A well written engaging mystery, but easy to figure out who the killer was while still having over 200 pages left in the book. ( )

SWEDISH REVIEW

Utan tvekan är Bödelns sång den bästa boken hittills i serien av kommissarie McLean. De två första böckerna var även de bra men det var något med denna bok som verkligen tilltalade mig, som gjorde att jag sträckläste boken under en dag. McLean har det som vanligt inte lätt på jobbet, han har en ny chef som hatar honom och ifrågasätter allting han gör och är mest intresserad att så snabbt som möjligt avsluta fall. Så ett självmord är något som McLean inte alls borde forska i. Men det gör han och han inser att något inte stämmer och när fler självmord inträffar måste han så snabbt som möjligt finna den gemensamma kopplingen så att han kan få stopp på dem.

Som vanligt är det ett drag av paranormalt i boken och det är just det paranormal som gör serien så speciell och är skäl till att jag gillar serien så mycket. Ett anant skäl är humorn i boken. Trots det mörka temat i boken så fäller McLean och andra så otroligt härliga kommentarer hela tiden, det gör att boken är nåde spännande och roande att läsa. En kombination som jag gillar.

Jag tyckte om att Emma var tillbaka i handlingen så snabbt efter vad som hände med henne i förra boken. Hon har blivit en favorit karaktär, i och för sig gillar jag rätt många, men just allting som rörde henne i boken var verkligen intressant och jag gillar verkligen Emma och McLean tillsammans.

Bödels sång var mycket läsvärd, jag önskar att jag kunde läsa nästa bok på direkten men får vänta på att den översätts till svenska. Jag rekommenderar denna serie stark till läsare som gillar annorlunda kriminalare.

Tack till Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

I think that The Hangman's Song is the best book I have read so far in the Inspector McLean series. I do of course, like the previous books very much as well. However, there was something with this book that really appealed to me. I liked it so much that it only took a day for me to read it. McLean has, as usual, it not easy at work. He has a new boss that really hates him and that's always questioning him and just want cases close as soon as possible. So a suicide case is not McLean should be investigating, but he feels that something is not right and then more suicides occur and he has to find out what is connecting the suicides before more bodies are found.

As usual is there a paranormal part to the story and it's the paranormal part that makes the series so special to read and also a reason for me liking the series so much. Another reason is the humour. Despite the dark theme in the book are there many funny one-liners and dialogues in the book. This makes the book both thrilling and funny to read. A combination that I love.

I liked that Emma is back in the story so fast, especially when you think about what she went through in the last book. She has become a favourite character, although I do have a lot of favourite characters in the series. But, I do find that everything concerning Emma and what happened to her and how it has affected her is fascinating to read about. Also, I do like Emma and McLean together.

The Hangman's Song is a very good book, I wish I could read the next book right away, but I must wait for it to be translated into Swedish first. I recommend this series warmly to anyone that likes to read a different kind of crime novel.

Thanks to Modernista for the review copy!
( )

The catastrophic events that closed out The Book of Souls, James Oswald’s previous novel in the McLean series, continue to resonate throughout The Hangman’s Song, the third in the series. DI Tony McLean, never a favourite of his CO in Edinburgh CID, Detective Superintendent Charles Duguid, has been transferred to the Sexual Crime Unit (SCU), where he is busy investigating a sex trafficking case. However, this does not prevent him poking his nose into three suicides by hanging. Suicides, especially obvious ones, are not normally of concern to CID, and Duguid regards Tony’s inquiry as a waste of both time and resources. But to McLean’s sceptical eye, there’s something off about this cluster, which seem staged to look like isolated events. Sure enough, a search for linkages turns up suspiciously similar suicide notes along with evidence that the rope and knots used in each death are identical. In the meantime, McLean’s personal life has hit a snag. His girlfriend, crime scene photographer Emma Baird, grievously injured in the previous novel after her encounter with an unhinged murderer, has awakened from a coma but with no memory of Tony or herself, and has reverted to a state of childish dependency as she struggles to become reacquainted with her own identity. Feeling responsible for what happened, Tony has taken her into his home and arranged for her care and treatment. Tony McLean remains an attractive and engaging protagonist. Haunted by a tragic past (parents killed in an air accident), he was raised by his grandmother, who is recently deceased but left him with a considerable inheritance. A dogged investigator who can’t pass up an opportunity to dig deeper for truth where others are happy to settle for surface facts, Tony’s brooding and stubborn nature continue to land him in all kinds of trouble with the prickly Duguid, a narrow-minded bureaucrat and something of a bully who is incapable of deep thinking and can’t fathom why McLean pushes the envelope on suicides that should be wrapped up and filed away in short order. Oswald’s narrative is long and intricate and unfailingly entertaining from start to finish, bristling with evocative descriptions of the damp and dour Scottish landscape and lively with sardonic observations on love and other human foibles. The resolution is satisfying if somewhat open-ended. Three novels into this stellar crime series, James Oswald again has not disappointed, leaving the reader anticipating further adventures. ( )

Completely absorbing. I was up until the wee hours; I just had to finish it. DI McLean and colleagues investigate several murders; all have same M.O.: hanging and knot exactly the same in each case, also no rope fibers under the victims' fingernails. These are anomalies; McLean suspects murder, not straightforward suicide like it would appear on the surface . He also investigates the murder of a pimp. Is it possible the death of his partner's caregiver might be a murder also, orchestrated from afar? That particular question is never answered to my satisfaction. I wish there had been a short glossary giving the full names of the various acronyms for us who do not come from the U.K.

Highly recommended. ( )

This is the third book in the Tony McLean series and I have to say they just keep getting better and better...this one was excellent. In spite of his unorthodox investigative methods...Inspector McLean has a case solve rate that can't be disputed even though his superiors often try. The characters are so full of individual personality that you have no problem liking some and totally disliking others. The books have a touch of the occult, that makes them all the more intriguing. Anyone that is devoted to Ian Banks or Stuart MacBride will want to give James Oswald a try. ( )