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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suspended Judgement,
By Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Hangman (Paperback)
"Hangman" is the eighth novel written under the pseudonym of Michael Slade. Jay Clarke, a regular member of the Slade team, is joined in this novel by his daughter Rebecca. Together, they have crafted another imaginative and gruesome tale of murder and suspense for this series.Shifting back and forth from Seattle to Vancouver the book covers the gory trail of a serial killer, who hangs victims and cuts off increasing numbers of their limbs (in any order). At each crime scene the detectives, Maddy Thorne of the Seattle PD and Zinc Chandler of the RCMP, find a game of hangman drawn in the victim's blood. Supporting players include Jeffrey Kline - an ambitious Vancouver lawyer, Ethan Shaw - his partner, Alexis Hunt - crime writer and Zinc's long time lover, as well as countless others. These are drawn with gripping detail and a sure hand by the Slade team. Nothing is what it seems in a Michael Slade novel. "Hangman" is no exception. Expect baroque, twisting plots and convolute interplay between the characters. Personalities are discarded like masks at a Halloween party where the entertainment is unpredictable pastiches of horrific violence and brutality. Another reviewer once wrote that reading a Slade novel is like "literary bungee jumping with Agatha Christie's bastard son." This was not an overstatement. Another big ingredient in "Hangman" and other Slade novels is and immense amount of historical detail. Expect to learn a great deal about the history of hanging, miscarried justice, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a backdrop to the main action of the story. You will leave this book with such odd tidbits as the origin of the phrases "toeing the line," and "red herring." Occasionally the Clarkes get a bit carried away by their researches, but for the most part they enhance the reading experience. The main theme of both the murders and the book itself is the ways in which the legal system can be twisted for self-serving aims. Jay Clarke, as a trial lawyer with considerable experience, fills the book with tales of justice gone awry that are every bit as chilling as the murders themselves. In the end we are drawn into the inevitable question, "who guards the guards." Expect to be astounded not just by the fictions that make this an outstanding suspense novel, but by the facts that were the inspiration for its creation.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great story and writing; but questionable plot developments,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Hangman (Paperback)
This was the usual tremendous Slade storyline and writing, even though I guess the team changed a bit(or was his daughter always the second member). The story grips the reader from the first sentence right to the end, and the historical detail always adds alot to these books. Additionally, the writing style itself is so much better than the usual horror novelists(including, for example, King and Koontz in my view). The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars, though, was that I think 2 things that happened in this book were, as plot devices, just plain inappropriate. I won't say what they are, because that would be a spoiler, but I think both could have been changed and the book still would have been great. Also, I have to say I like DeClerq and Craven better than Zinc, so their absence in this novel didn't help it in my eyes. Nonetheless, it's still an excellent book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Slade's best book to date!!,
By
This review is from: Hangman (Paperback)
Michael Slade is a genre unto himself. He writes historical horror. His novels are so detailed in history that each book is a lesson in geography, criminology and jurisprudence. In the past Slade has focussed on one of these themes and explores them to no end. This time out HANGMAN unifies them all into his best novel to date. HANGMAN is a story that researches the history of the Hangman. From the past to modern times, what I learned was as fascinating as the fictional accounts were bloody.HANGMAN starts out with a convicted child abuser being hanged as his sentence. While this court-sanctioned penalty is carried out, another hanging is occurring and on the wall, in the victim's own blood, is an invitation for the police to play a game of hangman. These opening scenes are so vivid, I thought I was watching a movie, the descriptions were so realistic. Another hanging occurs shortly thereafter and are linked to be the work of the same killer but in two countries; the US and Canada. Who has jurisdiction? Will both country's top cops work together or split the case? These are fascinating questions and Slade answers them deftly and with accurate historical information. Not to be lost is Slade's most courtroom-savvy novel. What transpires in the courts and the lives of the lawyers are as intriguing as the killer and its motives. Slade gives us everything we could ever want for in a horror/thriller/courtroom drama all wrapped into one. The Special X division has never had a case like this and you have never read a more satisfying book as this. Slade is the best kept secret and is destined for huge success. And he deserves it if he keeps putting out stunners like HANGMAN.
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