I am quite fond of Craig Russel as a writer. I'm not particularly fond of crime novels as a rule, but I think Mr Russel strikes up a good blend of good writing skills, exciting yet bordering on realistic plots, and somewhat untraditional settings. The writing is condensed without being to dense or staccato, and finds itself somewhere along the lines of Hemmingway and other good, 'manly' writers. There is a good blend of background information, character description and development, and action ensuring that the reader is entertained throughout. The plot rolls along nicely with few hints here and there as to the possible identities of the murderer(s), but we are not kept tantalizingly close with the answer seemingly just around the corner, like in the more classic crime-novel. There is a sense of work, which has to be done by the protagonist and his team, in order to find out whodunnit. This adds more realism to the story, which I find quite refreshing. Yet there is still enough blood, gore, violence, and international crime organisations in there to keep the more discerning readers happy.
The Carnival Master is not a GREAT piece of eternally valid literature. Not by any means. It is, however, quite entertaining, very well conceived and executed. If John Le Carré wrote about serial killers, this would be it.
It can be read without any previous knowledge of the Jan Fabel-series, but I definitely think it helps having read the preivous three novels.