Life For A Life (DCI Andy Gilchrist Book 4)

It was another brilliant book

Will DCI Andy Gilchrist end up like the others - dead, beheaded on a beach?The middle of winter in St Andrews. When a young woman's half-naked body is found on Fife's Coastal Path, frozen and with remnants of a rope manacle around her wrist, DCI Andy Gilchrist is given the case. Gilchrist's investigation uncovers a bloody trail of shootings and executions that lead him to the heart of a trafficking war. Links to Scotland's foremost criminal family, the Home Office and a killer intent on expanding his territory, pull Gilchrist deeper into this murderous web until he comes face to face with the most dangerous man he has ever met.I must admit I am like a kid at Christmas time when it comes to the new release of Frank Muir DCI Andy Gilchrist Series Novel, in that I am giddy, excitable and it is the only thing I can talk about . So the new novel number Four in the series Life for a Life does not disappoint and by the end page I was really considering going back to the beginning and reading the novel again it was that good. Now some of you who know me will maybe think I am being a bit biased being that I am a born and bred Fifer and maybe yes that is part of the reason I love these books but anything that puts St. Andrews and Fife on the Scottish Crime Writing Map along with Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow has my vote straight away.Life for a Life also introduces us to a new character in the shape of DS Jessie Janes who arrives from Strathcylde Police Force, the usual suspects are all here as well except for Andy kids Maureen and Jack who don't feature so strongly as they have before. As where books 1 - 3 gave us an insight Andy Gilchrist, this book focuses in giving us and insight into DS Jessie Jane's her background her family. I won't spoil the novel but I will let you know that we say a sad goodbye to two of the characters in the novel and Andy manages as usual to get himself into a sticky situation. So it is just left for me to say hurry up Frank Muir and get the next DCI Andy Gilchrist novel on the shelves please.

A page turner as usual from this author, be prepared for gory murder detail, explicit language and a rather "James Bond" finale.

I did really enjoy the book and would have given it five stars but for two things 1) i don't mind reading "gritty" or "authentic" books with a bit of violence in but this was one of the most gory books i have ever read (and i read Val McDermid and Mo Hayder), please less graphic next time? and 2) the really REALLY annoying on/off, will they (sleep together)/won't they"romance"/twee flirtation between Gilchrist and one of the female Characters - boring, totally unbelievable and not at ALL interesting or plot enhancing. Drop it T F Muir...please??? On the plus side, i do think the female characters (apart from said lady) are very well written. I just can't stand this trivial strand in the book.........

I live near St. Andrews and so I enjoyed this book as I can relate to the setting. I do have trouble with the character of Gilchrist mainly due to the amount he seems to drink, his lack of sleep followed by his erratic driving. This has been sustained through all 4 books so far so I should be used to it, but I still find it annoying. More disappointing in this book, however, is how he seems to be turning into a superman who can endure being drugged, assaulted, nearly killed and yet still win out over the baddies. A bit too much this time. The story lines are pretty good, but a bit less OTT drama would leave the reader more satisfied, in my opinion.

I hadn't heard of this author and usually read crime thrillers based around a specific DCI's etc. Imagine how thrilled I was to discover DCI Andrew (call me Andy) Gilchrist?? I spent a lot of my childhood in St Andrews & the East Neuk of Fife, but now there are murderers on the loose in this beautiful part of Scotland!!DCI Andy Gilchrist is a fantastic central character, using contacts in other local police forces, in Glasgow and Cupar to help track down these criminals. The books also involve his private life, family and friends making him well known to you as you read. Really enjoyable, thrilling reading.

Read a second hand one by chance. Really liked it so bought the first 4. Grim Scottish background, good maverick main character, grisly enough crimes but not to scary and really easy to read with no annoying twist or unbelievable bits

Well written book by a good author set in a place I no well and can understand the settings of St Andrews