Review: Bad Samaritan by Michael J Malone

Bad Samaritan by Michael J Malone, March 2016, 298 pages, Contraband, ISBN: 1910192317

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

You know the excitement you feel when a book you have been waiting for for ages finally lands on your doormat? That almost overwhelming desire to drop everything you are doing and launch yourself into your book, mixed with a tingle of worry in case you end up hating it? That was how it was in my house recently, when BAD SAMARITAN arrived. Except it didn’t disappoint at all. Far from it. This book is every bit as fantastic as Malone’s earlier offerings and leaves you feeling ragged and breathless with emotion at the end.

Without giving away any spoilers, DI Ray McBain is back. He is still damaged and haunted by his dealings with Leonard and still wracked with the guilt of knowing he helped to put the wrong man behind bars for the Stigmata killings. His policing skills are still way below par but he is back. And his colleagues are as supportive as ever.

The story starts with the body of a university student being found on the street in Glasgow. She has been hit on the head and has plenty of forensic evidence on her but McBain is slow to find the killer and frustrated at his lack of success. Things are made worse for him when he is contacted by Joseph McCall – the young man who willingly took the blame for the Stigmata killings and is currently serving time in Barlinnie Prison. Joseph tells McBain that Leonard is back to his old tricks and that Stigmata will strike again. Needless to say, McBain is now even less happy than he was before and starts to fall apart at the seams. He has a panic attack and eventually gets forced to take time off to get his head sorted. However, being McBain he can’t let things go and gets dragged further and further into his own private cesspool of misery.

Knowing that Stigmata is after him, and getting ever closer, he struggles to come to terms with everything that has happened as well as what he must do in order to stop the killings before it is too late.

It is not often I read a book that is still with me days after I finish it. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times this has happened and BAD SAMARITAN is one of those books. Malone’s writing style is first rate and his ability to transport the reader into the world he has created is beyond compare. If you like books full of characters that are so full of life you feel as if you know them, then Malone’s work is for you. If you like darker crime fiction, with damaged heroes who are doing their best to silence their ghosts and make a positive difference in the world, then you are going to love DI Ray McBain; both in this book and the others he features in. Michael J Malone is a key contributor to the Scottish crime fiction scene. I am impatient to see what he gives us next!

Extremely Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, March 2016

New Reviews: Downie, Fitzgerald, Fredrickson, Lake, Leather, Malone, Molay, Rhodes, Rickman

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, one has appeared on the blog since last time, and eight are completely new.

In recent days, I've put a call out for a couple more UK/Ireland based reviewers and if you like copycat cover posts, here's my non-crime 'handy' display.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Susan White reviews Ruth Downie's Tabula Rasa which is the sixth in the Roman Britain Ruso series but stands well on its own;

Lynn Harvey reviews Conor Fitzgerald's Bitter Remedy the fifth in the Italy-based Commissario Alec Blume series;

Geoff Jones reviews Jack Fredrickson's Silence the Dead, based on a true murder story in Illinois;

Terry Halligan reviews The Moonlit Door by Deryn Lake, the third in her Reverend Nick Lawrence series;

Terry also reviews Stephen Leather's White Lies which is the latest in the "Spider Shepherd" series, now out in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Michael J Malone's Beyond the Rage;

Michelle Peckham reviews Frederique Molay's The City of Blood tr. Jeffrey Zuckerman the third in the 'Paris Homicide' series;

Michelle also reviews The Winter Foundlings by Kate Rhodes, the third in the Dr Alice Quentin series

 and Amanda also reviews Phil Rickman's stand alone, Night After Night.




Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Review: Beyond the Rage by Michael J Malone

Beyond the Rage by Michael J Malone, February 2015, 330 pages, Saraband, ISBN: 1908643706

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Another corker of a tale from the pen of the talented Michael J Malone, BEYOND THE RAGE is very different to what we have seen before from this author but only goes to show his ability to produce different writing styles – and all to equally high levels of brilliance.

