Helpful Score: 5
What a story! When I first started reading, I found it a little hard going -- mainly because of the use of London vernacular -- but as I got into the story, I got used to the language and found myself anxious to get on with the story. A real thriller with one of the most dispicable, vile bad guys I have ever encountered! Often times, the details were very disturbing and gory, but I could not put the book down. I would highly recommend this to any reader of hard-core crime stories. I was also surprised that this was written by a woman.
Helpful Score: 3
By far one of the most complex and best thrillers I have ever read - and I read a lot of thrillers. I generally figure out a book early on and Mo Hayder kept me on my toes till the end. Rich and tragic characters with a multi-layered plot. A must read!!!
Helpful Score: 3
An exciting thriller - but surprisingly so. When the killer's P.O.V. was given, I was disappointed, but kept reading... and was shocked to find a thriller still within the thriller! Obviously written by a very talented woman and very exciting with a good job in keeping the serial killer's P.O.V. consistent and exciting.
Helpful Score: 3
OHMAHGAWD!!! I'm a Bentley Little fan so I know gore, the groteque, the unimaginable. Ms. Hayder just ripped me a new one with her subtle start then growing with intensity. Very disturbing, even more when evidence is revealed. There is a twist, of course, and you never stop reading until the end!
Helpful Score: 2
A well written and engrossing thriller but just a bit too graphic for this Granny!
Helpful Score: 1
I could not stick with this--written in the language of how they talk and think in the UK(I think), it is very hard to decipher what they are talking about, there seems to be a lot of slang used I'm not familiar with and it was just a struggle to try to figure what the h---was going on and what they were talking about.
Helpful Score: 1
Some crimes shock.Some crimes horrify.And some defy the imagination.Mo Hayder steers into a nightmarish world of victims and their victimizer...and of a cop crashing up against his own limits as a man.Five mutilated women,whose corpses yeild a treasure trove of abominations...including the little present found inside their bodies.
Very gritty police procedural set in England. This is Mo Hayder's first book and what an outstanding book it is. This is one author who will rank right up there with Jeffery Deaver and James Patterson.
Detective Jack Caffery--young, driven, and seemingly unshockable--catches a career-making or career-breaking homicide in his first case as lead investigator with London's crack murder squad. A young woman's body has been discovered, dumped on wasteland near the Millennium Dome site in Greenwich, England. It's the most brutal degradation of the human form that the squad has ever uncovered. Caffery's well-deserved reputation is that of the most stoic of detectives, but his initial inspection of the corpse will forever sear his psyche.
One by one, four more corpses are discovered only steps away from the first. Five bodies, all young women, all ritualistically murdered with cunning precision. And when a postmortem examination reveals a singular, macabre signature linking the victims, Caffery realizes that he's facing the most dangerous offender known to the force: a sexual serial killer.
In the murky recesses of his own mind, Caffery harbors the haunting legacy of a loved one's slaying. What baffles him is that not a single missing person's report has been filed for any of the five young women. How has the Birdman chosen these seemingly perfect victims?
Now, as he employs every weapon forensic science can offer, Caffery knows that time is running out before the killer strikes again, and that he must put away his torured past in order to safeguard the Birdman's next prey.
Detective Jack Caffery--young, driven, and seemingly unshockable--catches a career-making or career-breaking homicide in his first case as lead investigator with London's crack murder squad. A young woman's body has been discovered, dumped on wasteland near the Millennium Dome site in Greenwich, England. It's the most brutal degradation of the human form that the squad has ever uncovered. Caffery's well-deserved reputation is that of the most stoic of detectives, but his initial inspection of the corpse will forever sear his psyche.
One by one, four more corpses are discovered only steps away from the first. Five bodies, all young women, all ritualistically murdered with cunning precision. And when a postmortem examination reveals a singular, macabre signature linking the victims, Caffery realizes that he's facing the most dangerous offender known to the force: a sexual serial killer.
In the murky recesses of his own mind, Caffery harbors the haunting legacy of a loved one's slaying. What baffles him is that not a single missing person's report has been filed for any of the five young women. How has the Birdman chosen these seemingly perfect victims?
Now, as he employs every weapon forensic science can offer, Caffery knows that time is running out before the killer strikes again, and that he must put away his torured past in order to safeguard the Birdman's next prey.
I loved this book. It just keeps you guessing.
I couldn't read this book fast enough! Great writing, great characters, great suspense! Highly recommend!
Good reading for those who enjoy crime thrillers set in England.
Definately Thrilling. full of "o my gosh" parts.
disturbing, but could not put it down
Excellent
Great Book!!! The First in her Jack Caffery series. Well Done!!
The writing is good and the subject is scary and screepy.
If you like crime thriller then this one will keep you entertained the whole time.
Really good book...
Interesting.
"riveting...eerie & tense...a frightning book!" exactly as stated on the cover
Great suspense thriller set in London. The plot is really good and when you find out why the killer is called "The Birdman", you won't easily forget it!!!
Somes crimes shock, some crimes horrify and some defy imagination.... A nigtmare world of victims and the victimizer and a cop crashing up against his on limitations.
This is by far one of the darkest but best books I've read in a long time. I'm one of those that rarely can't figure out the plot. To look at the writer's picture, you can't imagine how she came up with the story line. Jack Caffery is by far one of my favorite damaged characters. One of my friends didn't finish the book because she was scared. I LOVED it. Be warned it is dark and you'll want to read the sequel to connect the dots. Love this series!
I enjoyed the mystery part of the book, but it was very gritty. I had a hard time through out the book understanding what the police abbreviations were, since they're British, and I was confused by a lot of the British slang. Overall a pretty good book, but I'm not sure I'd read more by the author. This was her first book.
Serial killer thriller set in London, about a necrophiliac who kills and mutilates prostitutes. Not for the faint of heart, but quite a riveting tale with the usual angst-driven police inspector with a tormented past that colors his way of thinking and doing things. Is there not a 'normal' detective anywhere on the planet, I ask? LOL Very difficult to put down!
POSSIBLE SPOILER FOLLOWS--so don't read my review if you think it might spoil it for you...
Well, this was a bit much with necrophilia angle, but I hung in there and read it. It could have had some detail left out.
Well, this was a bit much with necrophilia angle, but I hung in there and read it. It could have had some detail left out.
Hard to put down.very good read
