Customer Reviews

Birdman

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

and Jeffrey Dahmer look like choir boys!

This is a story that got off to a slow beginning (for me), but I hung with it simply because Mo is a new author, and I wanted to give her writing a good chance. I'm glad I did.

The last two-thirds of the book had me on the edge of my seat; near London, five bodies were discovered w/birds sewn INTO their chest cavities. The police are trying to discover the who, what, when, where, why when they follow a lead to a very good suspect. Only problem: the suspect commits suicide (this info was also told in a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY review--so I'm giving very little away!) & another body is discovered ... after the suspect's demise!

Slowly the puzzle pieces begin to come together ... the action picks up & takes off like a run-away truck down a mountain road as the ultimate bad guy loses all touch w/reality (like he had any to begin with!).

What happens to the victims in this story is NOT pretty; nor is it fun to read about what they are put through. You'll be squirming & closing your eyes & shaking your head & crying out & the whole nine yards if you decide to take this story on.

It's a disturbing story. A haunting story. One that will stay w/me for awhile.

To be honest w/you, I have to go back & reread parts--simply because the tension was so high, I had to (just HAD TO) keep turning the pages to find out what was going to happen.

I can't wait for more stories from Mo!

Fond on books about serialkillers, this one grabbed me by the troath from page one. Mo can put herself on the same level with Thomas Harris (Hannibal) and Kathy Reichs (deja dead) Her style is very good and it takes the reader just a couple of pages of this book and you can't get it out of your hands until its finished. Her descriptions of character, crimescene and victims are chilling real. To consider this is her writing debuut, promises a lot for the future. She shows she has insight in the mind of a serial killer and probably has done intensive study at some of them. I would say that Jeffrey Dahmer was her favorite and that shows in this book. Go on, mrs Hayder, give us mo'.!

I bought this book without realizing that it was being billed as the newest 'Silence of the Lambs' wannabe, and that turned out to be fortunate. I consider that work a great display of talent and a great serial killer tale. 'Birdman' is a good story, but it is no 'Silence.' Had I been expecting one this would have been a considerably different review. It is a shame that modern publishers do not trust a book to make it on its own merits, and thus set up readers for unnecessary disappointments.

'Birdman' is set in London, and opens with the discovery of the corpses of five women, each surgically modified, made up, and provided with an 'artificial' heart. These grim, ugly victims become the custody of one Detective Inspector Jack Caffery, as he tries to understand and track down their killer. Jack has his own problems, a relationship he doesn't seem to be able to extract himself from and a compulsive need to seek revenge on the man who killed his brother when they were children.

Jack finds himself in conflict with the prejudices of his new department as well as a deviant criminal mind. His fellow officers have little patience with profiling techniques and are quick to settle for anyone who appears to have had the opportunity. But Jack knows the murderer is no simple pimp or drug dealer. This dark mind defies both the intellect and the stomach in its insatiable quest for sexual partners among the dead. The killer, who seeks his victims among London's ladies of the night, doesn't play and kill, but prefers his victims dead first - a necrophile.

The narration expands to include the story of the killer as well as the activities of DI Caffery. This approach does give the reader some insight into what is an unusual form of psychopath and even builds some sense of sympathy. This is, however, my least favorite plot device. Especially when its use gives away too much of the plot, which turns this from an interesting forensic and procedural puzzle into a suspense story where most of the tension comes from waiting for Caffery to discover what the reader already knows.

Thus, an otherwise well-written story is reduced to a violent chase tale. For some reason this has happened a lot in my recent reading. My observation is that one out of twenty authors can manage shifting viewpoints without losing some control of the story. Mo Hayder does better than many, but is eventually overmastered by it. I have come to think that editors do not believe that a reader will enjoy a book if he or she has to go more than 200 pages without knowing who is the murderer. But even with that fault this is a very enjoyable if extremely graphic story, with good characters and some very surprising twists. By all means read it if you want a good serial killer tale.

No doubt there is a market for whodunnits that list every grisley detail of the sick perversions that serial killers visit on their victims. If that "rings your chime" then, this book is a mother lode for you. Too bad for me; I don't get off on that stuff. This is an excellent writer and the personal details of the hero's life are much more fascinating than the murder mystery. But all that virtue is buried under such horrifying, stomach-turning descriptions of bodies hacked, sliced, and violated in every way - that THIS reader lost interest. Who wants this garbage in one's mind? If you do, go for it. I pass.

Mo Hayder has written a thriller of amazing depth and feeling. Her protagonist is a troubled detective who struggles with his own demons while searching for a human monster. Ms. Hayder's writing style is clear, chilling, and sound. Her characters abound with life and the dialogue is crisp and real. She skillfully meshes the lives of her characters while leaving her readers gasping at the scope of her themes and plots. A word of advice: this novel should be read before reading THE TREATMENT.
They are both masterpieces of the genre. Few writers have Hayder's narrative skill, sense of time and place, ear for dialogue, and wisdom of human nature. This novel is more than a thriller since it could hold its own with any skilled work of fiction. Ms. Hayder is a genius.

At first I had the impression of this being another ho-hum detective book with a marginally interesting serial killer on the loose, baffling police, etc., etc. and for the most part, it is. This book, based on the first 75% of it, deserves 2 stars, but after that, it got interesting. The main story didn't interest me that much up to the last quarter, but there's a side story with the main character, his brother, and the neighbor that really did, just freakish. There's also another smaller side story with Caffery (main character) and his current girlfriend that's just whoa, get counsiling. With these side stories Hayder really develops the main character, you understand him. It's then that I started liking the book, and the plot twist that I have to say I liked too. But mostly I read it for Caffery's character than what was going to happen to the 'bad guy'.

