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It's easy to persuade people who've never been there that Glasgow is a hellhole, though the mean city has changed a lot since the 1930s. With his latest book – a break from the Aberdeen series – Macbride has leapt forward to the middle of the 21st century, to find Glasgow no better than she ever was (supposedly). Half the city has been given up to the dangerous underclass, periodically subdued with raids from armed police (more terrified than terrifying) and menial work is performed by lobotomised, tranquilised ex-crims who, for good measure, have had half their faces removed along with their memories and free will. These are the halfheads of the title, and connoisseurs of fantasy fiction won't be surprised to learn that one of them is not quite as subdued and harmless as intended. In fact, she is a serial killer. Against her is a cop plagued by nightmare memories of a raid on the ghetto which went spectacularly wrong. So you know the book is building to the time when he and she come face to face – or head to halfhead. No one does 'Hell is a City' better than Macbride, though whether his Granite City fans will like this jaunt into Dr Who's worst nightmare remains to be seen. (As when Iain Banks became Iain M Banks for fantasies, Macbride has become B Macbride for his.)

Russell James

Halfhead

by Stuart B Macbride

Harper Collins trade paperback 978-0-729870-9, £12.99 (September 2009)