I have meant to read Craig Robertson for a long while, but, as is the way, did not get around to reading him until just now. This is the first in his Narey and Winter series, although Winter does not appear and Rachel Narey is barely in the novel.

This is an unusual serial killer book, as it is told from the point of view of the killer himself. It is hard to be sympathetic with someone who is killing people, randomly choosing his victims in different ways – a business card plucked from a bowl, the next person to get off a bus, a name chosen from a phone book – but, as you discover his motivations, you do feel a deep sadness for him.

Without doubt, this is a clever and twisted tale, with a dark humour. For, as our killer embarks on his killing spree, he manages to accidentally ignite a gang war on the streets of Glasgow. You soon realise that there is a plan behind the killer’s actions and the ending is both extremely moving and very cleverly done. This is a gruesome read at time, but I am pleased that I finally tried Robertson’s writing and know that I will definitely be reading on in the series, where I look forward to getting to know Narey better and, hopefully, meeting Winter.

This is something of an update. I did read one but stalled in the series and have decided, this year, to revisit at least some of the crime series I have meant to read. As such, this is a re-read and I enjoyed it greatly. Highly recommend this series.29 s Linda Strong3,880 1,678

I can honestly say this was the first time I felt such sadness for a serial killer. The entire book is written from his point of view ... what's he doing, why he's doing it. There are no forensics to speak of and the police take a long step back, away from all the action.

He chooses victims at random .. the 3rd person who passes him on the street..... pulls a business card out of the bowl at the bar .... picks up the phone directory and chooses a name, any name will do. Then he stalks them, sometimes for weeks, sometimes longer.

He chooses various ways to kill, but always cuts off the pinkie finger to ensure the police know it's his work. One of the human failings ... he eventually wants his 15 minute of fame.

Mistakes are made along the way. One of his victims worked for a major drug dealer and now the police aren't the only ones looking for him.

The book is well-written. The characters come to life under the author's nimble fingers. There were a couple of twists that I absolutely did not see coming. I think I've found another favorite author.read-in-201512 s Sandy873 226

If you've read the blurb above you know the main plot of this book. A serial killer is loose in Glasgow & the frustration felt by the police is matched only by the public's fear as seemingly random victims are chosen for a gruesome demise.
But this is a book of surprises. First, the story is narrated by the killer. The reader is plunked down into his head so we are privy to his thoughts. Slowly we learn how personal tragedy transformed him from a happy family man to one who no longer feels joy or empathy. Grief has given him one goal...someone must pay.
The style of writing is another surprise. The prose is terse & blunt in places, caustic & darkly funny in others. We follow his stream of consciousness as it files through his head & even begin to understand his logic. Scary thought. 
He's smart meticulous & patient as the bodies pile up over a period of a couple of years. The police are completely stumped. One of them, DS Rachel Nary, comes closer than most. Despite the notes on the book jacket, her part is a small one & we don't follow her around as in a typical police procedural. The narrative is always in his voice. But we do watch the killer watching her & although she'll never know it, she plays a pivotal role in his final decision.
He makes one mistake that threatens to derail his plans. One of his victims was a bagman for Glashow's biggest mobster & he's not taking it well. He sees it as a personal insult & joins the cops in the hunt for the "Cutter", unaware they've already met. This results in a gang war that plays out while the killer continues working on his (who)to-do list.
The city itself is as much of a character as any of the cast. Glasgow is described as having two faces. The bright urban bustle & quiet neighbourhoods of law abiding citizens coexist with a gritty & prosperous criminal community (with some blurry areas around the edges).
Because of how it's written, you feel you're riding shotgun with the killer as an invisible passenger. But the author holds back some crucial tidbits 'til the end which I can honestly say I never saw coming. Suddenly you realize innocent or throw away comments were actually big red flags. It made me sit up & stop reading for a moment to reconsider everything in this new light & admire how cleverly it was done.
This belongs to the Tartan Noir genre that's gaining popularity but not for everyone. It doesn't follow the standard format of a police procedural. It's more of a character study of the killer with the cops playing a very minor almost anonymous role. I really enjoyed this author's style & will definitely check out his next book.9 s Karen1,903 107

One of the things that I really about reading review books is that I constantly find absolutes in my reading tastes aren't. Ask me about serial killer books before reading RANDOM and I would have categorically stated been there, over it. Add being inside the serial killer's head for the entire of the book and I'd have put my hand on my heart and said it's all too tedious. Then I read RANDOM and found myself really hooked on the internal monologue of a serial killer.

