Customer Reviews

The Anniversary Man (Paperback)

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Although The Anniversary Man differs from this writer's breathtakingly beautiful A Quiet Belief in Angels, in that it is more of a police procedural, it too soars above the genre it represents because of the poetry and originality of the writing.

To set the scene: Police Detective Roy Irving of the NYPD is assigned to catch the copycat serial killer who is reenacting various famous cases on their anniversary dates. He is fortunate enough to meet Karen Langley, senior crime reporter for The New York City Herald, who in turn suggests that John Costello, a survivor of such a killing, who now works as a researcher for her, would be of great help to him because he has become an expert on serial killings.

What this book is really about is loneliness, especially the loneliness experienced by those who live in a crowded metropolis. Each of the three main characters is lonely in his/her own way. Ray Irving ends every day peering into the darkness as he witnesses '...the way in which lives were randomly smashed. He asked many questions but received answers to only a few. He closed each day by standing at his apartment window and watching the world fall into silence...'

Karen Langley is lonely too and her job, like Irving's, puts her in contact with more than her share of life's tragedies. Someone she feels deep compassion for is John Costello, who is perhaps the loneliest character in the book.

We first see John as a seventeen-year-old boy, full of joy and high spirits as he falls in love with the charming Nadia. Their happy innocence contrasts starkly with what follows. Later we come to know him as a fragile survivor who has chosen to isolate himself from the mainstream. He finds solace in a group of like-minded solitaries, all of whom have experienced tragic violence in their lives.

As this story plays out and as the three mains characters band together to put an end to the killings, we find ourselves turning the pages faster and faster and unable to put the book down!

Having finished the book, we emerge exquisitely moved and quite a bit sadder than when we started it but not completely despondent, because we have spent time with three brave and enduring spirits.

What is it that Mr Ellory has that many otherwise competent writers don't? What lifts him above the crowd? I believe it is his ability to make loneliness, longing, sadness and tragedy come alive for us and transform us, without causing despair. He has that quality that I look for, above all others, in a writer: the ability to remind us of the bittersweet nature of life here on earth. It is a quality that he shares with such esteemed writers as Haruki Murakami, Kazuo Ishiguro and the late Roberto Bolano.

In R. J. Ellory's "The Anniversary Man," John Costello is sixteen when his life changes forever. An unidentified assailant brutally attacks him and his girlfriend, Nadia, and although John survives, something in his soul has been shattered. Twenty-two years pass; he has somehow moved on and works as a researcher for a New York daily newspaper. He has his quirks, including a case of OCD, a tendency towards reclusiveness, and an encyclopedic knowledge of and fascination with serial killers. John's past comes back to haunt him when a copycat starts replicating old crimes. As the number of dead bodies climbs, the police are under enormous pressure to identify and stop the perpetrator.

Ray Irving, a twenty year veteran in the New York City Police Department, is the unlucky detective who is assigned to investigate a succession of murders that may or may not be related. Irving is a loner and a workaholic. He shares these traits with Karen Langley, Senior Crime Correspondent for the New York City Herald. The two clash over the newspaper's right to reveal information about the killing spree. Irving, whose girlfriend died suddenly, and Langley, a divorcee, are interested in one another, but tempers flare when they realize that they are operating at cross purposes. Meanwhile, Ray's boss demands results and, in desperation, Irving turns to John Costello for help.

What distinguishes "The Anniversary Man" is its realism. Irving and his colleagues expend a huge amount of time tracking down leads, but they are outsmarted at every turn. Progress is painfully slow because of a lack of forensic evidence, an abundance of red tape, and a shortage of manpower. It is rare that fictional police officers are made to look this clueless, but in a way, it is refreshingly genuine. After all, some killers literally get away with murder for years, leaving the cops baffled. Ray Irving's rocky relationship with Karen is also convincing, since these two battle-scarred people cannot successfully bond when they are so emotionally distraught. Costello remains a cipher; in many ways, he never grew up. Ellory makes a thought-provoking statement about the incomprehensible nature of evil, a concept that can be described and discussed, but never completely understood.

