GODS AND BEASTS by Denise Mina

 

Alex Morrow Series #3

 

Overview(from Barnes and Noble)

It's the week before Christmas when a lone robber bursts into a busy Glasgow post office carrying an AK-47. An elderly man suddenly hands his young grandson to a stranger and wordlessly helps the gunman fill bags with cash, then carries them to the door. He opens the door and bows his head; the robber fires off the AK-47, tearing the grandfather in two.

Det. Alex Morrow arrives on the scene and finds that the alarm system had been disabled before the robbery. Yet upon investigation, none of the employees can be linked to the gunman. And the grandfather-a life-long campaigner for social justice-is above reproach. As Morrow searches for the killer, she discovers a hidden, sinister political network. Soon it is chillingly clear: no corner of the city is safe, and her involvement will go deeper than she could ever have imagined.

REVIEW:
This is Ms. Mina's third crime novel.  She once again features Det. Sgt. Alex Morrow.  Glasgow's post office is being invaded by a solitary gunman.  He forces the postal patrons to lie prone on the floor. A beautiful little boy was handed to a stranger as the elderly man helps the robber fill the cash bags. A hail of bullets from a AK-47 stops the elderly gentleman in his tracks.Budget cuts and layoffs are luring for two of Det. Morrow's subordinates to go after dirty drug money. Then there is the former hero turned politician who has a  17 year old staffer which he is involved with. Ms. Mina has Alex's life mainly on the back burner but she pulls out the stops which take us into the off beaten places of Glasgow.  These places are not the elite parts but the darkest of dark.

 

If you are a fiction love especially crime fiction, you'll love GODS AND BEASTS. It can be all too realistic and depressing knowing life is really like this.

 

Alex has just had twins and is exhausted, but faithfully remains on the case.  But this is not your ordinary murder case but a puzzle of conspiracy and lies, corruption within the system, and scandal upon scandal. The author had amazing knowledge that gives her books a special flavor.The author puts such life in the characters.  You start to wonder what makes them tick.  They could very well be your neighbor down the street.  She shows humans in their best and worst moments.

This book is a wonderful work of mixing reality (in your extending imagination) and fiction.  This could happen in your town.  It really could and possibly may be right now.  This is a book you'll read again and again.. It's  a book that once you start you can't quit..  It draws you in and you can't let go.

Ms. Mina has an unique quality.  The first paragraph you read and you are hooked.  The only bad thing is you don't want to stop and you want more. She shows the corruptness of the city, the dark, dirty side, but there is also hope in the story.  Don't miss out on this one.  

I received this complimentary copy of GODS AND BEASTS from the author, Denise Mina for this unbiased review.

I high five this book.

A solid 5 STARS.

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www.barnesandnoble.co /w/gods-and-beasts-denise-mina

www.goodreads.com/book/show/1481160

About the Author

Denise Mina is the author of The End of the Wasp Season, Still Midnight, Slip of the Knife, The Dead Hour, Field of Blood, Deception, and the Garnethill trilogy, the first installment of which won her the John Creasey Memorial Prize for best first crime novel. She lives in Glasgow. 

Denise Mina was born in Glasgow in 1966. Because of her father's job as an engineer, the family followed the north sea oil boom of the seventies around Europe, moving twenty one times in eighteen years from Paris to the Hague, London, Scotland and Bergen. She left school at sixteen and did a number of poorly paid jobs: working in a meat factory, bar maid, kitchen porter and cook. Eventually she settle in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients.
At twenty one she passed exams, got into study Law at Glasgow University and went on to research a PhD thesis at Strathclyde University on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, teaching criminology and criminal law in the mean time.
Misusing her grant she stayed at home and wrote a novel, 'Garnethill' when she was supposed to be studying instead.
'Garnethill' won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasy Dagger for the best first crime novel and was the start of a trilogy completed by 'Exile' and 'Resolution'.
A fourth novel followed, a stand alone, named 'Sanctum' in the UK and 'Deception' in the US.

In 2005 'The Field of Blood' was published, the first of a series of five books following the career and life of journalist Paddy Meehan from the newsrooms of the early 1980s, through the momentous events of the nineteen nineties. The second in the series was published in 2006, 'The Dead Hour' and the third will follow in 2007.
She also writes comics and wrote 'Hellblazer', the John Constantine series for Vertigo, for a year, published soon as graphic novels called 'Empathy is the Enemy' and 'The Red Right Hand'. She has also written a one-off graphic novel about spree killing and property prices called 'A Sickness in the Family' (DC Comics forthcoming).
In 2006 she wrote her first play, "Ida Tamson" an adaptation of a short story which was serialised in the Evening Times over five nights. The play was part of the Oran Mor 'A Play, a Pie and a Pint' series, starred Elaine C. Smith and was, frankly, rather super.