A Litter of Bones (DCI Logan) by JD Kirk

A Litter of Bones is the first in the DCI Logan series by JD Kirk. I knew of JD Kirk from his parallel existence as a humorous sci-fi writer.

So I was curious about his style would transfer to gritty Scottish detective thriller. Impressively, it transferred incredibly well. There is still humour – usually from character interaction – but the tone is darker with some truly gruesome moments.

The story revolves around a child kidnapping that is uncannily like one that had happened 20 years before. Was it a copy-cat? They had caught the original kidnapper / murderer 10 years prior, or at least so they had thought.

The main character is DCI Logan, a burly cop who doesn’t take shit, but is likeable. As is often the case with thrillers, a lot rests on the main detective. Logan is a great character who thankfully doesn’t have any ridiculous quirks.

Logan now works for Glasgow’s Major Investigations team but when there is an identical kidnapping with the same MO, pictures of the kidnapped kid, letters, etc, he is called to the Highlands. If the similarities to the original case continue, then they have two days to find the missing child.

The storyline is pretty straightforward, but there are some great twists and reveals later on.

However, what really makes the book work are the characters. Logan is great, but so are the supporting cast. Although this is JD Kirk’s first book, he does have a lot of experience as a writer. And it shows. I have bought the second book in the series and can only imagine the story is set in the Highlands again, or a lot of great characterisation has been wasted.

I won’t give away any spoilers, so I will stop waffling. I don’t read many thrillers, but this was a lot of fun. JD Kirk has created an incredibly popular series (now 15 books) and I look forward to the reading them.

You can check it out here. Enjoy.

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