One quibble is the characters' overuse of profanity; too many four-letter words eventually lose their shock value and serve as an unwelcome distraction. In addition, the narrative is a bit too drawn out; a bit of streamlining would have been helpful. Finally, a word of caution is in order. This story is not for the squeamish, since it makes specific references to horrific acts of slaughter. "The Anniversary Man" is a disheartening but engrossing novel about the profound damage that ruthless predators inflict on their prey.

The story is suspenseful, the writing style is for the most part excellent, but I have some quibbles. The books starts with a major character who suddenly devolves into a minor bit player. He is replaced by a detective who I found rather boring. He is constantly in an introspective mood about the same feelings and problems he has over and over and over. He is in charge of an investigation that is mired in nowhere land with the same meetings discussing the same things over and over and over. This book could have used a little editing to tighten up an overdose of existential nattering by the hapless and lonely Detective Irving. The author mixes in a very thinly explained political side of policing over and over and over. I got it the first time and didn't need it repeated seemingly endlessly.

The first half of the book is quite good despite the horrific happenings which escalate as the book progresses. The last half tailed off into a let's get this over with feel. I was not impressed by the ending.

My major dislike about the book is the switch of the protagonist from John Costello to the boring Detective Irving. Once he took over the pages, Costello became practically invisible, unfortunately, since he was the most interesting character in the story even though his lines were few and his appearances fleeting.

I would have given this 2 1/2 stars since the author writes quite well but couldn't, since the book over all was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't feel it was quite a three star story.

If the author decides to write a sequel, Costello instead of Irving should be the main protagonist....I would like to read that book but I don't think that will happen.

A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, originally published in England in 2006, was the first of three R.J. Ellory books to be re-released by Overlook Press in the States. THE ANNIVERSARY MAN is the second and affirms Ellory's title as monarch of psychological crime thrillers. A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE, an exposé of covert operations, greed and insidious Washington corruption during mid-term elections, will be released later in 2010. Saving the best for last?

At age 16 in 1984, "John Costello was a shy boy, a quiet boy." He and first love Nadia McGowan are brutally attacked by the "Hammer of God" serial killer; he survived with a fractured skull, and she (debatably) was not so fortunate. Flash forward to 2006. Costello is a crime scene researcher for a Manhattan newspaper suffering truckloads of survivor's guilt. He is a member of the Winterbourne Group, survivors who gather monthly to "understand and appreciate what it is that makes someone do something like this." This meaning murder. Costello is thrown into the midst of new homicides being committed with identical scenarios on the anniversary date of each slaying, dubbed the Anniversary Murders by potty-mouthed reporter Karen Langley.

Detective Irving "had walked the edges of the abyss for some years. He recognized more of the madness with each killing." A copycat Zodiac Killer mails a letter to The Times, creating a panic the seismic magnitude of the combined killings by Son of Sam, Jeffrey Dahmer and the Hillside Stranglers. "Ray Irving truly appreciated the depth of the abyss. The only thing preventing him from falling was a tenuous hold on reality...Worst thing of all, it seemed, was his desire to let go." Having lost the only love in his life, Irving again feels that there is hope with Karen, surprisingly reciprocated. And not merely to glean information from the recalcitrant cop.

Costello observes the significance of the Anniversary Man's chameleon-like MO and date each victim is killed. Though Irving initially suspects Costello's uncanny ability to know the MO before details are released, Costello explains it away by backtracking each murder to an identical date in horrific history. Then he astounds Irving with predicting likely dates for future murders, but "you start to factor in about two hundred serial murders a year spanning fifty years, then every day is going to be the anniversary of someone's death." When Irving muses that the Anniversary Man "wants to be as famous as the Zodiac," Costello opines that he "wants to be Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, probably even wants to be the real Hannibal Lecter." Understandably, "Irving's frustration was epic."

More than the anniversary dates, the killings themselves are replicated. When The City Herald refuses to print the Anniversary Man's psychopathic manifesto, threats to kill a family of six are horrifically fulfilled. "[A]fter that it would get personal." Costello goes on the lam. Does "personal" mean the anniversary of his own near-death? Or has Irving deciphered the cryptic copycat Zodiac Code? Alas, there is a "casualty of some terrible, bitter irony" that will keep readers gasping with disbelief.

