Ruaridh nicoll biography books

We have two things going on here. The first is what this book is trying to do. A psychological thriller, set apart from worldly things in deepest, darkest, most menacing Scotland, slathered in all manner of pathetic fallacy en route to a climax which sets the magnificent, hard, unforgiving landscape in positive contrast to the grubby vindictiveness of men.

But there's also what the book actually does, which is a no-more-than-average wet-and-windy potboiler. There's really no psychological insight or trajectory (Aaron remains unfathomably grotesque, and Hugh's relationship with him unfathomably unrewarding - for Hugh).

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There's a lot of leaden, overwrought prose. And there's some clumsy structuring (Becky creates something; the lads kill things. Very good) which sees a final showdown in the same location as an earlier one - the moment marked by an odd attempt to cover tracks (Hugh notes the fact "incidentally") as if by doing so makes the cog