I've enjoyed other JD Kirk books, but this one didn't pull me in. It began with a body on a mountain but then meandered through the mess of DI Logan's life, his meals, and repeated word usage. The ending felt prolonged, forced, and predictable. ( )

This is the fourth book in the Scottish crime series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Jack Logan.

Logan, in his mid-forties, transferred from Glasgow to Inverness in the previous year. He works with a team he has grown to know and like: Detective Inspector Ben Forde, Detective Sergeant Caitlyn McQuarrie, Detective Constable Hamza Khaled, Detective Constable Tyler Neish, and local Police Constable Sinead Bell.

Living in the Highlands, he has also gotten to know “the sheer range of precipitation the place had to offer. He’d encountered at least twenty distinct varieties of rain, from misty haze to pishin’ doon. Often all in the same day.”

Logan, as we are learning, is tough, determined, profane, and curmudgeonly, but like a father figure to his team - protective and supportive even as he makes sure he says positive things only begrudgingly.

The story begins with Logan and his team being called to a neighboring area near Glen Coe to help out after a body was found at the foot of Buachaille Etive Mòr, a mountain popular with climbers. The victim, Brodie Welsh, was 22 and living with Hannah Randall, with him he had a child. Hannah’s father, Fulton Randall, was near the mountain as part of a mountain rescue group when Brodie’s body was found and was able to identify him.

Logan’s team found out that Brodie was involved in drug trafficking, and this discovery changed the nature of the search for the killer. But as they got closer to finding out what happened, tragedy struck the team.

Evaluation: As with the previous books in the series, there are plenty of scary moments, twists, and tension at times so high you need to put the book down! This series is addictive for those who appreciate thrillers. ( )

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. There is always a few twists in the story and this is no exception. It was a pleasure to read and I thought it was great ( )

Not a bad installment in the sequence, my main concern is that a bit too many threads are left hanging at the end.

It seems more a first part of a bigger novel, rather than one on itself.

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