Based in Glasgow, RANDOM, on one level is your typical serial killer book. Unconnected victim's, strange signature from the killer, police are baffled. This time the killer isn't using a signature methodology, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason to the killings. Whilst there is a police investigation and DS Rachel Narey is struggling against pressure from police hierarchy and the shenanigans that go on at that level when the media are finally alerted (by our killer) to the connections, this isn't really a story of the pursuit of a killer. Where RANDOM starts to vary is that our serial killer in this book is undoubtedly vicious and driven and quite quite odd - but he's also flawed and not mad, and strangely not totally bad. He's also made a big mistake with the selection of one of his victims which makes his life very very complicated and the police pursuit the least of his problems. Told from the point of view of the killer, his true identity is slowly revealed, as are the methods he is using to select his victims, the way that he kills his victims, and even more slowly, his reasons.

RANDOM really was a book that I simply wasn't expecting, especially after reading the blurb with that slow sinking feeling. But being a review book, you have to press on and I am really really glad I did. It seems a very odd thing to be saying about a serial killer book, but I enjoyed this book. RANDOM is undoubtedly manipulative, the reader is pulled into this killer's mind and into his life in a way that was subtle and clever. Balancing the way that this man selects his victims, the way that he is so ruthless in his decisions on who to kill and who not to, against a home life that is not your typical abusive, weird family relationship, but something more touching, sad, heart-breaking; and I did find myself in a really odd place - feeling sympathy for a serial killer.

There's a final twist in the tail of this book which on one level I knew was probably coming, but I didn't quite expect the way it played out. And it was affecting, and challenging and sad and right and wrong all at the same time. RANDOM was a real reading revelation for me. Flagged as a thriller it is a pacy, tense and disturbing book. It's also a reflective, moving and quite emotional book. Perhaps if you're a reader who holds their preference for no more serial killers under any circumstances closer to their core than I do, this might not be the book for you. For me, it was one of those books that took all my reading assumptions, pitched them out a window and ran over them with a bus just to make sure they were well dead and buried.
crime review-books united-kingdom6 s Sarah2,747 200

This is my first book by this author and certainly won’t be my last!

I have to admit I’m not quite sure if this is the start of a series or not as the police side of things is very low key. The whole story centres around the serial killer himself. I enjoyed that we get to see everything from his point of view and I think overall readers are going to take to him.

Getting to see a serial killer in his work and home life really humanised him for me. You can’t help but have some empathy for the guy. Just for being a taxi driver alone! The author nails the small talk and the constant stream of the same questions and has made me think twice about what I will talk about next time I get into one.

The papers give the killer the nick name of ‘Jock the Ripper’ which I found highly amusing. It’s always the little things but it bought a little bit of humour into what is otherwise a raw and gritty read.

Random is a dark and gripping read that I found myself flying through. As all the pieces started to come together, it certainly held some surprises and shocks in store and I thought it was very cleverly done. Look forward to reading more by the author.
fiction6 s Mike Finn1,343 38

"Random" is the story of a serial killer none I've read before. This is not some Hannibal Lecter evil-genius anti-hero, nor the all too common I--to-cause-women-pain serial killer, or even the Dexter "dark passenger" kind of killer.

This is a story of a disciplined man, following a plan with minimal emotional involvement. A plan that will get him an outcome that he greatly desires.

At least, that's how it starts.

Executing the plan costs our killer. It eats away at his humanity. It stresses him to the point where he struggles to keep control and starts to give way to paranoia and anger.
The whole story is told from the killer's point of view and we get to watch him fall apart.

"Random" delivers many of the things that attract people to serial killer books: tension and suspense, ingeniously managed kills, a strong sense of place, a high level of plausibility and a level of graphic violence that is convincing enough to be disturbing but never crosses the line into voyeuristic murder porn.

