Blood, Salt, Water Paperback – 24 Mar. 2016

Brilliant detective and crime seriesWonderful lead character, intricate storylinesWell written with good pace throughoutLooking forward to next in series

This is the second Denise Mina thriller I have read, and I must say it lives up to her expected high standard in plot, suspense, quality of the writing etc. It is therefore disappointing to find that the novel contains a number of baffling factual and geographical errors, all the more puzzling as I understand that Ms.Mina is a native Clydesider.First of all, she constantly uses the term "Clyde Estuary". Now the River Clyde, in common with other Scottish rivers, does not have an estuary, it has a Firth. I thought at first that she might be using "estuary" as perhaps English and American readers might not know what a firth was, but this seems unlikely as the Firth of Clyde is well-known, and she uses other Scottish expressions freely. For example, a piece of wood is described as "skelfy". I doubt that many people outside Scotland know what a skelf is.In one scene, 2 characters are standing on a hillside near Helensburgh, discussing the relative merits, as holiday resorts, of Helensburgh and Largs, and they are described as "looking across the firth to Largs". Now it could be argued that Helensburgh is not on the Firth of Clyde at all. It is level with Greenock, and looks out on to the Tail o' the Bank, where the Atlantic convoys assembled during the second world war. There is certainly no way you could see Largs from Helensburgh, as a large chunk of Renfrewshire would be in the way. I am from Dunoon, on the west side of the firth, and you cannot even make out Largs from there, as it is tucked behind a bend in the coastline.The name Earra Gaidheal is almost always anglicised as "Argyll", Argyle Street in Glasgow being the exception that proves the rule. Mina, however, uses the spelling "Argyle" throughout. Also, the Erskine Bridge crosses from Renfrewshire to Dunbartonshire, not Argyll, and the Police Scotland division in which Helensburgh belongs is Argyll and West Dunbartonshire, not Argyll and Bute, which is a Westminster parliamentary constituency.Having said all that, however, I must conclude that, if you neither know nor care about the geography of Clydeside, this novel will provide an interesting and absorbing read, and I recommend it.

Bought for my husband who loves this author. Great books

I bought this as a birthday present for a friend who loves crime fiction, is a fan of Denise Mina and is a native of Helensburgh. She was unable to finish it as a main event in the book is very obviously based on a real and upsetting event.I moved to Helensburgh in April 2014 - around the time in which this is set, amidst the run-up to the referendum. I was unfamiliar with Ms Mina's work but read it in one sitting and generally enjoyed it. Although she had clearly done her research (I easily recognised the café upon which the Paddle is based), there were glaring mistakes which, for me, made her an unreliable narrator and which spoiled it. I appreciate that a certain amount of artistic licence is normal and that most people wouldn't know the area and therefore wouldn't notice, but why take the trouble to get so much right only to let it down?A native of Edinburgh, I don't find similar problems with Ian Rankin or Alexander McCall Smith.Overall, a good read.

As a resident of Helensburgh where most of the story line takes place I did not appreciate the inaccuracies within the book. It also gives the impression that it is a place that's rundown and everyone knows everyone, pure fiction. It is a town with a lot going on and has a population that is extremely mixed. Also I did not think it appropriate to use actual events that sadly did occur in the town in a few years ago when a father, son and daughter were killed in a fire and the fathers pub burnt down in a separate incident.

Bizarrely this book I set in my home town - what a brilliant read. Engrossed from start to finish. I’d highly recommend

Superb crisp writing as always - she could inho teach JK Rowling a lot about story telling for the adult segment of the market - and interesting facts along the way. I love this series but you could read this as a stand alone novel as it does not require previous knowledge. Thanks Denise MIna.

Denise Mina on form again. With twists and turns, the story unfolds, revealing the characters involvement in the crime which makes this unstoppable reading. Have given this four stars as I think the best is still to come.

Gute Unterscheidung zwischen Fiktion und realem Hintergrund

Très bon roman de Denise Mina, digne représentante du polar noir écossais. Personnages bien campés ayant une vraie dimension psychologique, excellents dialogues, et une intrigue très bien ficelée tenant le lecteur en haleine. Un pur plaisir.

Denise Mina always delivers engrossing stories and believable characters. Her books are always a satisfying read.

Denise Mina’s last few books brim over with fear of an oceanic tide of crime rising to drown what’s good in life. There’s more than a trace of paranoia in this, but what is frightening about her stories is the sense that Mina, a clear-eyed person, is afraid for a reason. Organized crime weaves itself into the fabric of what is on the surface an affluent seaside suburb of Glasgow. There are individuals who are deeply enmeshed in organized crime who walk among the law-abiding; it’s hard to tell who is who. Beyond the organized crime, serious drug use is all over the place. One of the saddest stories in “Blood Salt Water” revolves around a father and child who have been abandoned by a drug-using dissolute mother, who has gone far away to live with some low-life lover. Then there is the diplomatic service couple who use their position as a front for drug trafficking, or a Glasgow business dependent on fraud which is used for money laundering purposes. The underside of society seems destined to overwhelm the bonds of community, law, morality.Aside from the view Mina projects – I would never call it “commentary” as Mina is much too skillful a writer to didactically provide a exposition of her fears – this is an incredibly well-crafted suspense plot. It took me some thought to piece together the crime after I put down “Blood Salt Water”. The actual linear story of the crime is complex and plotted out carefully by the perpetrators. It starts long before the “Blood Salt Water” opens with the first murder and weaves together a number of characters who at first look to having nothing to do with the central story. Juxtaposed over the story of the crime, we have an interesting and well-told story of the investigation of the crime. This is conducted by the ever-intelligent Alex(andra) Morrow, the lead policemen in Mina’s latest series of books. Morrow makes a number of astute deductions, several bordering on the inspired. Finally, layered on top of the crime and the investigation of the crime is a multi-character depiction of the rich Glasgow suburb, Helensburgh, where most of the story takes place. This is a triple tapestry, and it’s assembled effortlessly.Obviously, I like “Blood Salt Water” a good deal better than many other reviewers here. For me, Mina is one of the most talented suspense writers ever to grace a dust cover jacket. Her command of details, ability to create suspense plots that are coherent from beginning to end, talent for fashioning interesting personalities, and -- finally -- ability to join them all together to convey a message, marks a primo writer. While I wouldn’t put “Blood Salt Water” among Mina’s very top efforts, I think it is in the upper half of the distribution – and that is rarified air, given what she has done over about a dozen novels. Strongly recommended.

The last two Alex Morrow books have been stellar. Hats off to Denise Mina!