Irving re-examines the first killing, teenager Mia Grant, and questions her father, Anthony. Frustrated by the lack of leads from police, Grant had hired private eye Karl Roberts. Roberts has vanished now, and Irving suspects the PI may have actually committed the homicides or is a victim, since he had delved into Mia's murder only months before cops or Costello linked it to many. To further complicate matters, Grant had an affair with one of the victims years previously. Each leg of the millipede-leads that Irving follows is crossed with the lives of victims. Thrown into the morbid mix are ghouls who collect crime scene memorabilia. Possibilities increase on a Fibonacci scale, frighteningly plausible scenarios as to how serial killers can obtain information about intended victims.

In this bleak examination of murder and hope, Ellory's herrings are as red and sticky as caramelized apples, and there are more dead-ends than Manhattan riverside real estate. Fans of A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS will repeatedly take the wrong road when trying to identify the Anniversary Man. Readers who expect the amazing success of that novel to be replicated by the Brit who sets his plots in the U.S. as though he intends to recolonize for the Queen will be thrilled with this epic crime fiction novel. Written as though by a native New Yorker, it needs to be read twice --- once for vice-grip-like details, and again for nectar from the consummate wordsmith. So real is Ellory's writing that lines between journalism and crime fiction blur.

Though his stand-alone crime thrillers grab readers by the throat and don't let go until the last page, Detective Irving has the makings of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch on steroids, sure to be a repeat character --- and made with cinematic success into a blockbuster movie.

The following is an exclusive interview with R.J. Ellory and thumbnail review that appeared in International Thriller Writers' June 2010 issue of "The Big Thrill".

Set in New York City, THE ANNIVERSARY MAN is the ultimate killer thriller, chronicling the case of a deranged but highly intelligent murderer who kills on the anniversary dates of famous serial murders from the past. Each subsequent slaying eerily copycats another infamous death--all faithfully replicating precise details of previous homicides. From electrifying start to shocking conclusion, this thriller affirms the genius that is R.J. Ellory. Britain's phenom author has achieved the status of world-class writer.

Ellory fills this crime thriller with intriguing characters. Detective Ray Irving finds himself on the trail of a daring and intelligent killer. Potty-mouthed crime reporter Karen Langley's intuition leads her to danger. And enigmatic crime researcher John Costello, who narrowly escaped a serial killer attack twenty years before, belongs to a group of survivors and could "understand what it is that makes someone do something like this." A quirky person whom Ellory says "has dedicated his life to understanding the history and psychology of mass murder."

Five months before A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS was published in the States, I predicted it to be a mega-bestseller, one that Jonathan Kellerman called a "powerful, evocative novel of great psychological depth." That was Ellory's fifth book, published in England and the first to be published by Overlook Press in the US. This is the second and affirms Ellory's title as the crime king. A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE is an exposé of covert operations, and uncharacteristic Washington greed and corruption during fictional midterm elections, to be released just in time for real midterm elections. Is Ellory saving the best for last? (Subsequent to publication of this interview feature, Ellory *earned* the coveted Theakston's Award, Britain's approximation of Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award.)

As "a proud ITW member and attendee at Thrillerfest and Bouchercon who shall continue to carry the standard for International Thriller Writers," Ellory took the time to let The Big Thrill readers know more about his latest title and his fascinating writing career. "THE ANNIVERSARY MAN is about obsession, about needing to find the truth. It's about the worst kind of people the world has to offer, and the way in which those who are affected by such things deal with them, or not. It's about how even the best of us get things wrong. It's a thriller, a mystery, a puzzle, a battle of wills, and a story about real human beings and how they deal with the tremendous stresses occasioned by the horror of seemingly motiveless killings."

Ellory's style melds journalism and crime fiction. "Scenes that make the novel most compelling are that the central character (`The Anniversary Man' himself) is completely unknown until the end, and yet he is the one who controls and dictates all events. One of the highlights is the killer's re-creation and reenactment of the Amityville House killings. When I wrote that section it actually gave me a sleepless night! The other thing is that so many of the killings that take place are precise replicas of famous serial killings perpetrated by people such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Zodiac, The Sunset Slayers, et cetera. For those of us who are crime fiction and non-fiction readers, there are many recognizable characters there which make the book seem all the more realistic and unsettling."

