Oldcastle has its very own serial killer the "Bloodsmith" ,who has evaded capture for some time .
D.S. Lucy McVeigh assigned to the murder squad along with partner DC Duncan Fraser (The Dunk) .Together they try and piece together the murders of the killer and try to form some sort of pattern in a bid to try and make headway in his apprehension . Thwarted at every move with personal difficulties they get closer and closer.

Another dark but witty thriller from Stuart MacBride with a confusing and psychotic overtone where nothing is as it seems. This leaves the reader short of breath in its pace and somewhat confused as well.

Have been a big fan of Mr MacBride for some time but I am afraid that No Less The Devil left me totally confused what started as a seemingly normal crime story became weirder and weirder as it went on sorry Stuart please bring back Logan McRae .

Stuart McBride is one of my favourite authors but I'm afraid I found this latest novel just too clumsy.

McVeigh is a talented detective but is troubled. By the end she is seeing people, having imaginary conversations and blackouts. And yet continues to function with no-one discovering what she's doing, even though they are supposedly worried about her and she is under the care of a therapist.
By the end of the novel it was such hard work and so confused, I had really lost interest.

I am an avid fan of Stuart MacBride's writing with his authentic characters, interesting plots and elements of humour.

In 'No less the Devil',' Lucy McVeigh is tasked with finding the 'bloodsmith' who is responsible for at least six murders and keeps the hearts as trophies. With 'Dunk' as her trusty sidekick. I loved the way he was painted as unfit, strugging to catch his breath at the top of the stairs. Lucy seems to have had a troublesome childhood and coupled with the 'Neil Black' case, it's no wonder she is struggling with her mental health.

It took me the first ten chapters to become invested in Lucy's story, I thoroughly enjoyed the middle section and then in the final section, I found it very confusing as to what was real and what was in Lucy's inagination.

The element of private school life and all that comes with it was interesting. It was nice to see Lucy getting a chance for some happiness when she goes on a date with Argyll, the assistant headmaster. However, was he really as nice as he seemed?

I didn't enjoy this read as much as the author's last novel, 'The Coffinmaker's garden.' That said, the premise was good and there was plenty of MacBride's signature writing style throughout.

Thanks indeed to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I'm a great Stuart McBride fan so I was very excited to receive this book. The plot seemed to be building up and had me engaged. Lucy, the protagonist is possibly the most irritating character I've read in quite a while. I almost gave up reading a few times because she was so annoying. And then....I don't know what the author was thinking but the story went off on the most ridiculous and often confusing tangent and I really struggled to finish the book. I actually just scanned the last few pages. Very disappointing and if Detective Lucy McVeigh is the start of a series, unfortunately I won't be reading another.

No Less The Devil is another dark, addictive story by Stuart MacBride. Kept me guessing all the way through.

This book started well, with the return to work of DS Lucy McVeigh, who was tasked with assisting in the so called Bloodsmith murders, aka Operation Maypole, which appears no nearer to finding the killer than when the first cry for help was found. The story seemed to take an overlong time to get going, and then in the last third of the book, veered off at a very strange tangent. I had to finish it to see where the story would end up and it wasn’t a place I really wanted to go. Not the book for me. 2 1/2 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I'm a big fan of Stuart Mcbride and I love a police procedural so I was particularly looking forward to reading "No Less The Devil"
And I wasn't disappointed. It romps along with twists and turns and with a particularly huge twist which I didn't see coming at all! Hugely enjoyable and I thoroughly recommend.

I have mixed feelings about this book, I loved the first 70 percent of it, but the remaining 30 just killed it for me. I am a huge Stuart MacBride fan and have read all his other books, so it pains me to have not loved this one. The writing is as usual fantastic but the storyline took a funny Turn and it spoiled my enjoyment somewhat. I would still recommend this book as Stuart is a brilliant writer and everyone's taste is different.

Another gripping novel by this author. His style of writing very gritty and sometimes gruesome but nevertheless draws you in and you can’t wait to turn the next page. This is a tale about a blood thirsty serial killer and the scene is set in Scotland at a nail biting pace. Three quarters through the book there is a massive unexpected twist and it was totally different to books previously read. Would highly recommend.