In general, a good book, just took too long to get there.

This book should come with a warning label for those who are easily shocked or are frail of stomach to think carefully before turning to the first page. Alternatively, for those with stronger constitutions, the warning should be more along the lines of ensuring that you've got some time up your sleeve because this one's going to hook you and hold on tight. Mo Hayder has produced a stunningly grisly chiller that is as gripping as it is stomach churning.

D.I. Jack Caffery is the new recruit to the Area Major Investigation Pool (AMIP) team, which is the Met's crack murder investigation unit. He's thrown in at the deep end when five mutilated bodies are discovered, buried at a work site. It's only during the autopsy that Caffery finds out just how grim the case is likely to become after a rather shocking discovery.

Although he's young, Caffery is a driven and at times desperate detective who manages to remain unphased no matter what is thrown at him. He is also haunted by his own demons in his past, continually blaming himself for his own perceived shortcomings. He is a strong protagonist who is made all the more likable for his faults, both real and imagined. It's his driven nature that controls the frantic pace that the investigation maintains and compelled me to keep the pages turning as quickly as I could.

A short word on the shocking nature of the book to which I alluded in the opening paragraph. This refers to the detailed descriptions of the mutilated bodies, and the actions and feelings of the psychopath responsible. While not enough to give you nightmares, they were still sufficient to turn my stomach ever so slightly squeamish. In an era of some really bad bad-guys, Hayder has produced one who's right up there near the top of the sicko list.

I found this to be a wonderfully compelling story. Just when I felt that I had a pretty good handle on where it was headed, it suddenly threw me for a loop with a clever change of direction. It contains a well-constructed plot that clicked seamlessly into place and a strong protagonist to hold it all together.

I can't say BIRDMAN was a great book, but it's a well written thriller. It kind of reminds me of John Sandford's books -- a serial killer is on the loose, and a police inspector is trying to track him down before he strikes again. Mo Hayder is a good writer, and the book is fast-paced and very readable.

The plot of BIRDMAN isn't very original, and experienced readers of serial killer novels will probably be able to predict most of the major twists. I also felt most of the supporting characters were not fleshed out very well, and were largely forgettable, with the exception of the main character's psycho girlfriend.

The major downside of BIRDMAN for many will be the gore -- Hayder does not hesitate to describe, in graphic detail, how the killer tortures and disposes of his victims. This book isn't for the squeamish or the sensitive. This is not a pleasant novel to read, although it's interesting enough to finish.

Overall, I liked this book well enough, and fans of either John Sandford or Karin Slaughter might went to give it a try.

Several years ago I was wandering around my local mega-bookstore when I found Mo Hayder's second book, The Treatment. Like a man stranded in the desert, searching for an oasis, desperate for a tasty mystery and impressed by all the accolades and fave reviews heaped on it by the bookstore's employees, I picked it up.

Barely twenty pages in and already bored to tears, I put it aside.

It sat. And sat.

Eventually I tried to read it again and quickly remembered why I'd put it aside before. I sold it back to the bookstore with a batch of other unread wonders a few months later.

So. Not long ago, I just happen to buy a batch of cheap used titles at a charity sale. Stuffed in my bag was this little gem - Hayder's first book - Birdman, which I grabbed mainly because I liked the nifty cover. I didn't happen to realize Birdman's connection to The Treatment until I finished reading it and was impressed enough want to write this review.

Maybe I just wasn't ready when I tried to read The Treatment. I was voraciously plowing through all of Lawrence Block's Scudder books at the time, and had just discovered Robert Crais's Elvis Cole series. Or maybe it took Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne books to finally prepare me for Mo Hayder's D.I. Jack Caffery.

Lo and behold, what changes can happen over time. I read Birdman in a day, and enjoyed it enough - first time warts and all - to warrant going back and reading her other books; catching up on what I've missed.

Birdman starts out with the serial killer hook so in vogue these days - the cover blurb going so far as to make comparisons to Silence of the Lambs. Hayder introduces us to Detective Inspector Caffery, a conflicted man not yet ready to confront the plethora of his own personal issues, and tosses him right into an ugly investigation regarding the brutal murders and mutilation of five London call-girls.

Unfortunately the book has a few glaring problems. Sorry about any spoilers here kids, but the set-up is glaringly obvious, with the killer(s) face front, right from the very beginning of the story. Much of the book is written from the killer(s) point of view - so no mystery there. Using that structure also makes the plots many Red-Herrings and the Big Twist at the end glaringly obvious. Hayder makes most of the London police force look like idiots barely competent enough to stumble onto the solution (although I understand that a lot of real policework is as much a process of elimination and blind luck as brilliant sleuthing). Even our hero Caffery doesn't really do all that much except argue with his massively neurotic and co-dependent girlfriend, get petulant over a bumbling rival investigator, and grumble about the direction his superior sends the case. And the continuous graphic detailing of blood and slimy viscera etc. etc. - not that I object, sick and twisted as I am - is a poor substitute for a story with an actual Edge.

All quibbles aside however, Birdman works on the strength of Hayden's engaging writing. She's created a character in Caffery who has plenty of room to grow and expand over the course of the series. So okay Mo - I'll try another, and as long as the books continue to improve, I'll keep reading.

Mo Hayder has definately gotten off to a good start as a writer. Birdman kept me up late at night reading page after page, dying(hah) to know what would happen next. Hayder does a good job of tying together different plot structures without making the book cumbersome for the reader or confusing. For those that say that the book was too gory, I'm sorry but there's nothing pallitable about murder(s). Cant wait for her next one to arrive.