As for real-life inspiration for key characters, Ellory said of Detective Irving: "June Boyle was the detective who finally interviewed and secured a confession from Lee Boyd Malvo, the young accomplice to the `Beltway Sniper.' Despite the fact that she is a tremendously big-hearted person, she is also a police detective. Being a detective is a lifestyle, a vocation, that one can never leave behind. She, of all the people I met, gave me the greatest insight into the mind of characters I chose to write about. June said that `All victims are not created equal.' When I wrote about Ray Irving in THE ANNIVERSARY MAN, June was always there in the back of my mind. Each central character is actually very lonely. In and amidst all the things that such people have to deal with, there is still the matter of their own humanity and personality to consider, three interesting people who are not easy to forget. What makes the characters give readers a sense of who they are is idiosyncrasies, but realistic ones. I cannot deal with characters who always get things right, because real people are just not like that! Real people make mistakes, they mess things up, they are awkward and act dumb sometimes."

Ellory said of imposing personality into the three key characters: "I don't think an author can get away from writing himself into the characters, at least to some small degree. We absorb so much from life, some good, some bad. We deal with them (or not), we recover, we carry on. Sometimes we get it right, other times not. I wrote this because of a deep and abiding fascination with human character, with the motivation for crime, and the simple fact that serial killing--as the most incomprehensible crime we consider--is also the most fascinating. Serial killers appear to be motivated by something else entirely. It is something that has never been understood, and possibly never will be."

Discussing various aspects of his writing, Ellory revealed facets about himself as complex as his characters. "You will find factual background present in all my work. The factual and historical backdrop is there as a set is for a play or a film, and then the main story happens in front of it. There is an immense amount of forensics and investigative research, but with me there is also the historical, cultural, social, political and personal research that goes into it. As a British writer writing books set in the USA, I take an immense amount of care to make the work as credible and real as possible. I am fortunate in that I love research and finding out about new things!"

Successful authors--particularly Ellory, who "wrote twenty-two novels and went through over a hundred editors to find one who `got' what I was trying to do"--graciously encourage aspiring writers. "Paul Auster once said that becoming a writer was not a `career decision' like becoming a doctor or a police officer. You didn't choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accepted the fact that you were not fit for anything else, you had to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days, and I concur with his attitude. I knew from a relatively early age that this wasn't a job, but a vocation. It was something I had to do. I always knew it was simply a matter of persisting. I recall that Disraeli said `Success is entirely dependent upon constancy of purpose.' This is the right attitude to have. The difference between non-fiction and fiction is that non-fiction's primary purpose is to convey information, whereas the purpose of fiction is to evoke an emotion in the reader. I try not to get too bogged down in the history and facts. I work towards the evocation of an emotional effect. The books that I remember are the books that hooked me emotionally; those books where I identified with the central character, perhaps identified with a conflict they were going through. To engage readers you have to work in that direction."

Ellory said, "The thing that has helped me most in my writing career has been a fundamental belief in my ability to do it. The first person you have to satisfy is yourself. I remind myself of the response Picasso made when asked why--at age eighty--he still worked so many hours a day. `Because when inspiration finds me,' he replied, `I want her to find me hard at work.' So turn off the TV, get out the pencils and paper, and break a sweat." When asked what comments from readers he found most rewarding, Ellory responded: "The best ones are `I felt like I was really there,' and `When the book was finished I felt like the characters were people I knew.'"

When given the opportunity to let ITW readers know of his thoughts in general, Ellory had some deep ones, indeed. "Well, the thing that fascinates me is people. What never ceases to amaze me is the indomitability of the human spirit, the things that people are capable of overcoming. For me, writing is not so much about crime itself, but the way in which such events can be used to highlight and illuminate the way people deal with things that are not usual."

---Interview and review by L. Dean Murphy

This novel will have you on the edge of your chair. What a story!!

John Costello's life stopped twenty-five years ago.

