Book Review: Random

Title: Random
Author: Craig Robertson
Published By: Simon & Schuster UK
Published Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84737-729-6
Length: 329 Pages
Purchased From: Book Depository @ $15.15

The Story:

In current day Glasgow, a series of murders take place. The killings have police baffled as there seems to be no motive. It seems as though randomly selected people are being killed for no other reason than mass hysteria. The only connection between the victims is their severed pinky finger.

Over a few years time The Cutter terrorizes Glasgow and eludes detectives. As the story unfolds, we learn that the murders are not completely random and there is a method to the madness.

My Thoughts:

Random was the first thriller that I have read in some time. I found it to be a nice change of pace from Epic Fantasy. When my copy of the book arrived from a UK bookseller, I was surprised at how short it seemed. The trade size paperback with more than three-hundred pages is printed in a relatively large font with a fair amount of white-space on each page. While not a problem, it makes for a relatively fast read.

The storyline moves smoothly from one murder to the next, filling in back story where needed. The chapters are short (in comparison to epic fantasy) which makes picking up the book, for a few minutes at a time, a pleasure.

The murder scenes are descriptive and unique. I was very fond of the use of Facebook as a device for selecting a murder victim. Little twists like this, in addition to unique ways of killing, made the book interesting and kept me on my toes.

If you are a fan of the thriller genre, I would suggest giving this book a try. It is written by a Scottish author so some words may require research (for instance, I had no idea what a “punter” was).