A review by nonna7
Gods and Beasts by Denise Mina

4.0

Reading Denise Mina is always such a pleasure. Her books are multilayered with more than one story line. This one is no exception. This is actually the first DI Morrow I've read. There were two previous ones: Still Midnight & The End of the Wasp Season. In this one, DI Alex Morrow is back from maternity leave after giving birth to twin boys. She and her husband are juggling their care, and she's not getting much sleep as a result. There are three stories that come together at the end: a robbery and murder at a local post office, a Labor politician who has been unable to resist the trappings of power and two police officers who are unable to resist the taking a bag of money from the car of a drug dealer. Interwoven throughout is Alex's on again/off again relationship with her half brother who is also the local mobster. He claims he is getting into legitimate businesses. Mina writes so well. There isn't a lot of waste nor is there any silliness. The best thing is her characters. The police aren't supermen or wonder women - just people trying to do their jobs. People aren't bad or good. They are just normal people. Underlying the story is what happens when the economic basis of a society falls apart.