John and his girlfriend, Nadia, were victims of the demented "Hammer of God" killer who struck out in Jersey City, NJ in the summer of 1984. The murderer was obsessed with killing young couples attempting to "save their souls." Sadly, Nadia was killed by the first blow of the "Hammer". John just barely survived but was damaged both physically and psychologically to a degree that no one could understand. He did not want anything to do with the people he knew and hid out in his home. He comes out of his apartment only to do his job as a crime researcher for a newspaper. John may be damaged by his experiences but no one in the vicinity understands more about serial killers than he does.

When a new series of killings start, they seem at first to be random acts but very obsessive. This killer is killing on the anniversary dates of famous serial murders from previous years. The murders increase and each killing is almost an identical copy of another famous death including all the details of the previous crimes. John is the one who finally figures out what's going on. That these are not isolated incidents and are being perpetrated by a single person. And, as John almost lost his life to a serial killer and did lose his girlfriend he has studied their habits and can understand their minds. He has some cohorts who agree including Ray Irving, an NYPD cop who finds that chasing a bold and very intelligent killer is no walk in the park; Karen Langley, a crime reporter, who is so good at her job that she is walking a fine line between life and death; along with John they are on the trail and hoping to catch up with this murderer who wants to be as well known as "The Zodiac Killer."

From the stimulating beginning of this book to the astonishing end, The Anniversary Man will pull you in and not let go until you put the book down at its finish. The three main characters are so believable and their give and take with each other is real. I really liked this novel and although Mr. Ellory is a British author and has not had many books in the US, I'm sure you will be hearing and seeing his name a lot in the not to distant future.

Mary Lignor, reviewer for [...]

The Anniversary Man is another beautifully written book by RJ Ellory.

I don't know what I could say that the first five reviewers haven't said, including having read A Quiet Belief in Angels.

Both books are just great, they're psychologically driven, suspenseful, the characters are very well defined and the dialog is real.

I have City of Lies to read next and plan on reading anything written by RJ Ellory I can get my hands on.

A favourite author always has a lot to live up to. I needn't have worried; the latest from RJ Ellory had me frantically turning the pages as I got more and more engrossed in the plot and the characters, unable to put it down until finished.

John Costello is a survivor, a victim of the 'Hammer of God' serial killer who lived to tell the tale, now working as a crime researcher for a newspaper there are few people who have the knowledge and insight of serial killers that he has.

Following the discovery of the body of 15 year old Mia Grant the Chief of Police receives a draft proposed feature from the City Herald alleging that this is just one of three individual murder cases, with a total of four victims spread across the fourth, fifth and ninth precincts which could be connected and the work of a serial killer, he manages to get them to hold off on the story and Detective Ray Irving from the fourth precinct is sent to speak to reporter Karen Langley and find out what she knows and where she got her information from. In an unprecedented attempt to prevent mass hysteria and catch a killer who is more fearful than any experienced before, the police and reporters work together as the killer taunts them.

The Anniversary Man is unquestionably a page turner with characters who are convincingly real and believable. Both Irving and Costello are brilliantly portrayed, both are haunted by the past and their mistrust of each other is central to a storyline that is both original and skilfully written. The crime scenes are graphic enough to satisfy the bloodthirsty amongst us but not too much so as to offend the squeamish. The pace of the book is just right with the tension building page by page as the book moves towards its gripping conclusion.

Truly a great read and wholeheartedly recommended.

John Costello survived an attack by the "Hammer of God"; a killer who slaughtered a few others including John's girlfriend. Now twenty five years later, someone is murdering again and John realizes that they are imitating serial murderers of the past. With this her tries to assist the police, but puts himself in danger. R.J. Ellory has written a suspenseful story that I couldn't tear myself away from. As each new murder takes place, the more intense the story gets.

History has a tendency to repeat itself, and few can truly understand the patterns. "The Anniversary Man" is the story of John Costello and the tragic attack on him and his girlfriend to the killer who called himself the hammer of God. His girlfriend killed, him surviving, the killing subsides for awhile, only for years later for it to start again. It's up to him, burdened with his survival, to uncover the killer's motives and pattern. "The Anniversary Man" is an enticing and fun mystery, not to be missed.