Ghost in the Machine: An incredibly gripping, tense British murder mystery (Police Scotland Crime Series Book 2)

I am really happy that I don’t live in the precinct looked after by this bunch of incompetent, arrogant and argumentative detectives. With only possibly two detectives knowing what they’re doing I doubted they would solve a mugging if it was taking place in front of them. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on. When the senior officer wasn’t yelling at someone others were sniping at each other and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The two stars are for the main mystery, if only it had been given to a couple of competent detectives to get onto with no interference it would have been a great story. Sadly not for me.

It was nice reading about early internet investigations. Our lives have been taken over by social media so to go back to a time when internet investigations were in their infancy was refreshing to read.Cullen was an enjoyable character and seemed to be down to earth in many ways. I liked the blossoming romance between Cullen and McNeil. But it didn't distract away from story and plot at all.I live stories that are set in Scotland which was another bonus to this story.Having worked for the police over a number of years there is a lot of reality to some of the background characters in this story which makes it more realistic. You have the egomanic DI and the lazy coppers who don't do much or get away with as little as possible.A really good read. An author I would happily pick up and read again.

I've been looking for a new crime writer lately and wanted to pick someone that wasn't necessarily really mainstream. This author has been popping up in my Facebook feed for a while so I decided to give him a go. The writing style took a bit of getting used to and if I'm honest I really didn't like how the senior officers all seemed a bit...... Ummm.....I don't know useless? Corrupt? Bad? However I did persevere and whilst it was relatively easy to work out i did enjoy it. I like the main character, he's a bit of a knob but his heart and drive is definitely in the right place and he wants things done properly even if others dont! I will definitely be getting more of these books and I'm sure they will improve. I like to read them in order so I do have quite a few to make my way through. It is easy to read and I did want to keep going to the end and I'm glad I did. I can be really fussy with my crime fiction and generally only read two or three authors but I do think I will like Mr James' books and I would definitely recommend them to others. As I said I have just started reading them and I have every confidence in his writing and storytelling. Well done! Only another 20 or so to go! I'm looking forward to them.

Ghost in the Machine was the last book I read in the Scott Cullen series, even though chronologically it's the first. I've now read them all, along with all the other Ed James books available on Kindle. I'm a big fan. The plots are the best part, along with great characterization. There are a couple of niggles that become apparent as you read more of the books, though. The most glaring one is exactly that: glaring. "He glared at him." "He glared at her." There's way too much glaring going on! The author could mix it up a bit with more varied language, such as, "He gave him a filthy look", or maybe "She looked at him with undisguised disdain", or whatever. Speaking of disdain, there's maybe too much of it going on, too. It seems that nobody has much respect for anybody in these books. Perhaps that's a characteristic of the Scottish police force and may be entirely authentic, but it feels a little false. The final niggle is the amount of drinking many of these police officers do. Again, that may be how Scottish police officers behave off duty, but you'd think that a 30-ish detective would have learned that getting plastered and enduring a hellish hangover is not the smart way to live. Those points notwithstanding, these are great reads. I look forward to the next releases in each series.

This book is basically just endless conversations between colleagues. The dialogue and interactions between people are unrealistic and repetitive, there's an endless cast of police officers who are all incompetent in fairly similar ways, and the flimsy storyline is an unoriginal afterthought. If something (irrelevant) is mentioned once, it's mentioned repeatedly: nicknames, football, the increase in house prices, people's choice of drinks... none of this is interesting. Everything's then brought to a rushed conclusion when, despite knowing that the police are looking for him, it doesn't occur to the killer to hide the next victim anywhere other than his own flat. I'm also not sure that social media was really such a mystifying novelty in 2012.

One the the best police procedural books I've read in years. Similar to Ian Rankin but more gritty. Set in Scotland with a very colourful dialogue - there's a lot of swearing and black humour. While trying to solve their latest case, Detectives McNeill and Cullen face bullying tactics and misogyny from their immediate boss. Hopefully a character like DI Bain is over exaggerated by the author and no longer found within the force.An absorbing and compelling read which I thoroughly recommended.

I liked this book for the following reasons.The main character Scott Cullen is not the one in charge so his frustrations with procedure and team working felt realistic.The detection process throughout unfolded at a believable pace. The plot line using social media was intriguing.Cullen's personal life added plenty of messy detailLess enjoyable aspects were that Cullen came over as a bit too arrogant and dismissive of other officers. Surely the senior officers would have better skills?A bit too much swearing!The local detail was lost on me, not being from bonnie Scotland myself.Some phraseology slowed me down eg. "Back of seven" but I also like to be challenged a bit as a reader.I've got the rest of the series and the personal relationships and police politics seems to be developing nicely.I could see this as a TV series. Nicely done Mr James!