Another great addition to the series.

These are genuinely good books. Great stories. Great performance by the narrator. A good dash of humour too.

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A great follow up to an excellent series of books

A family curse, the desire to cure this curse, and to keep this cure from others, is our main storyline in this book. Treachery, family secrets, double crossing, misdirection, taboos, and murder. Everything you could want in a crime novel.

I should make it clear that my review is based on the unabridged audiobook, so some of my comments might not be relevant to the paperback or Kindle version. However, the only comment on the narrator is that you can clearly tell when one day’s recording ends and the next begins – his voice drops an octave or so over the day. Then when he starts the next day’s recording his voice is much higher and fresher. His range of accents and emphasis is excellent.

Like most of the Frey & McGray books The Loch of the Dead feels just ever slightly too slow to get going, we spend longer than is necessary setting up storylines before we get to the action of the main plot. Whilst it is fun that the story is set outside of Edinburgh it loses a little something in the process too, it feels slightly more dislocated than the preceding books. By only having the manor and islands to use as the backdrop some of the atmosphere is lost, particularly with the constant use of shadows and darkness in the house. This is an interesting motif, but gets a little tiresome after a while, there are only so many ways you can describe darkness.

The use of piano playing to set the mood is a clever idea that I enjoyed, it became as if the book had its own soundtrack built in, playing only in your mind. Oscar’s love and knowledge of music is again clear. It is however a shame there are none of the usual background characters who add some of the extra flavour, like Madame Katerina. We do meet Frey’s uncle but he seems rather one-dimensional, besides one revelation that is interesting but adds nothing to Frey’s overall backstory.

There are spoilers from this point on.

The family is suffering from a ‘curse’ that can only be cured by drinking human blood. It’s a fabulous storyline that flows excellently. A curse that follows families down through history, driving them mad, ruining their bodies, and leaving them in never ending pain. Those who also enjoy medical books may be spotting that this is in reality the inherited condition Porphyria, first discovered and described in the period The Loch of the Dead is set in – McGray certainly learned a lot in his very short time at medical school. Porphyria can indeed be alleviated (although never cured) by being injected with Haematin, a compound made by synthesising haemoglobin found in blood.

This is a brilliant move by Oscar de Muriel, and his symptoms fit; burning in sunlight, mental illness, stomach or abdominal pain, seizures, and weak bodies that look like the undead (some believe Porphyria was the original cause of the vampire myth).

Also, whilst Benjamin’s storyline is interesting it does feel slightly underdeveloped, as does McGray’s sister’s storyline. The only other negative is that the ending is slightly too long, it drags out for a few more chapters than is needed.

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Brilliant

I loved this book immensely. The series ours getting better and better with each new book and I'm becoming more fond of the characters with each one. Brilliantly written and brilliantly read.

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Beat one yet.

This has got to have been the best story yet. Each book gets better and better and more intriguing. Love the characters and the relationship between Fray and Mcgrane. I didn’t want it to end. Can’t reccomend enough.

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Thoroughly entertaining

I love this series, historical fiction with a supernatural flavour is a winning combination for me and I found this , the fourth book in the series very entertaining and interesting ( from a scientific point of view )

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Fabulous, as ever

Another amazing adventure, absolutely love these two entertaining characters - can’t get enough of them, and all brought to life by such fabulous narration.

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Awesome!

Andy Secombe really brings the characters to life. Great stories and plots. Love these books.

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This book is the best of the series.

The character development and the narration alternating between both characters works well.
A compelling story.

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Brilliant Story

I really enjoyed this tale, lots of twists and turns making it addictive listening.
Nine nails was up to his usual rough, amusing comments.
The narrator after was great as usual too.

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The accent was hard to handle

I've enjoyed reading the earlier books in this series, but decided to get this one as an audio book. I won't be doing that again. The narrator's Scottish accents were just too over the top. Maybe I was more sensitive to it because I am Scottish but it was seriously annoying at times.

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