked well together. The book read fine as a stand-alone to me and I didn’t feel that I had missed out too much by not having read the previous books in the series but I would like to find out more about Carmichael’s history and his back story so I will be looking to check out the other books in the series. This is the first book that I have read by this author despite it being the eighth book in the series and having read it now, I know it won’t be the last one that I pick up!