60. Bloodshot by Stuart MacBride

The pounding rain of Aberdeen, Scotland is predominant in the third thriller by Scottish writer MacBride. Detective Sergeant Logan McRae is suffering under his superior, Detective Inspector Steel and her team of screw-up cops. Logan is extremely busy these days – he is involved in tracking soccer star Rob Macintyre, who is the prime suspect in a series of brutal rapes, and a porn star soon turns up dead following a horrible crime. To top it all off, an eight-year-old boy is on the run after killing an elderly man. Logan’s live-in girlfriend, Police Constable Jackie Watson, is growing increasingly distant to Logan as she works the Macintyre rape case and when Macintyre is found severely beaten, Logan wonders if Jackie is to blame.

At times bleak and at times funny, this series keeps getting better. There is a lot going on during the book all at once, but MacBride expertly keeps readers on track. Readers will sympathize with Logan and his wanting to do better for his team and solve the crimes, and his relationship with Jackie is explored more in this book than in the two previous books. MacBride is also the author of Cold Granite and Dying Light, and is a perfect Scottish crime author to explore if you love Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. He also has a great web site, http://www.stuartmacbride.com/en/, with photos of Aberdeen, including photos of real places featured in his first book, Cold Granite.