The Slaughter Man: (DC Max Wolfe) by Tony…

The Slaughter Man: (DC Max Wolfe) (edition 2016)

by Tony Parsons (Author)

Series: Max Wolfe (2)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
157	8	181,844	(3.78)	3

I am one of those readers who likes to read in bed, and I was that engrossed by The Slaughter Man, that I ended up staying up all night just to finish it.

The book is a fast paced mixture of gory violence and a loving relationship between a father and his daughter. Fast paced, but gives the reader sufficient time to digest what is happening before throwing in the next twist in the tale! The plot evolves in a way that the reader might not expect, and the whole story ends up being more than just a typical murder crime thriller.

It is really well written and set in contemporary London with a new cop hero by the name of Max Wolfe, a nard as nails detective and single father of a young daughter called Scout. The relationship between father and daughter bring another level to the story and is a breath of fresh air, needed at times. There are some fairly graphic violence and I like the excessive goriness tbh! It is also a really great touch adding the explanations of the science behind the gruesome stuff. It's good to have an explanation as to why most gun shot wounds to the gut are fatal for example.

A wealthy family are murdered on New Year's Eve and their youngest son vanishes. Max has to find the killer and hopefully locate the missing boy.

The crime resembles one which happened years ago, for which a man was imprisoned and now has been released.

Wolfe and the team have to work out whether the same man could be responsible for these deaths.

It seems Max has miraculous healing powers as he is stabbed, buried, ripped apart, knocked out and drugged and still has only one overnight hospital stay. There was definitely some disbelief that needed suspending throughout! He makes James Bond seem soft and that man should be dead years ago! But, I loved this guy long may he continue! :-)

I'd worked out quite early on "who done it" but what I hadn't worked out was why and there were plenty of surprises.

I will be looking forward to the next book from Tony Parsons and eagerly awaiting the return of Max Wolfe!

Highly Recommended Reading! (

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DebTat2 | Oct 13, 2023 |

English (7) Swedish (1) All languages (8)

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DebTat2 | Oct 13, 2023 |

In the sequel to The Murder Bag must DC Max Wolf hunt down a serial killer who have killed an entirely family except the youngest son who the killer has kidnapped.

I found the first book brutal this book is even worse. If there is something I have a hard time reading about is it cases where children are involved. Gone, Baby Gone, by Dennis Lehane is an excellent example of a book that I had a hard time reading. This one was also very hard to read.

Tony Parsons has once again written an excellent crime novel. Max, his five year old daughter Scout and their dog Stan are back and to be perfectly honest, part of the appeal of the book for me is what a wonderful father Max is, yes there are moments when he is a bit lost, like when his daughter needs a princess dress, but besides situations like that he is a man trying his best to take care of his daughter and that is why this case becomes so personal for him. Somewhere out there is a missing four-year-old boy almost the same age as his daughter.

There were some moments I thought were a bit peculiar, namely when the cops went into places without backup. They got a tip, they have an address and they barge in without waiting for backup and everything goes haywire. That Max does things that get him hurt I can understand, he's a bit of a loose cannon sometimes. But here we have him and some colleagues and his superior just barging in. Before that, they had done the same thing, in a camp with romanies and gotten into a problem. Besides that, the book was really good, almost as good as the first one. But as I said before I don't like cases with children involved and I would rather not read that kind of book.

4.5 stars

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review! (

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MaraBlaise | Jul 23, 2022 |

Detektiv Maks Vulf se suočava sa brutalnim ubistvom četvoro članova idilične, bogate londonske porodice, a najmlađe dete je nestalo. Maks zna da ako ne pronađe dete u narednih par dana neće ga ni pronaći živo. Slično ubistvo, pištoljem za ubijanje stoke u klanicama, već se dogodilo trideset godina ranije i ubica je još živ....

Toni Parsons sjajno vodi priču i još bolje je završava. Pri kraju knjige zaista sam zaustavljao dah i zaboravljao da dišem. (

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auntiffr | Apr 21, 2021 |

Not for the faint hearted but an excellent, nail biting thriller. (

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angelaoatham | Feb 21, 2017 |

As with the earlier title in this series, THE MURDER BAG, the narration in this novel is superbly done. The story is a little more gruesome and violent than the action in the earlier title. If you decide you want to read this one, I think it is worth recognising that it is part of a series, and reading THE MURDER BAG first, simply because of the character development of Max Wolfe and the team he belongs to, and of his relationship with his young daughter Scout. Both novels emphasise how tough modern policing in London can be.

The gruesome murder of the wealthy family connects with an old case and doubt is cast on whether the Slaughter Man actually committed the murders for which he has served time. The ex-con is now living with a group of "travellers" who have little respect for the police and things turn very nasty.

Tony Parsons is a writer worth following. (

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smik | Aug 26, 2015 |

Max Wolfe embodies a range of personas - gritty, courageous front line policeman, intuitive investigator, adoring single parent - and showed he was capable of fulfilling each role fairly comprehensively in Tony Parsons's previous novel, 'The Murder Bag'. He makes a welcome return in 'The Slaughter Man'.

Parsons may have a loose grasp on police procedure at times, but he does deliver a gripping, if gruesome, plot. He throws in plenty of accurate local colour along the way, with detailed descriptions of Highgate, ranging from the exclusive, gated estates, the normally closed and desperately overgrown western half of the famous cemetery and abandoned properties on 'Billionaires' Row'.

Wolfe is called to attend the after math of the horrific murder on New Year's Eve of a wealthy family who lived in a gated estate known as 'The Garden' in the heart of Highgate. The victims are the Woods, an extremely wealthy family who had, hitherto enjoyed a fairly idyllic life. Already appalled by the extreme violence of the crime scene, Wolfe is further horrified when it becomes apparent that the family's youngest member, four year old Bradley, isn't there. In addition to the hunt for the killers, the police now face the even greater urgency of trying to recover the missing boy. The cause of death proves unexpected, too, and adds a further sense of the bizarre to an already mystifying murder.

Parsons takes us through a succession of deftly managed set pieces, including a couple of police raids on a travellers' encampment, and various other fraught encounters between the cops and the bad guys. Wolfe and his colleagues are constantly in the wars, and almost every three of four chapters one of them seems to be attacked with exceptional ferocity.

Not the most plausible novel I have read this year, but certainly a gripping one. Wolfe may somehow be rather too good to be true, but he is likeable, the Parsons does keep the story fizzing along. (

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Eyejaybee | Jul 7, 2015 |

I Received this Book via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
I thoroughly enjoyed this book had me gripped addictive page turner that i could not put down! Really good subject matter a story line well written. Highly recommend a great read.
On the pitiless London city streets, DC Max Wolfe hunts a serial killer who kills only the happiest of families. If you like crime novels by Ian Rankin and Peter James, you will love this crime thriller. (

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maximeg | Jun 24, 2015 |

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