NO LESS THE DEVIL by Stuart Macbride.
Publish Date: 28 April 2022

It has been a while since I have read any up to date books by Stuart Macbride, and I thought I may like this book. Macbride's current writing style is as sharp and witty as I remember it to be with brilliant dialogue full of laugh-out-load Scottish humour.

I give a 4-star rating

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

I am a huge fan of Stuart MacBride's crime novels - both the Logan McBride and Ash Henderson series are always a joy yo read with their intricate plots and liberal sprinklings of dark humour. As' No Less The Devil' features a female officer as the central protagonist, I was particular eager to give this new novel a read.
Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh works in the (fictional) town of Oldcastle, the same town where Ash is based, though he does not appear in this novel. For the past seventeen months, Lucy and her colleagues have been focused on the case of the Bloodsmith. The Bloodsmith is a serial killer rand responsible for some truly vicious murders around the town. As the death tole continues to rise and the police seem no closer to uncovering the killer, Lucy finds herself becoming disilusioned by her lack of progress and starts to investigate the case of Benedict Strachan. Strachan has recently been released from prison after completing his sentence for a murder committed when he was just 11 years old. There are still many questions surrounding Strachan's case and as Lucy delves deeper into the past, she uncovers links to a series of unsolved murders and some secrets from the past.
One of the more interesting aspects of this novel is that it is set in the post-Covid 19 world and as so, provides a commentary on life and how society has been impacted by the pandemic.
While the characters of Lucy and her sidekick, DC Duncan (Dunk) are both well-drawn and I enjoyed their relationships. However, despite the humour in their exchanges, some of the trademark humour MacBride is absent from this novel.
The story moves at a rapid pace but it is the final 20% of the novel where the situation escalates and the rollercoaster takes off. I can't comment on this aspect without revealing spoilers, but suffice to say that it really is a crime thriller that you hold your attention to the last word.

A well-crafted book, with a completely unforeseeable twist. However, I found it rather hard-going. It was a bit too long and complex, and I lost patience with Lucy and her past. An OK read but not one I would recommend.

Things aren't going well for DS Lucy McVeigh. 17 months have passed since the Bloodsmith killed victim 1, and they're no further on.

Not really the time for distractions, but Benedict Strachan (a killer at age 11) is out of jail and thinks "they" are out to get him, asking Lucy for help...

Is it too easy to dismiss it all as paranoia??

Brilliant

The Bloodsmith has been on the rampage for seventeen months and the police are no nearer figuring out who he is or how he selects his victims. All the police do know is that once the Bloodsmith has rendered his victim unconscious he drains their blood and eviscerates them, leaving the message "HELP ME" scrawled on a nearby wall in the victims blood. Sometimes the victims aren't found until weeks after they've been murdered.

With the case going nowhere the investigating team are restructured and DS Lucy McVeigh and her partner DC Duncan "The Dunk" Fraser are given the task of reviewing the victims and the murder scenes in the hope that someone will remember something that will help them close a case that has ground to a halt after seventeen months.

Alongside this an old case rears it's head when a young man seeks Lucy's help. He happens to be Benedict Strachan, an infamous child murdered. At the age of 11 Strachan and an accomplice brutally stabbed a homeless man to death. Released after serving 16 years in prison he is now seeking help from Lucy but is adamant he still won't give up the name of his accomplice.

The fact that the reader joins the case seventeen months after the Bloodsmith starts his murder spree means that we quickly review all of the previous murders, giving an immediate feeling of being immersed in the story. As Lucy and The Dunk re-visit each crime scene we discover how the Bloodsmith has refined his murder technique over time.

Lucy is academically gifted, on a fast track to promotion. Her maverick style means that she discovers clues missed during the earlier investigation. Unfortunately Lucy is hampered in her work. Not only has she got Professional Standards breathing down her neck but the family of a man she killed is harassing her. As the story unfolds we discover the reason behind this killing along with Lucy's dark and disturbing past.

