Product Description

This title is set in Greenwich, south-east London. The Met's crack murder squad, AMIP, is called out by nervous CID detectives to a grim discovery: five bodies, all young women, all ritualistically murdered and dumped on wasteland near the Dome. As each post-mortem reveals a singular, horrific signature linking the victims, officers realize that they are on the trail of that most dangerous offender: a sexual serial killer. Detective Inspector Jack Caffery - young, driven, unshockable - faces both hostility within the force and echoes of his past in this, his first case with AMIP. Haunted by the memory of a death long ago, he employs every weapon forensic science can offer - for he knows it is only a matter of time before this chaotic, sadistic killer strikes again. In this astonishing debut, Mo Hayder has written a novel of frightening and raw intensity which ranks alongside the very best in the genre.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117225 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From the Publisher
The dazzling début thriller from this frighteningly talented and bestselling young writer.

From the Back Cover
Greenwich, south-east London. The Met's crack murder squad, AMIP, is called out by nervous CID detectives to a grim discovery. Five bodies, all young women, all ritualistically murdered and dumped on wasteland near the Dome. As each post-mortem reveals a singular, horrific signature linking the victims, officers realize that they are on the trail of that most dangerous offender: a sexual serial killer.

Detective Inspector Jack Caffery - young, driven, unshockable - finds himself facing both hostility within the force and echoes of his past in this, his first case with AMIP. Haunted by the memory of a death long ago, he employs every weapon forensic science can offer for he knows it is only a matter of time before this chaotic, sadistic killer strikes again.

In her astonishing and acclaimed debut, Mo Hayder has written a novel of frightening and raw intensity which ranks alongside the very best in the genre.

About the Author
Mo Hayder was born in Essex. After leaving school at fifteen she worked as a barmaid, security guard, film-maker, hostess in a Tokyo club, educational administrator and teacher of English as a foreign language in Vietnam. She now writes full time and is the author of Birdman and The Treatment both published by Bantam Books.

Customer Reviews

Oh my god it's gruesome but good!!!
After reading Pig Island in a flight to London and back I was desperate to read more of the gruesome tales Mo Hayder obviously revells in. I selected Birdman and was completely blown away. It felt oddly perverted to continue to read at some points and absorbing the detail sometimes was painful as a female but the brutal effect had to be made to gain the real horror in the story. Sometimes I couldn't quite believe a rather gentile looking lady could come up with such visions. I love Jack's character although feel he could have been in charge of the case and Maddox seemed a bit pitiful as a superior. I loved this book and I'm purchasing The Treatment at this very moment. This is more powerful and believable than Pig Island and although not satifying in terms of feeling a bit out of sorts afterwards, a trully good disturbing read!

GRIPPING, GORY, GO GET IT!
Mo Hayder manages to write about a sadistic killer doing the most unspeakable things to women and yet, amazingly, women can read it right through to the bitter end. The reason is Mo Hayders acutely perceptive writing style combined with a lack of the use of sensationalism or unnecessary swear words .It is written from the viewpoint of down-to-earth Detective Caffrey where his own personal life and the mechanics of his day to day life form the basis of the book and how he seeks to catch the killer. The story follows many threads and each one ties up - there are no loose ends! There's a brilliant twist, and all of the book is macabrely credible. This book will stay with you for a long time. Not to be read before brekky!

Lust for death
Who would imagine that an attractive young lady could have such a sickeningly horrific imagination? She's a wolf in sheep's clothing, is Mo, that's for sure. This is her debut novel, I've discovered it six or more years after it was created but I read the first few pages at the very same time as the height of the investigation into a real-life serial killing in Britain that at first glance shares frighteningly similar bullet-point details as those in this fictional tale. I'm referring to the `Suffolk Strangler' who in the latter part of 2006 murdered five prostitutes and dumped their naked bodies in south-east England. All five women were drug addicts. So it was kind of spooky to read BIRDMAN as these facts were revealed on the news, because very early on in this story the naked bodies of five prostitutes are found in south-east England, all of them later found to be drug addicts. Was the Suffolk Strangler inspired by this book?

It's very unlikely. As more is revealed about the Birdman, and why he is so called, I cannot imagine that anyone, no matter how devoid of sanity, could have carried out such pre-meditated butchery. In fact the story appears to be drawing to a close when only half of the pages have been read when we suddenly discover that, somehow, things actually take a turn for the worse and we are then treated to a second half that involves further descriptions of how low a human being can descend in their sexual indulgences and the exploitation it involves.

Compared to the crime thrillers I have read, Birdman does push one or two boundaries of horror a little further than most, although this is not to say that there have been others unknown to me that have not ventured further still. It's probably as far as I want to venture myself, however. Thankfully there's a lot more to this tale than a capacity to induce nightmares; we are presented with an interesting and credible central character in the form of DI Jack Caffery, who has for all of his adult life borne the weight of the disappearance of his elder brother when they were both young boys. Jack is convinced that his brother Ewan was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a paedophile but there has never been anything to prove this, despite the assumed killer, now approaching 70, living at the end of Jack's garden following several spells in prison for sex crimes against children. Jack's obsession with his brother is always at the front of his mind (and will take centre stage in the sequel to this novel) together with the intimately drawn relationship with his live-in partner Veronica. Indeed quite apart from the central plot which involves the less-than-mainstream issue of necrophilia, the author successfully manages to include the sometimes taboo topics of racism and cancer. In the former case it centres on the assumption of another detective that the Birdman must be black, while the subject of cancer is tackled in a slightly unusual way that never appears overly stereotypical or insensitive. I found that all of the `side issues' that affect the personal life of the central character to be wholly convincing and skilfully woven into the story such that they were at all times relevant. What might have been classified as `the love interest bit' that so many publishers demand of a writer is in this case a `not-in-love' interest and was the more fascinating for it.

Having had a few days to reflect upon the story before writing this review, I find it hard to think of any weaknesses in its pace, structure, or authenticity. The author had me guessing for the majority of the time, making me ask myself this simple question: "What's going on here?" - sorry if that sounds a bit like Dixon of Dock Green (without the 'allo' 'allo 'allo prefix) but it really was something that I found myself asking on many occasions and I found it most entertaining. In the end though I give it four stars (four-and-a-half if I could) because five should only be allocated to truly special books, ones that really stand out from the rest. Birdman is unquestionably very good if not excellent, but it does ultimately fall into the classification of the serial killer genre, of which there are so many these days that almost nothing stands out. Having said that, Mo Hayder is clearly a very intelligent and imaginative writer, this is a fantastic debut and the thought that she will get better with experience is an enticing one. I'm halfway through The Treatment - the sequel to Birdman - and the signs are that she is indeed improving. You must read Birdman FIRST by the way - otherwise there are some spoilers in the sequel that will reduce the impact of this first novel.