Not dark enough!
This will make me so blood thirsty lol but I literally couldn't wait for Craig to unleash the darkness.
Instead I waded through what felt like pages and pages of description of Rachel's room when she is put on enforced bed rest. Am not that patient . I tried but I couldn't persevere. ( )

This story is very dark.

"Death is a strange thing. Very few people get an insight into it.....Others get to see it just once, and even then only very briefly before they slip into whatever hell they endure for eternity."

So what exactly is Murderabilia? Well, we all know what memorabilia is - authentic souvenirs from people and/or events of a sport or other activity for which we have a passion. A jersey worn and signed by Cal Ripken is memorabilia, a $20 tee-shirt with his name silk screened is not. OK, apply that to murder, specifically murderers and their victims, maybe a wristwatch worn by a victim when killed, or even better, blood-stained underwear. Get the picture?

I've read Craig Robertson before. His very first book, "Random" is one of the best crime fiction novels I've read. I read a couple of his subsequent books and was disappointed. "Murderabilia" is the first I've read in several years. I didn't care for it. Too dark for my taste, too much violence and evil, and I don't recall ever feeling that way about a book before. I'll read just about anything in crime fiction as long as it has some regard by other readers and/or critics - I doubt I'll read Robertson again. Not everyone shares my opinion. Six Amazon US readers score it an average 4.5, as do 26 in the UK. It is short-listed for a couple of Brit crime fiction awards.

What's it about? The opening scene has been widely publicized and has become known to many crime fiction readers. A train pulls out of a Glasgow station early one morning and comes to a screeching halt. In the distance passengers can clearly see the naked remains of a young man hung from a bridge. At the first case press conference, police detective Rachel Narey passes out and after a physical, is confined to bed by a police doctor. However, her lover, Tony Winter, ex-cop and now a journalistic photographer, is on the case. Rachel lends unwanted assistance via web research from her bed. She establishes a link to murderabilia, crashes the dark web, and begins to trade in certain items to further her investigation - including some Charles Manson and gang items. Does she become addicted? OK, enough. Needless to say there are more murders, and more buying, selling, investigating. Memories of Manson's crimes are resurrected - what a coincidence his recent passing presents!

As a crime fiction novel goes, this is a book with a number of highs and lows. It is tough for any author to do yet another serial killer story and come up with a new wrinkle - souvenir collecting in my experience qualifies. The story is well told, and the author has taken the time to do some good research on the dark. The climax was well done, I thought the length and tension were just right. On the other hand, Narey's disregard for her doctor's orders puts herself and others at risk. Nothing heroic about that. I don't recall any effort on the part of the police or others to look for cold cases, unsolved murders that have the slimmest, remotest possibility of a link to our opening dead guy. We're near the end and Narey, still bed-ridden, and Tony identified a strong link to the killer(s). Take it to the police? Nooooo. Let's do it ourselves. At most a 2 1/2 star book. I just can't round this one up. 2 stars. Not recommended. ( )

Once you get over the ghoulishness of people who buy and sell memorabilia connected to murders, there’s a half-decent police procedural murder mystery here. The detecting team of Nick, a former police photographer turned photo- journalist, and Rachel, his police inspector wife, is a good combination. Rachel who is off-the job with a difficult pregnancy is bored and becomes obsessed with the whole murderabilia scene. They are convinced that a series of recent murders is related to the murderabilia world. Rachel digs into the dark net of hard core collectors and catches the attention of a sinister group called The Four. This has dangerous, almost fatal, consequences. The book is a good read, although a gritty and gloomy one. There's a dramatic ending to close it. ( )