As you would expect from a novel by Stuart MacBride we have a dark and gritty story, with some humor thrown in (usually at The Dunk's expense) but what you don't expect is the tangent the story takes. With any crime story you expect a twist somewhere but the twist in this one simply cannot be predicted, a twist that makes the reader start flicking back through the book to re-read sections.

This book has the potential to be a really good story. It deals with the pursuit of Bloodsmith, a serial killer, alongside the pursuit of someone who, as a boy, confessed to murder. Beyond that, the book gets into needless complications not least the problems of the deeply damaged DS Lucy McVeigh which stretch credulity as the chances of her remaining a police officer are nil. The best character is Dunk her assistant whose comments on society and attitudes are great. The book is also brutal in its content. In the latter part of the book, the mix of reality and Lucy’s mental creations are confusing and too complicated. I enjoyed the beginning of this book before all the revelations about the DS’s past. After that, it was very demanding.

I’m a huge fan of Stuart Macbride and have read and thoroughly enjoyed all of his books and novellas to date.
This book is a stand alone crime novel that introduces DS Lucy McVeigh. I found this book quite different to the Henderson & McRea series. But this book still has the black humour, and laugh-out-loud wit present in previous books.
I didn’t not particularly like the character Lucy, book is quite long and at times I did struggle a bit which has never happened before with this author.
Overall, I would say this was not one of my favourite Macbride novels but is a better then average stand along thriller.

The first Stuart Macbride I've read but it definitely won't be the last. A long book, full of dark, sinister crimes, we get to know DS Lucy McVeigh whose sarcasm and dry humour give the character a very human feel. As she and her partner (the Dunk) follow the trail of The Bloodsmith serial killer, we learn about the horrific ordeal she went through, which has made her how she is. Just as it seems the case has been cracked, the plot becomes even darker and more twisted and we learn other secrets about McVeigh's state of mind. Utterly horrific and totally gripping, I couldn't put it down. 5 stars.

2.5 - 3 rounded up.

It’s been nearly 18 months since the Bloodsmith killed his first victim of five and a few months since the last one. The investigation entitled ‘Operation Maypole’ is getting nowhere fast in apprehending this callous killer and the press and police top brass are getting impatient for results. DI Tudor is now placed in charge and DS Lucy McVeigh is made part of the team. Lucy however, is very distracted as not only is she struggling with possible PTSD, she has a stalker and if that’s not enough Benedict Strachan, a recently released child killer is pleading for her help and protection.

Well, if you like a read that has you on board the train to crazy town, then jump aboard this one! I usually love Stuart MacBride’s books but I’m extremely confused dot com about this one. In the first three quarters there are some intriguing plot twists, there’s tension and suspense. There are genuine moments of chill as you’d expect from this author and it looks like it’s shaping up for a jaw dropping ending. You are but not in the way you might expect. Lucy is an very interesting central character and a bit different which I do like and there are some good puzzles created through her.

However, the book is very long, it’s quite random at times and feels very disconnected, then chuck in a lot of characters, add in some very silly, juvenile dialogue that doesn’t match the very dark events then you begin to get the picture. At times my brain nearly explodes with trying to keep up with the evolving plot or alternatively its like it might feel if you imbibe something mind altering or more to the point, has the author???? This is particularly apt for the last 20% or so which is bonkers in my opinion and your mouth drops open with incredulity and I keep having to shake my head in an endeavour to take it all in. Really? Seriously?

Overall, this is far from being the authors best book and it’s not one for me. It’s a real shame as there is the makings of a very good plot here but it gets lost along a convoluted and meandering way.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House U.K., Transworld, Bantam Press for the arc in return for an honest review.

I have read and very much enjoyed all previous Stuart MacBride's books. I love the characterisation and background that he gives to all his main characters and Lucy in this story is a fine example. The story goes along with the usual pace in search of the "bloodsmith" however it becomes very confusing in the last hundred pages or so when Lucy begins to talk to imaginary people and it became unclear whether you were reading from Lucy's imagination or actual action that is taking place. I felt this distracted from the story and made the storyline difficult to follow.in the closing paragraphs.