Garnethill Paperback – September 20, 2007

Denise Mina has become a favorite of mine. No spoilers here.Her female lead is a flawed protagonist who does make mistakes at times. All of the characters and situations are extremely HUMAN and realistic, and the devil is in the details when portraying that....she's got it down.Her descriptive language is perfect...not flowery, but direct and often humorous. Descriptions made me laugh a few times...they are artful and sometimes tongue in cheek. Same with some language. but she can also get emotional reactions that are not humorous...be ready.It is mind-boggling that this is a first novel.The setting is Scotland, and books are peppered with slang. Word use, especially spoken, is different from British English, or American, so you may spend a wee bit of time puzzling a few things out, or looking a few things up, until you get used to that kind of structure. I personally adore a setting with authentic language. It is NOT unreadable by any means.These are an excellent blend of mystery and thriller while also giving a clear look at modern social issues and a little of the past of Scotland. It's done so seamlessly that you will hardly know you learned things.

Denise Mina is my new favorite crime writer. For me, it's all about the characters. The pacing needs to be great and the mystery interesting and surprising, but the characters are what make you care. Mina's intriguing and unusual characters do the trick. Plus, she's a highly skilled writer to boot and always makes me laugh. I vote for Mina as the author with whom I'd most like to have a cup of coffee. Only a very interesting person could write like this.

First-time Denise Mina reader here so why not start at the beginning, right? On the plus side, this novel has a distinctly female perspective which makes it compelling and especially relevant. The writing evidences an abundance of talent. The story held my interest and I'd certainly describe the book as worthwhile. On the other hand, as a mystery, the book leaves much to be desired. There is so much superfluous and redundant descriptive prose that I was reminded of the pulp fiction practice of paying a penny per word. More significantly, although she does some sleuthing, the main character doesn't solve the crime: the police do, and they tell her who did it. What's more, they tell her about 70 pages or so before the author tells the reader. In addition, this reader, at least, had a very hard time understanding how in the world the crime that begins the tale could have come about -- having more questions than answers at the end of a crime novel is less than satisfying. An auspicious debut novel, then, but far from perfect.

Maureen O'Donnell comes from a dysfunctional family. She is dealing with a history of sexual abuse and trying to find her own way in the world. Maureen has a relationship with Douglas, a therapist, wh she has just learned is married and so she is going to end the relationship. Then Douglas is found murdered in Maureen's flat, and Maureen becomes a suspect. The investigation into the murder raises a number of issues from Maureen's past, and for a number of other people as well.Who murdered Douglas and why? There seem to be plenty of people with sufficient motive, but who had the opportunity? This novel deals with the uncomfortable world of victims of sexual abuse and how they relate to a world which has already let them down. So Maureen who is not trusting of others feels compelled to try to solve the question of who murdered Douglas herself - much to the chagrin of the local homicide detectives

This is such a good series I am surprised that the author is not better known in America. This book, is about a normal young woman, Maureen, who is not a "super sleuth", but is thrown into trying to find out who killed her boyfriend in her very own living room while she was out getting severely drunk. She wasn't trying to clear her name, like I would have expected, she just wanted to find out who killed her married lover right before she was going to break off with him. As you can guess, Maureen is not the perfect person that some authors make their protagonists, but neither is she all bad. Like the other characters in the series she is a combination of good and bad, strong and weak.The characters are well developed and very believable. The plot kept me up nights reading. In fact, when I finished this book I immediately started on "Exile" and after that "Resolution". These are all full novels, not skimpy novellas, so it is a testament to the draw of the series that I read them in succession without taking a break to read another genre from my voluminous "to read" pile.Excellent series. The only "improvement" I would make would be to add a Scottish-American English dictionary as I was lost on some of the Glasgow slang for the first book and a half.Highly recommended, but I suggest you read them in order as, although they can be enjoyed separately, they are really a continuation of a story.

The first book in this trilogy starts with an unlikely protagonist. Maureen is a damaged young woman, doing her best to live her life. Her mother is an alcoholic and can be dramatic and difficult. With the exception of her one brother, who is a drug dealer, her family is in denial about the abuse she received as a child from their now absent father. After a breakdown, Maureen went into therapy, and began dating one of the therapists at the first clinic she went to. When she wakes up one morning from a drinking binge with a friend, she finds her boyfriend murdered in a dramatic fashion in the middle of her living room. When the evidence points to Maureen, the police begin investigating in earnest. Maureen knows she did not do this, and is upset to find others, some of whom should be supportive of her, think she is guilty as well. Puzzling pieces come to light as she digs, finding connections to other women who were in therapy. Maureen must figure out who she can trust to find out the truth before it is too late. While not entirely likeable as a character, you appreciate Maureen's determination and wits. This is a gritty, dark tale that shows an underside to Glasgow.

Thank you, thank you, lovely Val McDermid for your generous and oh so accurate intro to this tremendous first novel. I have read the five Alex Morrow books, but went to this as it is DM’s first. What an accomplished first and, despite the author’s progression since, I like this far more. The character of Maureen, the (anti?) heroine is fascinating; her history is so important in so many ways. It is easy to use a history of abuse as a lazy shorthand for an avenging woman but this is not what this is about at all. Maureen’s stop-start forays into looking for the criminal and her difficulties in not turning to alcohol (yes, there is some but again, she doesn’t stop there) rings true to me. I worked with abused children and so often, their abused parents, mostly women and I loved the strength that this protagonist showed, as indeed, do so many in real life. Possible spoiler: the end is a bit of wish fulfilment, perhaps, but why not? This is a novel and even in reality, so many do have the strength to get past horrific histories, often paying a high price.Looking at other reviews, I didn’t struggle with the number of characters and, in fact, thought that this contributed to the authenticity (beginning to find this word overused and redolent of pretentiousness, sorry) as most lives have many people in them. I especially enjoyed friend Leslie, hope she returns.I haven’t mentioned the humour which had me laughing out loud at points; dark, perhaps but hilarious. I won’t forget a couple of the brilliant, if scurrilous one- liners. Being partly Scottish and a great fan of Ian Rankin as well as the estimable Val McDermid, I love the Glaswegian setting too. Have bought the other two in this series, but I will need to ration myself and not devour in one go. Hope to be as entertained and rooting for Maureen all over again. More power to the elbow of strong, funny women!

Recommended by such a giant as Val McDermid I felt this couldn’t fail. However I found it difficult to access. There was so much going on in the early chapters and so many characters it felt unmanageable. Its fast pacy style added to my unease about this book. There was a breathlessness in the writing which, if it is the author’s natural style,is her keynote but it didn’t add anything for me.

A woman wakes to discover her married lover lying dead in her front room, mutilated, and sets out to find the killer.In the process we learn about the protagonist Maureen’s own turbulent past as she struggles to come to terms with being a victim of child sex abuse.Highly readable and despite the grittiness of the context,it’s also blackly comic with a no-nonsense prose style that’s blunt and direct. Glasgow is brilliantly evoked in this compelling, fast-paced thriller, bringing the darkest corners of the city vividly to life.

This is one of those books that gets worse and worse, until a disastrous ending. The plot is silly, unoriginal and impossible to believe. The characters are uninteresting. I can't think of anything good about this book other than it's not fifty pages longer. Thank goodness.

I could not put this book down. The characters were so real I felt I knew them all personally, and Denise Mina made me really care about the main character and what happened to her. Fantastic.