Customer Reviews

The Butcher's Theater

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is a brilliant serial killer novel, not just for it's plot (which is actually somewhat run of the mill) but mainly for it's engrossing setting, Jerusalem. I've not read a fictional book set here before, and i found this new experience thoroughly engrossing and interesing. The descriptions about the culture were informative, and again very interesting, and gave a sharp edge of realism to the novel.

The characters a great, each one is developed well, and their trypes are many and varied. The writing is fresh and pulls you in, although sometimes Kellerman does go off on a tangent a bit when he puts in a rather long paragraph about Israeli history, which while some of it is interesting, some of it is also unnecesary and dull.

I didn't find the political tone too distracting, as some appear to have done. I admit, he does have slightly biased leanings, but you can't exactly blame him. He is Jewish, after all.

This is a big book, but it speeds along quickly. It's compelling, and grows dull very little, which is surprising considering it's length. The plot is adequate, the psychology is great, the insights into foreign culture marvellous, and the finale is excellent.

the immense scope of this book is as large as the view from the top of Mount Scopus.

Having read most of this author's books, I found this to be one of, if not the best, of them. It is not part of the established series, which was refreshing to read. I enjoyed it.

Kellerman has become one of my favorites, but of all his books, this one with Daniel Sharavi as the investigator has been the most riveting. I really enjoyed the history of Israel's landmarks....Jonathan has had to spend time in Israel to get so many things so clear for his readers. What an amazing read. I'd highly recommend it. You won't put it down till you've hit the last page! I do wish Daniel Sharavi would appear in more of Kellerman's novels. I love Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis...but Daniel Sharavi and family are wonderful characters as well.

The overall layout of the book is interesting. The parallel tracks, killer and detective, are well done and quite interesting, at least initially. The characters are carefully developed. They do come alive as the book progresses. All goes well during the first half.

However, I did not find it hard to solve the whodunit and once you get a ways into the book is easy to see through. The false leads are cookie-cutter simple. The side-trips into religion and religious politics become tedious. By straying long and far the author makes it more than obvious that the real clues are in the first chapters. Unwanted details are inserted there and you can see the stubs where the story will pick up later.

The ending is Hollywood-style "nail-biting" drama that is as predictable and unrealistic as can be. All the important characters are threatened but all miraculously survive. It is as if the killer suddenly becomes another man. For some odd reason, he keeps everyone alive so they can be rescued later, including the dog. The only people who die in this book are the Star Trek-like extras, who come on the scene to perform this function.

All the suspense unwinds in the most trivial but somewhat long-winded fashion, relying on cables from abroad and some unseen characters who must have terrific memories or be obsessive note-takers or be in on the plot. These parts are about as unrealistic as they come. So too is the killer's totally unnecessary reliance on props. Surely if he can successfully impersonate his colleagues -who all have very different physiques- while being under 24 hour surveillance, he is either a shape-shifter or the surveillance guys are morons.

Police behavior is Jack Bauer-like bravado, with plenty of harassment, torture, break-ins, and mistreating civilians. This "anything goes" is "justified" in true-24-style when it turns out all the innocent victims are really criminals under cloak. Like Jack Bauer, the police has perfect foresight, and that is meant to whitewash their kgb tactics.

Even more unfortunate, the book is full of prejudices and cliches. The jews are good, hardworking and unfairly persecuted; the arabs are either lazy, deceitful, or terrorists in disguise. The UN workers are anti-semitic parasites who enjoy life while working against the state. Journalists are sensationalist alcoholics who mess up people's lives by inventing stories. Religious extremists are really jovial good-natured characters who mean well, but occasionally overreact a bit here and there.

The list goes on and on. To counterbalance these blatant trends, the author inserts some token PC characters. A black detective, a yemenite (black) police officer, a lone honorable arab detective, all in good measure. Again, much like 24.

I found Butcher's Theater to be a taut, well-written detective story, and those with an interest in mysteries of this sort will find it exciting up until the last page. However, in addition to the detective work, there is wonderful development of the detectives, especially Sharavi, and the Butcher himself. Both of these elements are set in Israel, where race and religious issues dominate the landscape, in a much more explicit way than typcially happens in the states. Before reading this book, I was familiar with Kellerman's Alex Delaware series but had not read any of his other books. After Butcher's Theater, however, I would certainly pursue any other fiction he wrote.

