Dead Girl Walking

I wanted to read Brookmyre's "Black Widow" (BW) but thought the price was too high, ie more than $14 for an e-book from a guy I never heard of before. I checked his other stuff and decided to read an earlier book in the Jack Parlabane series, "Dead Girl Walking" (DGW).What a good move that turned out to be! DGW is an excellent book. I was really blown away by one particular scene, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Jack is a free lance journalist of sorts, a guy who is not above bending, OK breaking, a few laws to get supporting evidence for his stories. He also is prepared to protect his sources' identities to the death, or at least despite short term jail sentences. And so he is frequently hassled by the local police, and unemployed.He is contacted by the sister of an old friend and hired to find a missing person under the condition that he does not write about anything dealing the investigation. A key member of an up and coming rock band is missing, and Jack begins his investigation by talking to other members of the band, current and former, as well as roadies, support personnel, etc. At this point in the story, we get the perspective of a newer member of the band, a young woman trained in classic violin, new to rock bands, new to performing every night and new to the road. Jack chapters and Monica chapters alternate, with a fair amount of back story meshed with Monica's reactions to the rapid evolution of dealing with a new life and new "friends".And then there's the scene where Monica and lead singer Heike meld on stage, right in the middle of one of the band's signature songs. And I got instant insight into what it's like to be up there in front of a roaring crowd, with the heat, with the lights, with the sound, the emotion, the high. I have rarely read a prolonged description of a moment coming away with a feeling of having been in it...as I did after those pages. I wanted more. I was so sure that Brookmyre had to be a former rocker to be able to write those perfect pages that I searched the web looking for his pre-novelist life as a musician....Very good plot, good dialog, nice little twists here and there. I want more. I'll read more Brookmyre, even BW at its inflated price. The only criticism I have is I'm not real crazy about his hero, Jack. Kinda bland in my book (he still yearns for his former love). C'mon Jack, get it together, man. And why is he always jumping all over the place - literally jumping. What's that about?

Complicated and almost purposely dense and clouded, this story wasn't my usual cup of tea but it still held my attention, right to the last drop. It was satisfying and kind of fun, like a sting movie. In fact, the book seemed more like a screen play than a novel, lots of imagery in there. I'll probably have to try another one.

i read a prior novel in this series.I would give this one four and a half stars if possible. The characters are well drawn and there are flashes of wry wit. Bookmyre almost explains advanced hack of an iPad,which clarifies Parlabane'spriorexploits. The life of a touring musician feels accurate. I'll read others in the series

If you hate the trendy half novels that are so popular today you will love this book. Brookmyre's novels are detail oriented and character driven. The mystery is well crafted. For those people who are not as familiar with Scotland I recommend reading on a kindle. It is easier to look up the slang .I use the language translation app as well. The ending hints of more adventure to be had by our favorite reporter. I look forward to reading all about it.

I found this a very good read. It kept pulling me in to the story and for me it was not predictable at all, which is always fun. Lots of interesting European settings, good characters that developed and changed through the story, and full of tidbits from the world of music performance, which I love, and touring, which is fun for a while, even a longer while if you're good at it!

A great story, well told with strong characters and many twists and unexpected turns on the way. If you've read the series you can see the maturity in the writing, less black humor but deeper and more serious content. Love the way Brookmyre writes.

Always been a Brookmyre-fan and truly loved the early Parlabanes.. And yeah, he is back. Liked it. Back to gritty and less outrageous. Way to go.

Too formulaic, even though I haven't read the other Jack Parlbane Thrillers. It had some cutesy inside stuff about the music scene that I liked but the plot seemed forced

slow beginning but not bad not great

Great to have Jack Parlabane back. Enjoyed this, carefully crafted with Brookmyre's characteristic twists and black humour. A touch more middle-aged seriousness than his romps of 10-15 years ago - but great pace and mystery throughout. Nice one Chris.

Best (funniest) use of Scottish dialogue of anyone writing. Plot very good - resolution very satisfying.

Great to see Parlabane back.

Any time I see a Brookmyre/Parlabane book appear, I will be up for it. But now more in hope than in the certainty of a good read. As a long time fan, I got hold of Chritopher Brookmyre's short story re-introducing the Jack P. character (& as a tip for anyone thinking about buying this book I should advise reading that story - it goes under the title "The Last Days of Christmas" - first: because there are so many cross-references to it that the new book will not be an easy read for anyone who hasn't read the Christmas tale). But (sad to report) the laugh-out loud sequences that characterised the early works (Quite Ugly One Morning, Country of the Blind, Boiling a Frog) are now absent. Perhaps that is in keeping with the Parlabane character - older, slower, disappointed in his love life & (post Leveson) pretty much unemployable as the investigative journalist who brought such elan to the early novels. Or perhaps it is me - the background concerns a post-rock n'roll band & the details of life on the road with the band are not my tasse de the. But then I don't normally do fantasy novels either & yet found myself intrigued by CB's efforts when he went in that direction. The most enjoyable parts of CB's novels are the passages of dialogue - best described as Glasgow banter: & this, in the mouth of the school-children meeting the monstrous creations in Pandemonium, saved that novel for me. Here CB writes in two voices - that of Parlabane & that of Monica, a Scottish fiddler & a late-comer to the band. As a device increasingly employed by other crime writers this tends to work well: the subsidiary voice pre-provides the reader with the information the investigator is trying to uncover & that allows the reader to cheer the detective character on as he or she gets nearer to the truth. But while there is still a deal of zip when the author is in the Parlabane/investigator voice, Monica's voice is flat. In an attempt to make her more interesting, she starts out as conventionally engaged to be married to a (frankly boring) bloke: only to find previously unacknowledged Sapphic emotions aroused in her by Heike, the leader of the band (whose character is not calculated to garner much sympathy from the reader). The support characters, especially the villains of the piece, are not presented in a way that is likely to make the novel memorable. All in all a bit disappointing. Still, if there should be another Parlabane novel, I'll be there to gobble it up. (There is a hint, in the very perfunctory ending of the book that Parlabane will be back; but perhaps employed by the spooks this time. I can't quite see that flying. Could CB not be persuaded to instead take us back to Jack's earlier career, to see if he can't rediscover that first careless rapture?)