BEYOND THE RAGE is about Kenny O’Neill. Kenny is a career criminal, albeit a loveable one, and a close friend of DI Ray McBain, the protagonist in two of Malone’s earlier novels. We have already seen him save McBain’s skin and now it is his turn to get into a spot of bother. McBain does feature in this novel, but takes only a very minor role - to satisfy those of us that are impatiently waiting for him to make a reappearance in a plot of his own.

Kenny had a troubled childhood. His mum committed suicide when he was a young lad and his dad ran off pretty soon afterwards, leaving him stuck with his aunt and uncle. Now, on his thirtieth birthday, Aunt Vi hands him a collection of letters from his dad and the contents turn his world upside down. Determined to trace the whereabouts of his dad, and discover the truth of his mum’s suicide, Kenny starts to make enquiries. He gets a bit side-tracked, though, when his girlfriend is badly beaten and he wants to help her out as well. In the process of sorting through the mess, Kenny finds out some truths that he rather wishes he hadn’t and the twist at the end leaves him, as well as the reader, gasping in surprise and disbelief.

All in all, this is a superb story and nothing short of the standard we are coming to expect from this talented new voice in Scottish crime fiction. If you’ve yet to read anything by Michael J Malone, then I suggest that you rectify that situation as soon as possible!

Extremely Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, February 2015

New Reviews: Brett, McNamee, Malone, Ramsay, Roberts, Siger, Welsh, Winspear, Yoshida

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, three have appeared on the blog over the last couple of weeks and six are completely new.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Mark Bailey reviews the latest in the Fethering series by Simon Brett, The Strangling on the Stage;

Lynn Harvey reviews Eoin McNamee's Blue is the Night, the third part in a loose trilogy;

Amanda Gillies reviews Michael J Malone's Blood Tears, the first in the DI Ray McBain series;

Terry Halligan reviews Blind Alley by Danielle Ramsay, the third in the DI Jack Brady series set in Tyneside;

Amanda also reviews Mark Roberts's What She Saw, the second in the DCI Rosen series;

Terry also reviews the latest in the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series by Jeffrey Siger: Mykonos After Midnight;

Michelle Peckham reviews Louise Welsh's A Lovely Way to Burn, the first in the "Plague Times" trilogy;

Susan White reviews Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear

and Laura Root reviews Shuichi Yoshida's Parade tr, Philip Gabriel.



Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Review: Blood Tears by Michael J Malone

Blood Tears by Michael J Malone, June 2012, 285 pages, Five Leaves Publication, ISBN: 1907869344

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This book is simply amazing! It’s one of those rare gems that catches you on the very first page and doesn’t let go. Written by another first rate Scottish author, BLOOD TEARS has been awarded The Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers and it is something every lover of dark and disturbing crime fiction should be aiming to read. A crime fiction debut for Malone, as well as his first in a series to feature DI Ray McBain, this book will leave you itching to get your hands on the next instalment – which, mercifully, is already published and waiting for you.

To give you a taster – a terribly mutilated body is found, bearing the wounds of the Stigmata. McBain and his team are shocked at the discovery but not as shocked as McBain himself when he discovers he has a connection with the deceased, who was a known paedophile and gardener at Bethlehem House; the Catholic children’s home where McBain had spent his formative years. For reasons as unknown to himself as they are to the reader, McBain is desperate to catch the killer. He hides the truth of his past from his bosses and carries on with the investigation, all the while haunted by terrible, repetitive dreams full of blood and floating white feathers. When the truth of his omission is found out, McBain is arrested as prime suspect but soon finds an opportunity to make his escape and flees, determined to avoid the police and catch the killer before it is too late. The truth he uncovers, about himself as well as the killer, disturbs him beyond belief and McBain is forced to go face-to-face with his own past in order to settle things in the present.

With its gripping plot, that touches on the delicate and horrific subject of the long-term effects of child abuse, this book does not let you off lightly and leaves you feeling dishevelled and exhausted. If you read just one book this year, then I suggest you make it this one. Both shocking and disturbing, while at time hilariously funny, BLOOD TEARS will have you hooked. I loved it!

Extremely Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, March 2014.