Monday, October 29, 2007

TBR Challenge

BIRDMAN
Mo Hayder
Personal Rating: 4.25/5
Yearly Count: 102




Whoa. This crime fiction thriller contained an incredibly twisted plot along with what I would call horror. I would never be able to watch something like this, but thankfully, reading it brought a healthy disconnection.
It was also very clear that even though the plot may have been unique, the characters had difficulty holding the weight of that plot. I believe, even though it was still compelling, it lacked good, strong characters.

Jack (yes, ANOTHER Jack) Caffery, is a Detective Inspector in England. He has his own personal issues with death that linger in his mind as he investigates and searches for a murderer that mutilates his victims and leaves a horrific signature. He deals with several other members of the team and questions a host of people during the investigation. None of these people were very personable, including Jack. Despite the flaws in Birdman, I will still read the sequel titled The Treatment.

*Recommended By: Blogging My Books

8 comments:

  1. This book stayed with me for a long while and it led me to a great conversation with Karin Slaughter at her signing. I have 'The Treatment' on the shelf. I may make this one of my Seconds Challenge choices. Changes are allowed, yeah? = )
    I hope the second one works better for you.

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  2. Yes - it's more horror than straight crime fiction. You made me go back and recheck my comments. Seriously Twisted and and hero who's not exactly likeable still ring true. It's a tough book to 'recommend', so I was curious to see how you'd rated it. I have The Treatment, but haven't picked it up yet. I guess that makes it a good candidate for the 2008 TBR challenge, huh?

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  3. Vickie ~ Of course you can change your book choice ... go for it! :) I'm interested in knowing how your conversation went with Karin Slaughter. I hope I like Jack more in the second one, too.

    Suzi ~ When I was linking you, I reread your blurb. We virtually thought the same thing. Although, I'm not sure how you'd rate it. *giggle*

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  4. Check my goodreads page - I gave it a 4.

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  5. I was really blown away by Mo Hayder's The Devil of Nanking and do want to read this particular book and its sequel as well. It sounds right up my alley. :-)

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  6. Suzi ~ Okay. I'll be back. :)

    Literary Feline ~ I'll have to revisit your post on The Devil of Nanking. I really think Mo is extremely creative; I loved the plot. It's that Jack that I need to like more. :)

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  7. I kind of liked that I didn't necessarily like the main character.
    I would strongly suggest not reading Ken Bruen, then. His characters are flawed flawed flawed and sometimes fairly awful people. I still like the writing, though, and stay with him. Maybe it's that whole dark Irish thing.
    -V-

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  8. Vickie ~ In general, I like to like or connect with at least one character.

    Thanks for the heads-up on the Bruen characters. Although now I'm more curious. :)

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. :)

I hope you have a great day and ...
Happy Reading!