#WinterChills ‘Random’ by Craig Robertson

About the book…

Glasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter. The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed.

If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him. But as the police, the press and a threatening figure from Glasgow’s underworld begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel – with horrifying consequences.

Published in paperback by Simon and Schuster UK, this review of ‘Random’comes courtesy of my ridiculous back catalogue of books bought, stored and not read as it was originally purchased in 2011!

Honestly, if there were awards for people going ‘ohhh that sounds like a great book, I will take it home and curate it for 110 years’ then I would definitely be getting some special mention.

Anyway, as you can see by the synopsis, this is a gritty, deeply Scottish novel told from the perspective of the Cutter, interspersed with an epistolary style ‘alternate’ perspective in the local newspapers, occasional third person narrations from Rachel Narey-great name-and sundry underworld figures, as well as a journalist who is being drip fed the connective tissue between the killings..

As dark, gritty and violent as this novel is, there is a necessary juxtaposition with the grief inflicted on the Cutter by the thoughtless actions of one person, from which the whole series of murders stems.

In taking the protagonists first person narrative, the reader has this insight into the whys and wherefores of each supposedly ‘random’ killing and how it fit into an overarching plan. It humanises this individual -trying to avoid spoilers here!-his means, and motivation as well as his obvious distaste for the way he is trying to achieve an end goal from getting justice, as well as turning members of the Glasgow underworld on each other.

The calling card of the Cutter is to remove a finger , but when this is not quickly enough picked up on by the police or public, a back and forth begins between the killer, the police and the media where an insane triangle of communication creates dark and wry humour that had me chuckling and then checking myself for appropriateness of response.

The use of Scottish vernacular really drives home where this book is based and becomes almost bigger than just the setting, this is a book you can only imagine being set in Glasgow as it’s communities , its underbelly and its social strata comes to life with the turn of each page.

Some may say that having the killer revealed, like it is in Columbo, lowers the stakes on finding them but this is a cat and mouse chase where both sides are given equal weighting and you challenge what you think of their motivations, several times over before the brilliant, and shocking ending.

Kicking myself at why I took so long to read it, the hook drew me in and , being a serial book adulterer (shh, don’t let the others know I am cheating on them!), this was the rare occasion where book monogamy was in in a big way until I finished the final page.

Craig Robertson also writes as C.S Robertson.

My review of ‘The Undiscovered Deaths Of Grace McGill’ under the name C.S Robertson can be found here

About the author…