Customer Reviews

Scavenger

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

With the release of "Scavenger" Tom Savage has become one of my very favorite authors. His other three were also excellent, but this one was by far the best yet! I thought I was very smart and had the ending all figured out, but Mr. Savage put me in my place with one of the greatest twists ever invented. I can't wait for the next book. Hurry up, Mr. Savage!

Hitchcock would have loved Tom Savage. He has a talent for creating a heightened dramatic realism that manages to stay just credible enough to allow suspension of disbelief, and his plots are exceedingly intricate and well thought out.

Newly celebrated author Mark Stevenson writes a popular mystery based on the real-life exploits of a never-apprehended serial killer called The Family Man, and becomes the target of someone calling himself "Scavenger." Scavenger involves Stevenson in a deadly clue-hunting game of cat-and-mouse, with the prize being the revelation of The Family Man's true identity. Along the way, a few new victims are tallied...

Jaded mystery and suspense buffs may find themselves a jump or two ahead of this one, but it doesn't matter. Savage's usual talent for creating characters who are not what they seem is at its best, here. He is skillful at misdirection, and always manages to provide a few surprises even to those who figure out some of the major plot twists before the end.

Most importantly, Savage delivers. He promises much, and actually delivers more. The reader is taken on the same merry rollercoaster ride as Mark Stevenson throughout the book, with not a few clammy, white-knuckle moments, and a great deal of tension. It can only whet the reader's appetite to know in advance that there are echoes of Seven and Strangers On A Train in this book, because anyone thinking they can figure out what's going on by being in possession of that knowledge will be duly and truly surprised when they discover Savage's variations on the themes.

He's done it again! I'm surprised Tom Savage isn't more of a household name. Scavenger, like his previous works, was easy to read, contained an excellent twist at the end, and keeps you on your toes the whole way through. Tom Savage, keep writing!

In SCAVENGER by Tom Savage, the protagonist (Mark Stevenson/a.k.a. Matthew Farmer) has just written a best-selling novel that is based somewhat on the exploits of a real serial killer known as "The Family Man." Thirteen years before, the Family Man went on a two-year killing spree across the United States, wiping out entire families on special holidays, cutting off heads, dressing up the corpses in elaborate costumes to depict the holiday that they were killed on, and he was never caught. Mark's parents and siblings were one of the families, and he used his inside knowledge of the murders to create a fictional account for his novel as a means of finally dealing with the tragedy that changed his life forever. Now, someone who calls himself the Scavenger has just finished reading Mark's book. He knows that the novel is based on "The Family Man" killings, and he also knows who the Family Man really is and why he mysteriously stopped killing. The Scavenger decides to play with Mark, promising to reveal the killer's identity if the author will go on a scavenger hunt for glues, visiting the different crime scenes around the country. All will be revealed at the end of the hunt. It's impossible for Mark to say no to this proposal. He has to find out what information the Scavenger has and is willing to risk just about anything to get the answers to his questions. Mark agrees to play the game, not knowing that a lot of people are going to die and that he is being set up for a very dangerous fall. SCAVENGER is a smoothly written novel with the plot twists perfectly arranged to keep the readers glued to the pages. The antagonist in the book is a know-all killer who seems to be in several places at once, keeping the lead character, as well as the reader, guessing as to what will happen next. I wish Mark Stevenson had been a smarter character, equal to the genius of the Scavenger. He does some things in the novel that seem silly, if not outright stupid. Also, Mr. Savage has set up the novel with an unexpected ending that is supposed to shock or surprise the reader, but I actually felt cheated by it. I understand what the author was trying to do and applaud him for attempting to be creative; still, I felt set up much like the character of Mark Stevenson. That doesn't make SCAVENGER is bad read. I did enjoy the book, but thought the potential was there for it to be so much more.

Savage offers an interesting but improbable read which keeps you hooked until the last three chapters when it totally falls apart. I couldn't put it down, then sorely wished I had.

The basic plot of this book - that a serial killer will send someone on a scavenger hunt before killing him is so ludicrous that the novel has two strikes on it before you start. Then - chapter after chapter (and city after city) the tale becomes so trite and repetitious that it does the almost-impossible; it makes a book about a serial killer BORING. What is missing from most of books of this genre - and certainly from this one - is WHY SHOULD WE, THE READERS, CARE about the characters? The answer is WE DON'T! Go buy a Dick Francis novel (anyone of them) and you'll get a better, less gory, less sensational (but much more intelligent and entertaining) read.

Tom Savage has done it again, but even more thrilling, as I started this book I just couldn't put it down. Mark Stevenson is such a great,believeable writer. I would advise anyone who likes serial killing mystery books to buy this one right away. And I hope Mr. Savage, that we soon see a "New Game". Wonderful work!

All I can say about this devilishly clever novel is, Wow! It punches you in the gut from the get-go and will knock your socks off at the end. Mark Stevenson, whose family was killed some years before by a serial killer known as the Family Man, has written a book based on the case. After the book comes out, he receives an anonymous letter from someone claiming to know the identity of the Family Man and sending Mark on a macabre scavenger hunt. If Mark can successfully complete the "game", all will be revealed ... unless he dies first. As Mark, following his increasingly bizarre instructions, criss-crosses the country from New York to D.C. to New Orleans, L.A., and Chicago, innocent people begin dying around him as he homes in on the truth. And yet ... nothing in this delightfully Machiavellian plot is what it seems. If you love a well-crafted tale of creepy suspense, you have to read this! You absolutely will not be disppointed.

Tom Savage has a very bad habit. He tends to lie to his readers. Much like Valentine, this book has an interesting premise, but a killer who is much too obviously the culprit. The only way Tom Savage is able to hide the killer's identity from the reader is to lie. He has the killer act, speak, and think in the way an innocent person would, even when they are alone with their thoughts, which defies plasusibility.

The real problem with the 'twist ending' is that it removes any motivation that the main character might have had for their actions - Savage seems to know this, when he tries to off-handedly throw in a theory of the crime in the epilogue.

The premise really did have promise, but unmotivated characters, a terrible ending, and plot points that don't hold up to the slightest bit of common sense make this book another disappointment.

I usually don't go for the Mystery section, but I picked this one up on a whim. The storyline was OK; the cat-and-mouse game was pretty good once it picked up; but the ending was just stupid!! Again, without giving too much away - I don't know if the author planned this ending from the start, or he finished the game, and didn't know what to do next, so made up the only thing he could think of (Stephen King is guilty of this too I think in several of his otherwise great novels).
But what a disappointment.
It was worth reading once, I guess.