The Butchers Theatre. A magnificent novel from Kellerman.I have not been thrilled to bits by his Alex Delaware series, as that character always strikes me as a smug rich kid with far too much time and money on his hands.However Kellerman has excelled himself here.A psychotic pseudo-Nazi killer,a team of rookie detectives trying to catch him in the holy land...Genuinely chilling stuff,especially the killers background in LA. Everything from 1980s Israel is here-from customs to retellings of legends.The book is almost like an elaborate conversation and is superb and gripping stuff.The only disappointment was the ending.Its rather predictable and a bit of a letdown.However this is an excellent book and to any Kellerman fan a must-read.

Detailed and disturbing in its portrait of a demented, racist killer, 'The Butcher's Theatre' delivers plausible and - three cheers - genuinely interesting characters in an unusually exotic location.

This is the first of Kellerman's novels I have read, and must confess that it was the setting that initially attracted me. Those who love Israel and Jerusalem can revel in a tale that deals with murder and sexual depravity in a society where bloody family quarrels and the horror of political terrorism are the norms. They can also rejoice, as I did, in descriptions of the city that do justice to its beauty.

The tension generated by ignorance and decades of habitual racial intolerance fades as the very different detectives in Sharavi's team learn to resolve their differences and work together to catch a psychopath.

As well as the analysis of the serial killer which I suppose, given his psychologist background, is to be expected of Kellerman, he deserves credit for credible insights into the lives of his detectives outside the case. From Sharavi's experiences in the '67 war to Schmeltzer's bitterness over the deaths of his wife and son, finally to North Tel-Aviv rich-kid Cohen and the concept of protekzia; we are presented with characters to think about.

In fact, one of my few gripes about a more or less flawless read was the absence of the Chinaman or Schmeltzer in the closing pages. What happened to the latter's burgeoning relationship with Eva, hmm?

In conclusion, I had no reservations about the book's ending; I thought it was intriguing, well executed (no pun intended) , not to mention suitably gruesome. The ambiguity surrounding the future of Avi Cohen frustrated me deeply - but only because I was so desperate to tie up all those pesky loose ends! Congratulations to Jonathan Kellerman! I should add that finding out that Pakad Dani Sharavi is due to feature in another novel absolutely made my day. I look forward to renewing our acquaintance. I've not been so impressed with a novel since reading King and Straub's The Talisman, and Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. Both radically different sure, but masterpieces nontheless. 'The Butcher's Theatre' is up there with them. Truly a triumph.

Many facets of Jerusalem's past & population were covered, it was sometimes too much and would detract from my interest in the plot itself. The ending read like a screenplay - too much like a tv movie. The plot seemed drawn out and the "ends" weren't tied together quite well enough. Good, but not a great mystery. I don't agree with the jacket reviews that the ending rivals Ken Follet's EYE OF THE NEEDLE. I'll try another of Jonathan Kellerman's books, but this one didn't thrill me

this is a great detective novel. its fascinating in more ways than one. i dont find it racist or predjudice at all it takes into arab and jewish cultures in jerusalem and in a conversation between sharavi and the mayor they discuss how the extrememly orthodox jews are just as radical and dangerous as any muslims. we get to know the characters well. the case the investigation is gripping. one of kellermans best

I've enjoyed Kellerman as a new find this year; I've read every one of his books since April, THE BUTCHER'S THEATER being the last. Normally, I can't wait to finish his work, staying up later than my wife would like and taking longer lunch breaks than my boss would like. I usually finish his novels in 2-3 days. This one, however, didn't grab me like the others. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar locale that distracted me, but it took me 2 weeks to finish it, and frankly, it didn't bother me if I didn't get a chance to read it. The characterizations were good, as Kellerman's usually are, but I found the psychopath and his "political" leanings a little trite. I never felt like he was as scary as he was made out to be. This book also suffers from Kellerman's biggest weakness: endings. The "big confrontation" that is telegraphed from about half-way through the book is not entirely satisfactory.