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Birthdays for the Dead

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Birthdays for the Dead

By: Stuart MacBride
Narrated by: Ian Hanmore
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About this listen

 Twelve years. Twelve dead girls. Thirteen will be unlucky for some. The Number One bestselling crime thriller from the award-winning Stuart MacBride. A bloody, brilliant and brutal story of murder, kidnap and revenge.

Detective Constable Ash Henderson has a dark secret…

Five years ago his daughter, Rebecca, went missing on the eve of her thirteenth birthday. A year later the first card arrived: home-made, with a Polaroid picture stuck to the front – Rebecca, strapped to a chair, gagged and terrified. Every year another card: each one worse than the last.

The tabloids call him ‘The Birthday Boy’. He’s been snatching girls for twelve years, always just before their thirteenth birthday, killing them slowly, then torturing their families with his homemade cards.

But Ash hasn’t told anyone what really happened to Rebecca – they all think she ran away – because if anyone finds out, he’ll be taken off the investigation. And he’s sacrificed too much to give up before his daughter’s murderer gets what he deserves…

 Crime Crime Fiction Crime Thrillers Fiction Modern Detectives Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Exciting Scary Emotionally Gripping

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Critic reviews

Praise for Birthdays for the Dead:

‘MacBride is a damned fine writer – no one does dark and gritty like him’ Peter James

‘The master of murderous mayhem is back to his best with a belter of a book … a page-turner’ The Sun

Praise for Stuart MacBride:

‘Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order’ Mark Billingham

‘Ferocious and funny, this is Tartan Noir at its best’ Val McDermid

‘Stuart MacBride’s thrillers just keep getting better’ Express
All stars
Most relevant
If I was reading this book I wouldn't have put it down until I finished it. Totally gripping the whole way through, excellent. Narration was superb

Birthdays for the Dead - Stuart MacBride

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Loved it from beginning to end, sat in my car listening to it could not bear to stop. Miss it and you miss a great book, from story, narrator, intrigue and humour.

Brilliant

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I found this a bit of a hard-listen, unnessecarily brutal and delibrately shocking. Furthermore, as the main character is hot-headed, impulsive, violent and unlikeable, I couldn't have cared less what happened to his little cow of a daughter. A I certainly didn't believe that a guy like that could be kept on as a serving police officer. Perhaps the author intended for me to feel conflicted? A middle-of-the-road book for me and it hasn't made me curious to read any more of his work.

Hard to enjoy

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Stuart MacBride’s work is always dark and violent, but in the Logan McRae series the author’s wit and humour creates an effective counter-balance. “Birthdays for the Dead” is just dark and extremely violent. There is no wit, no banter, no humour to alleviate the grimness. To be fair, the story is about child abductions, child abuse and murder, so the author may have felt that he should treat the subject with all the grimness it deserves. It makes for a very tough unrewarding listen. Definitely not my favourite Stuart MacBride. Wonderfully read by Ian Hanmore, as ever.

Grim, dark, disturbing and extremely violent - parents beware.

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One of my first audible purchases! I chose well! Stuart macBride is a wonderful writer, his characters have so much depth. I just can't put his books down.
I recommend the whole series.
Ian Hanmore is the perfect narrator for Stuart MacBride books.

Wonderful

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