Yet the most interesting thing about the book is not who gets killed and how but the why of it all. The motivation behind the plan. The end game that you won't see coming. This is all brilliantly done through interior dialogue and memories. Memories are important in this novel. Our killer says:

"Memories are landmines. You never know which one will blow up in your face".
Our killer is a fully developed character. Someone I could feel pity for. Someone who has lost himself. Someone doing things that he knows are unforgivable but which he makes himself do anyway.

Being inside this man's head is not a pleasant experience but it's not a trip to loony town either. It's unpleasant because any of us might find ourselves where he is.
The plot is clever and the pacing works. It's an astonishing debut by an author I want more of.

I picked up "Random" as part of my Thirty Firsts 2019 TBR Reading Challenge.The book is marketed as "Narey and Winter #1" so I expected it to be the first in a series of police detective stories, set in Glasgow, about two police detectives.

In reality, I spent all my time in the killer's head. Narey features throughout the book as a kind of remote threat of justice. Winter didn't make an appearance. I have no idea where book two will go.

It sounds to me "Random" was a successful one-off novel that begged for an encore. Craig Roberstons writing is good enough to convince me to give the next book a try and find out where it goes.1-in-a-series crime crime-series ...more3 s Best Crime Books & More1,135 177

Craig Robertson has had a twenty year career with the Glasgow Post. He has not only interviewed three different Prime Ministers, he has also attended some major news stories such as 9/11, Dunblane and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. This is his first novel and is entitled Random.

The cover of his book is pretty eye catching with its red cover and a picture of a figure in the shadows. The jacket information was even more interesting with a description of a Serial Killer operating in Glasgow. He has been nicknamed The Cutter by the media and the police are baffled by the killings. DS Rachel Narey is on the case and she cannot seem to find any connection between the victims. There seems to be no real motive or reason for the murders and there seems to be absolutely no links between the people.

When I opened the book the first thing that was strange was the fact that the book is written in the first person, and said first person is the killer himself. There was something slightly unsettling about that in the beginning for me. As the book progresses the story is stretched and we learn more not only about his mindset but the reasons behind the killings.

I don't particularly spoilers but this book is very hard to describe without some risk of spoiling the plot. I will say however, that the more you read the more you will question "what would I do if that was me?" I found that over halfway in not only had the unsettling feeling I started with gone, I found myself seeing things through the eyes of somebody in his position.

Ultimately as the title and jacket information describe, the serial killings are made entirely at random. This is not only a disturbing thought, but one that is written with incredible skill. I was amazed at how I felt whilst reading it and felt myself becoming more and more absorbed by it. The story is set in Glasgow and the writing and speech of the Glaswegians is done superbly.

The pace of the book is also pretty good, I wouldn't say particularly fast but reasonably paced with more intent on seeing things from the `bad' side of the fence. This gave the story good momentum and more intent on the sheer genius of being inside a killers mind. I cannot say anything bad about this book; I thoroughly enjoyed it and eagerly await the next novel by Mr Robertson. read-20103 s Cat951 81

I found this book interesting. I didn't necessarily it, but it was interesting to be in the mind of a serial killer for an entire book, to see his emotions and thought processes, to know why he was doing these things and what effect it had on him. The deaths were rather graphic, and I'm not entirely sure if that was a good or bad thing, but it was interesting to see how methodically the killer thought about them. There were a few parts of the book that I did not appreciate, including the sections about gangs, with overtly graphic torture scenes, the tiny bit about dog fighting and the random fat shaming. They felt right in the setting of the book and from the main character's perspective, but also, no, thanks.3 s Nick Clarke1 review

Fabulously written,straight into the action from page 1,you almost think to yourself that you cant wait for the next murder,its that compelling a story.Utter genious.3 s Gerard Oconnell41 16

Enjoyed this book,my first from this writer but it will not be my last.3 s Rebecca BradleyAuthor 19 books256

This novel is told from the point of view of “The Cutter”. It’s the second novel this year that I’ve read where the novel is narrated from the point of view of the serial killer and it’s the second novel this year that I’ve loved that about it.

You’re thrown straight into his mind as the novel starts and it’s a dark and focused place.

The title of the novel comes from the fact that the way he murders his victims is always random, never the same way twice and Robertson is quite inventive when choosing modes of murder for his victims! I particularly d his first one and was interested to find out during BritCrime at the weekend that it had been used as a real way to murder someone.

