Sign in with Facebook
Tim The Enchanter's Reviews > Birdman
Birdman (Jack Caffery #1)
by
by
Tim The Enchanter's review
bookshelves: crime, my-ebooks, police-procedural, thriller, 3-stars
Dec 19, 2013
bookshelves: crime, my-ebooks, police-procedural, thriller, 3-stars
Creepy. Creepy. Creepy. - 3
It is my personal belief that given the right set of circumstances ANYONE is capable of murder. If someone tells me that they are not, I will disagree with them. Having said that, there are some things that I don't believe every person capable of doing. While I might believe your grandma is capable of shooting or poisoning someone, I don't necessarily believe that she is capable of then cutting them up and cooking them in a stew. I enjoy dark crime novels. I have always be interested in what makes people do those things for which I think few people have the capacity.
While I enjoy reading about these things, I believe I have found my upper limit for what I can stomach. Birdman brought me to that threshold.
The Good
The writing and pacing of this novel is excellent. Mo Hayder writes excellent prose and the story never drags. Jack Caffery is an interesting and nuanced character as are the criminals. The psychological elements of the crime are well explored. There is an interesting exploration of how a person feels compelled to do bad things, the steps he takes to avoid doing them and the ultimate failure of those boundaries. It is a compelling look in the mind of the depraved.
The Bad
In the words of a 14 year old "OMG!" These people are messed up. While I can stomach quite a few things, this one about took me over the edge. We have some people in this novel who are interested in necrophilia. In case you do no know what this means, that would be obtaining sexual gratification with corpses. While many dark crime novels have characters who find the act of killing as sexual experience, I find it far more disturbing that the sexual experience occurs after the act of killing is complete. The only reason I finished this novel is that it was multilayered. As this was not the only aspect of the novel, this theme was not pervasive.
Another major issue with the novel was the manner in which Jack Caffery made breakthroughs in the case. Most every breakthrough was an "Eureka" moment. The reader is rarely privy to the information that the MC uses to reach his conclusion. Jack usually sits around thinking about the case and suddenly he thinks, "Hey! We are looking at this case all wrong. (fill in the blank) is what is actually happening here". This was lazy plot development.
While Mo Hayder can certainly write, the plot development leaves something to be desired. Assuming the next novel is not increasingly disturbing, I will continue reading in hopes that the plot development improved as the writer gained experience.
It is my personal belief that given the right set of circumstances ANYONE is capable of murder. If someone tells me that they are not, I will disagree with them. Having said that, there are some things that I don't believe every person capable of doing. While I might believe your grandma is capable of shooting or poisoning someone, I don't necessarily believe that she is capable of then cutting them up and cooking them in a stew. I enjoy dark crime novels. I have always be interested in what makes people do those things for which I think few people have the capacity.
While I enjoy reading about these things, I believe I have found my upper limit for what I can stomach. Birdman brought me to that threshold.
The Good
The writing and pacing of this novel is excellent. Mo Hayder writes excellent prose and the story never drags. Jack Caffery is an interesting and nuanced character as are the criminals. The psychological elements of the crime are well explored. There is an interesting exploration of how a person feels compelled to do bad things, the steps he takes to avoid doing them and the ultimate failure of those boundaries. It is a compelling look in the mind of the depraved.
The Bad
In the words of a 14 year old "OMG!" These people are messed up. While I can stomach quite a few things, this one about took me over the edge. We have some people in this novel who are interested in necrophilia. In case you do no know what this means, that would be obtaining sexual gratification with corpses. While many dark crime novels have characters who find the act of killing as sexual experience, I find it far more disturbing that the sexual experience occurs after the act of killing is complete. The only reason I finished this novel is that it was multilayered. As this was not the only aspect of the novel, this theme was not pervasive.
Another major issue with the novel was the manner in which Jack Caffery made breakthroughs in the case. Most every breakthrough was an "Eureka" moment. The reader is rarely privy to the information that the MC uses to reach his conclusion. Jack usually sits around thinking about the case and suddenly he thinks, "Hey! We are looking at this case all wrong. (fill in the blank) is what is actually happening here". This was lazy plot development.
While Mo Hayder can certainly write, the plot development leaves something to be desired. Assuming the next novel is not increasingly disturbing, I will continue reading in hopes that the plot development improved as the writer gained experience.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Birdman.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
December 19, 2013
– Shelved
December 19, 2013
– Shelved as:
to-read
Started Reading
March 25, 2014
– Shelved as:
my-ebooks
March 25, 2014
– Shelved as:
crime
March 25, 2014
– Shelved as:
thriller
March 25, 2014
– Shelved as:
police-procedural
March 25, 2014
–
Finished Reading
April 5, 2014
– Shelved as:
3-stars
Comments Showing 1-10 of 10 (10 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Nancy
(new)
-
added it
Apr 07, 2014 09:49AM
I've had this book on my shelf for nearly 5 years and I'm still scared to read it. Nice review, Tim.
reply
|
flag
It is rather disturbing....
Thanks Gary.
I'm almost afraid to say, now, but I think I have "Birdman" upstairs in a big box under the guest bed. That's my go-to stash if I run out of books. (Like that would happen). Shoot, I'm afraid to go up there now.........I'll wait for daylight. This book sounds like it will scare me to death!!!!!
Interesting, but I think I'll give it a pass.Igor
I think you need to read the next book in the series to see if the level of violence is the same and the pacing and plot structure improves. The MC has promise.
I did like the MC. I don't like books dealing with depraved sexual crime and this one was pretty depraved.
Great review, Tim. I just finished listening to this. Narrator was OUTSTANDING! I was out of breath at the end, but almost abandoned it several times because of the graphic descriptions of depravity. I feel the same . . . I will give Hayder/Jack Caffrey a second read.(This is one of the October reads in the Mystery & Crime Thrillers group. I'll be interested to see the conversation.)
