Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9640 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 409 pages

Synopsis
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.

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.

Customer Reviews

Birdman
This book piles on the gore and grue but only manages to induce boredom and irritation. Why? Well, the author's characterisation is 1 dimensional at best. None of them come to life and worst of all is the total lack of empathy shown to the killer's victims. They are just prostitutes to be degraded and abused and no-one in this book shows any feeling towards them other than as objects. I found this more revolting than the parade of torture and mutilation which just comes across as nothing more than shock tactics. It's interesting to note that the only victim to be given any kind of personality is NOT a prostitute and appears to be middle-class. Not recommended.

Birdman
I couldnt wait to start this book. After hearing it to be compared to my favourite author, Karin Slaughter, but even more gruesome I thought it was too good to be true. I heard so many amazing reviews for this that I set my sights pretty high and was therefor a bit disappointed.

It is a good book with good pace but I found it a bit slow at the begining and took a while to get into. Also alot of reviewers here on amazon said it was really graphic and gruesome but I didnt find this to be the case, there are some grizly bits but nothing that stood out to me as significantly horrific. And I feel this is slightly where I felt let down. I was hoping for some sickening details that really shocked me and unfortunately that wasnt the case.

Also I felt the lead characters had great personality and back stories but the secondary characters where a bit 1 sided. There wasnt really alot goin on with them and there were alot of secondary characters which made it hard to keep track of who was who.

I'd say this book is a good read but I expected, and wanted, more from it. So don't get your hopes up to much but its worth a look if your a fan of the genre.

Gruesome but brilliant!
I bought some Mo Hayder books after reading Pig Island. As this was her debut offering I wasn't really expecting that much. I love British crime stories and this was fantastic. Sometimes parts of it were hard to read because they are quite chilling but that just made it a fantastic read! I would totally recommend this if you like British crime stories that make you feel horrified!