The End of the Wasp Season Paperback – 16 Feb. 2012

I am new to Denise Mina books and was hooked from the first one. Fairly fast paced and you feel part of the action.

If you're looking for cliffhangers and jaw-dropping twists of plot, this may not be the book for you. If, however, you enjoy discovering the whydunnit rather than the who, and appreciate being guided on that journey by a skilled and talented writer, then you won't be disappointed by Denise Mina's The End of the Wasp Season.The novel opens with the brutal murder of a young woman in an old-money suburb of Glasgow. So brutal that DI Alex Morrow's usually hardened team of cops can't even bear to look at what's left of the woman's face. Mercifully, the worst of the gore is largely absent from Mina's description. In the best tradition of horror movies/novels she leaves it to the reader's imagination to picture the damage that's been wrought.We soon discover who has committed the crime and follow one perpetrator's point of view, gradually uncovering the reason the woman was killed.The story features both ends of the social spectrum - from a spoilt and dysfunctional millionaire's family living in luxury in the south of England, to the single mother of four struggling to survive on a cleaner's pay, living on a crime ridden scheme in Glasgow. The portrayal of both families is convincing and at times sympathetic. Frustratingly, the brief glimpse we get into DI Alex Morrow's family life raises more questions than answers.A minor criticism would be the way Morrow manages to solve the whodunnit. It felt a little contrived. But that really isn't what this story is about. Seen as an exploration of the psychology of crime, it really does tick all the boxes.The writing is a delight throughout, every metaphor and simile carefully measured and judiciously placed. There's no linguistic showing off just for the sake of it. The language does exactly what it should, painting a vivid picture without getting in the way of the story.If you're yet to discover the work of Denise Mina, you're in for a treat. If you already have, add this to your 'must read' list.

This is the second of this author’s crime novels I have read. I am reading the Alex Morrow series in order, largely as I saw Val McDermid, one of my very favourite authors, recommend DM strongly. This book for me was a great improvement on the first. Perhaps I needed to adapt to the writing style and concept. The writing is good throughout and I like the way DM assumes her readers have a brain - always a good start. There are several interesting, if not wholly original, themes running through this, with the ‘why’ being more important than the ‘who’. Having said that, there is an interesting ending, any more would be a spoiler. I have ordered the third in the series on the strength of this book; after the first, I was definitely in two minds, but this moved up several notches. I do enjoy finding a new crime writer!

I read Garnethill when it first came out and was hooked. The Garnethill trilogy remains up there for me in terms of humour and character. I couldnt quite get to grips with the Mina's books after the Garnethill trilogy, but I really enjoyed this one. It's a thinking person's crime fiction novel - we know who did it, we know (or can guess) fairly early on why they did it, so what's left is a 'how can we get to the end of this and still be happy with the ending', which I like. The characters, especially the working class ones, live in shades of grey, not black and white, which makes them seem warm and human and not cliched.I didn't give a five star because bits of the story didn't work for me - so the 'other mother' Theresa didn't make sense, I was waiting to find out there was some sort of deception going on there and that the person Thomas met wasn't the real one, but it didn't really come to anything. Also,although the working class characters are well drawn, the rich ones seem unremittingly mad or bad or just nasty which is a bit simplistic. Thomas is an exception to this, in that one veers between sympathy and antipathy, though perhaps not enough to be very surprised at the end when we find out the answer to the 'did he didn't he' question which runs throughout the book. It's not new for a 'polis' to have relatives on the wrong side of the track, but the relationship between Alex and her brother is interesting, and will no doubt play out in coming books, which I will definitely be reading.

This is one of the best Alex Morrows. She's cheered up a bit since the first novel so there is more humour to offset the brutal crime. Very readable.

Took a couple of chapters to get into it but after that it was compelling reading.

There is no preamble to this book, it starts with two boys entering Sarah Erroll's house in a wealthy suburb in Glasgow, but what did they want? At the same time a notorious banker is found hanging from an oak tree in Kent, his son is sent for by the headmaster of his boarding school and told the news.Sarah Erroll's case is investigated by DS Alex Morrow a hardend detective who is pregnant with twins. She is determined that Sarah's killer is found but is concerned when her boss takes charge. Alex doesn't agree with the direction he is taking the investigation and suspects him of wanting the glory.This book has a lot to say about police politics, family relationships and friendships, I like the fact that each character has many layers so that as you read your opinion changes about them. What I didn't like so much was the writing. In places it really didn't seem to make sense which did spoil my enjoyment of what could be a great book. However I enjoyed it enough to buy some of Denise Mina's earlier work.