I finally read this book after much harassment from my husband as he was convinced it would be right up my street; he wasn't wrong. A detective story set in Scotland with a supernatural theme.....my favorite. The plot was a really slow build that came to a hurtling end. The author is good friends with one of my favorite authors (Stuart MacBride) who's Logan McRae series is both hilarious and excellent. James Oswald shows shades of Stuart MacBride in his writing and I can only imagine he will get better over time.

The story itself while really well put together was easy to solve, some clues that were blaringly obvious to the reader seemed to be missed by Inspector MacLean, that being said it did not detract from a completely enjoyable read. As with all Scottish detectives MacLean is slightly morose but not to the extremes of Ian Rankin's Rebus who I cannot read as I just end up walking around seeing doom and gloom everywhere. He also doesn't have Rebus's drinking problem which was a happy change.

The murders themselves were delightfully described so there wasn't any doubt at them being horrific but its a detective story and they are generally quite graphic so be warned if you're at all faint of heart.

4 stars for the easy plot solve and what I'm convinced is an error written about the sequence of events and how they happened in one of the last chapters. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series and look forward to more MacLean, Grumpy Bob, DC MacBride and Angus.