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  • A Song for the Dying

  • By: Stuart MacBride
  • Narrated by: Ian Hanmore
  • Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (775 ratings)
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A Song for the Dying cover art

A Song for the Dying

By: Stuart MacBride
Narrated by: Ian Hanmore
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Summary

A heart-stopping crime thriller from the author of three consecutive No. 1 bestsellers, including Birthdays for the Dead and the DI Logan McRae series.

He's back... Eight years ago, 'The Inside Man' murdered four women and left three more in critical condition - all of them with their stomachs slit open and a plastic doll stitched inside. And then the killer just…disappeared.

Ash Henderson was a Detective Inspector on the initial investigation, but a lot can change in eight years. His family has been destroyed, his career is in tatters, and one of Oldcastle's most vicious criminals is making sure he spends the rest of his life in prison. Now a nurse has turned up dead on a patch of waste ground, a plastic doll buried beneath her skin, and it looks as if Ash might finally get a shot at redemption. At earning his freedom. At revenge.

©2014 Stuart MacBride (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"MacBride is the natural heir to the late and much lamented Reginald Hill." (Andrew Taylor, Spectator)
"MacBride is a damned fine writer - no one does dark and gritty like him." (Peter James)
"Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order." (Mark Billingham)
"Some of the grittiest crime-writing in the field." ( Independent)
"Admirers of tough, modern crime novels will be in seventh heaven - or should that be hell?" ( Express)
"Ferocious and funny." (Val McDermid)
"Hard-hitting prose with a bone-dry humour and characters you can genuinely believe in, Stuart MacBride's novels are a real treat." (Simon Kernick)

What listeners say about A Song for the Dying

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Vile crimes, awful language - got to be MacBride!

What made the experience of listening to A Song for the Dying the most enjoyable?

Ah I love MacBride! If you've read anything of his before then you'll know what to expect - absolutely monstrous crimes set in Scotland, generally atrocious weather (although he does seem to be perking this up recently) and a lot of dark cop-humour and swearing! I find that MacBride is top of his genre and I never tire of his stories. This is an 'Ash Henderson' novel and whilst I do prefer his 'Logan McRae' series due to a couple of extra amazing characters (DI Steele is pure gold!!) and the fact that there is unrestrained foul language and black comedy in them, something that seems slightly toned down in the Henderson series, I do thoroughly enjoy Ash Henderson and it's nice that MacBride is starting a whole new 'family' of characters to get to know. I can't fault this book or the author, absolutely love it!

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The best narrator for Scottish Novels

I discovered the Stuart MacBride novels after finishing listening to others narrated by Ian Hanmore. This is a great listen, made even more enjoyable by Mr Hanmores fantastic voices and intonation. The story is gritty, a bit gory but totally enthralling. I want more from these characters, and I want them brought to life by Ian Hamore!

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dark and compelling

I hoped we'd see Ash and Alice again after Birthdays for the Dead, but wasn't sure how.... although this tale stretches credulity sometimes, who cares. Its a really good read, even through all the darkest gut-wrenching bits. As has been said elsewhere, Ash is a real anti-hero, you shouldn't like him but he is so well-written that you understand the demons driving him, and can see past his awful behaviours into his humanity. I thought Alice was better developed too, although still not sure I understand their relationship! Ian Hanmore's performance was excellent, I loved all the characterisations. Excellent book - love both the Logan and Ash series from MacBride.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this but not as much as a Logan McCrae

This was an excellent story and was well read. There is not as much of the light relief that you get from the characters in the Logan McCrae books. I wonder if our Stuart has been on an NLP course recently?

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gritty entertainment

Ash is a very grey 'hero' - short tempered, aggressive & unremorseful, he doesn't seem that far away from the criminals he chases. The most unbelievable bit for me is that he doesn't strangle Dr Alice, a doctor who talks about 'tummies' & is so little girly that she could never survive either the medical or the police world. Other than that, entertaining but gory.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

It could have been better...

Would you listen to A Song for the Dying again? Why?

Yes, because I struggled to follow the events.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Song for the Dying?

Every interaction between Henderson and Sabir (?).

What three words best describe Ian Hanmore’s performance?

Good, but confusing

Any additional comments?

For just about the first time since using Audible I thought the audiobook was let down by the performance. The first problem is that Mr Hanmore does not sufficiently distinguish different characters, of which there are many. In a book with long series of conversation without an indication who the speaker is, I found this a substantial source of confusion. The second issue is the actor's way of dealing with grunts and mumbles from gagged characters. I thought this was over the top -- several times I wanted to shout, "stop now!" Related to these issues is what was surely supposed to be background noise (singing) in the home of the child molester, which was performed more loudly than any conversation taking place at the time. Given the darkness of the story, I thought these irritations detracted from the overall experience.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Grisly, filthy and brilliant!

Another Ash Henderson triumph. Enjoyable in a ghastly way and read brilliantly by the wonderful Ian Hanmore. Lovely stuff!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Q
  • 07-03-17

Spellbinding

Tough gritty
Plot swirling unputdownable!!
Just another feather in the Macbride hat
Roll on the next one

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Twisting violent story but so good

The story is full of unloveable characters with violence and disturbing accounts of child abuse and yet manages to be intriguing and sometimes funny. Great plot and perfectly performed too. This author has a great style. Highly recommend

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

violence

Although a good story i found the excessive violence in this book was rather too much for me.

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2 people found this helpful