A Taste for Malice - Softcover

Michael J. Malone

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907869751 ISBN 13: 9781907869754

Publisher: Five Leaves Publications, 2013

Synopsis

DI Ray McBain is back at work and on filing duty. Desperate for something to do, a pair of old files intrigue him. In the first a woman pushes her way into a vulnerable family. The children adore her. At first. Then she has some 'fun', which soon becomes torture and mental cruelty. Then she disappears. Meanwhile, in Ayrshire, another young family is relieved when a stranger comes into their lives to help them out. McBain makes the link, but nobody is interested in what he has to say. Is it even the same woman? This is the second novel to feature DI Ray McBain. Blood Tears was published in 2012.

About this title

Review:

We were very impressed with Michael J Malone's 2012 debut crime novel, 'Blood Tears', which introduced the highly dysfunctional protagonist (even by the standards of the genre) Detective Inspector Ray McBain. So we approached 'A Taste for Malice' with some trepidation: would Michael J Malone be able to produce a second novel that lived up to the promise of the first? The answer is a clear 'yes': he has. He has also produced one of the more unusual detective novels we can remember reading. Most crime novels kick off with a dead body within the first few pages, and build from there. What is particularly fascinating about 'A Taste for Malice' is that the story does not revolve around the tracking down of a killer or serial killer. Yes, there is a murder between the covers, but it's very much 'off stage', and DI McBain's involvement is only peripheral (though it is also critical). But the central story, which develops in two parallel strands that steadily converge as the book moves towards its climax, deals with something altogether less wholesome. We first encounter DI Ray McBain as he returns to work after the events in the earlier novel. The physical scars he has been left with are healing, but the mental scars still run very deep. McBain has other problems. His superiors do not wish to risk his fragile mental health by exposing him to the full rigors of the work of a Detective Inspector, so he is attached to a team led by a man who used to be his junior officer, and tasked with administrative tasks that have little interest and no challenge for him. One of the files he looks at deals with the harming of two children by a woman the family thought could be trusted to look after them. Then another similar case emerges. McBain sets out to discover whether the two cases are linked, behind the backs and against the wishes of his senior officers. Meanwhile his personal life is as chaotic as ever, and he also begins to fear that his nemesis from 'Blood Tears' may be waiting in the shadows. In parallel we follow the story of a family having difficulty coping with the mother's loss of memory in an accident, and their befriending by a young woman. The reader's suspicions that all is not right build steadily, and the two strands of the story come together very satisfyingly in a conclusion that offers some genuine surprises. --Undiscovered Scotland

...a stark and gripping storyline... He's got the knowhow, the knowledge of police work and the machinations of detective work and its trials and tribulations... --Scots Magazine

All of the elements which made Blood Tears such a compelling read are here too, the effortless prose and the piercing insight which creates characters you not only believe in but actually feel for, and of course, there s McBain, attractive despite his flaws, given to moments of intense introspection leavened by a downright bawdy sense of humour. He s one of crime fictions more credible detectives and I m looking forward to seeing how he develops as the series continues. This is a very different book to Blood Tears, less violent but far more unsettling, because instead of a twisted killer it presents a destructive force which hides behind a perfectly amenable exterior, the kind of person you might actually allow to look after your kids or a sick relative. It invites questions about how easily we trust strangers who are designated as carers and cleverly subverts the conventional portayal of sadists, showing just how damaging small acts of violence can be. Deeply disturbing and emotionally charged, A Taste for Malice is a must read for fans of psychological crime fiction. --Loitering with Intent

About the Author:

Michael J Malone is well known in Scotland for his poetry (once being a poet in residence in a sex shop). His first crime fiction, Blood Tears, was reprinted within weeks of publication. His book of interviews with leading Scottish public figures, Carnegie's Call, was published in October 2012.

About this edition

• Publisher: Five Leaves Publications
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1907869751
• ISBN 13: 9781907869754
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 370