But don’t be fooled by the random but inventive deaths. This is no killer on a spree, this is a great story of a man unravelling. It also has a whole other twisted story wrapped around in it and at the end you are left in awe at how Robertson pulled all the threads together. I say; not just a spree killer novel.

Glasgow also plays a great role in Random. You can see and hear the sights and sounds of the city as our killer moves about within it.

Random was Robertson’s debut. I now can’t wait to read his other books. This is one I’d definitely recommend.favorites2 s Grace Backler206 23

A powerful ending to a story which had me captivated the whole time I was reading. My only criticism is that I didn't enjoy the dialogue but found the rest of the writing style (minus a few editing errors) to be intriguing. Being able to relate to a serial killer is always an interesting plot point to enable you to empathise and reflect on your own moral stand points and what you would do in similar situations. 2 s SharonAuthor 2 books56

A serial killer is terrorising the streets of Glasgow leaving the police baffled, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to the killings.
This book is told from the killers perspective so from the outset you know who he is but not why. A dark and brutal tale of a man driven to the depths of despair.
Fantastic debut from Craig Robertson and I'm looking forward to reading more from him2 s David Nelson221 3

3.5 stars

Because I'm a totally normal person I've read this series in the order of 5, then 6, and now 1. I figured they would stand alone fairly well if read out of sequence, and while I wasn't wrong, I wasn't quite expecting this...

Un books 5 and 6 of the Narey & Winter saga, this first entry isn't narrated by Narey, and doesn't even feature Winter.



Previous (future?) books have started with points of view of the killer, or at least a witness to the crime, so things started off as expected, but I kept waiting for a new chapter and DS Narey to come in... It took a while to accept that wasn't going to happen. She does turn up eventually, but very much as an intrusive figure in the narrator's world. There's enough context and time given to build her character up a little, and to set her apart from just another investigating police officer, but I doubt it would've been enough to make me expect her to be the focal point of the series that this book was to kick off. I can only assume this was never planned to be the first in a series when it was conceived.

Is it any worse off for it? No, I wouldn't say so. It's an interesting point of view, and the story is as inventive and dark as what I've come to expect from Robertson. I guess the only thing that's really missing is the "whodunnit" aspect, which is replaced to some extent by "Will he get away with it?"

Possibly the biggest accomplishment of this approach to telling the story was how it struck a balance of empathy and disgust for the main character. You are after all reading about a man indiscriminately killing off people at random - at surface level there's no reason at all why the reader should get behind that and root for him. As you read on though you learn about his justifications for doing it, and what he's trying to accomplish, and it's a pretty tragic back story, which although doesn't excuse his behaviour, does go some way to making you feel sympathy and contextualise his actions as those of a sane person with a very real goal, as opposed to a nutter on the loose.

There's quite a lot of scathing remarks about journalism and journalists, and I was trying to figure out if these were tongue-in-cheek in jokes, or genuine criticisms at an industry Robertson's fallen out of love with, given his background.

And once again this book reads a love story to Glasgow - lots of detail and references, which I enjoy, and really breathes life into it. I'm not sure if I've ever read a book set somewhere I'm not familiar with that goes into so much detail - I wonder what affect it has on someone reading who isn't familiar with Glasgow.1 Carole117 2

This is the first book in the Narey and Winter series but I’m not sure it was originally meant to be, as Detective Sergeant Rachel Narey barely appears and Winter isn’t there at all. It’s actually told entirely from the point of view of the killer. It has an ingeniously thought out plot which.unfolds slowly revealing a clever and twisted tale. I did feel a lot of sympathy for “The Cutter”, and despite knowing his deeds there was still a part of me that was routing for him. I loved the descriptions of Glasgow especially in the final chapter which was amazing, even although you know the outcome.1 Dolf Patijn712 43

An intelligent and unusual thriller, written completely from the perspective of the killer. I understand that this is the first in a series. I'm curious to see how this series evolves. This is one of these thrillers that is not too graphic but leans more on a good story which kept me interested until the very end. It has a well thought out twist towards the end and the end of the story itself is believable. Highly recommended.1 H L C65 3

What a shit ending
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