This is a Jack Parlabane one: a newspaper tycoon is murdered and four burglars are apprehended as they escape his house. The fact that they're covered in blood and running away is seen by the police as persuasive evidence that they're guilty of the killing, and the news media agrees. But Jack Parlabane is not so sure...

Suffers from the Brookmyre verbal diarrhoea and so could have done with a bit of editing (perhaps this is more a characteristic of his earlier books; I don't seem to notice it so much with the later ones) but the story is pretty entertaining, and I enjoyed listening to it.

The overall theme is very similar to other books too: small guys are subject to a conspiracy organised by a shadowy but very powerful group of people, but small guys confound the expectation of shadowy but very powerful group, turn the tables and end up making them look stupid. Maybe it is a formula, but it's an entertaining one, and it's always good to know that the goodies are going to win.

Completed : 16-May-2011 (audiobook)