Birdman

Birdman is the first book in [a:Mo Hayder|74876|Mo Hayder|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1327274083p2/74876.jpg]'s Detective Inspector Jack Caffery series, featuring a quite broken DI, who has haunting dreams of his older brother, who disappeared when both were very young. There are definitely still some serious psychological problems, both with Caffery and his parents. This book delves into some serious stuff, both internal to Caffery and the gruesome crimes committed.

5 bodies are uncovered and obviously a serial killer is on the loose. There are some very strange and gruesome details to the deaths and the bodies' postmortem treatment and newly assigned DI Caffery is trying to track down the killer before he strikes again. They are soon hot on the trail of an obvious suspect, or at least one rogue agent thinks so.

Of course, it isn't him and so they are off again. But this time there is a twist, and it could have been this guy. But is it really? Are they celebrating prematurely? And then things get really odd and strike all too close to home for the wounded Caffery.

Caffery himself is dealing with some serious issues, including a crazy girlfriend and a brooding neighbor, who may or may not have had something to do with his brother's long ago disappearance. Some things get tied up but some things are left for the rest of the series (currently at six books) to sort out.

I can't say as I was too impressed with this book. To begin with, I found it too British, especially at the start of the book. The procedures, titles, and even slang I found very hard to follow and had to work too hard at figuring out what was going on and what it all meant.

And the characters were too thin. The crappy officer, who thwarts Caffery at every turn and yet is backed by the powers that be for absolutely no reason, shows a common characteristic of police in books these days that makes me crazy - police who latch onto a suspect early on and refuse to see any other way. He was just a straw man to show how competent Caffery was in comparison.

And his girlfriend - ugh. I could see where that brand of crazy was going practically from the opening dialog. Although, of course, "perceptive" Caffery couldn't see the forest for the trees and was blindsided by how it all turned out.

And it also had a problem that I have begun to notice in mysteries, that I have yet to figure out how to solve. That is, you know how long the book is, so you know how long it will take to solve the mystery. So if you are only halfway through the book, and they think they have the solution, you know it must at best be a red herring. Although Hayder does a pretty good job of twisting things about a bit to make it not quite so bad, it still is an annoying trait.

I am also not a fan of mysteries that tell the story from both sides of the ball. For one, I like a mystery. For another, I really get creeped out getting into the head of these weirdos, even fictional ones. Don't really want to hear the arm chair psychology of how they came to be so whacked out.

Hayder also does another thing I hate - we are inhabiting Caffery's mind for lots of the book but when he finally figures things out, we are suddenly left in the cold, as he comes to conclusions but doesn't share it with the reader until it becomes convenient, drama-wise. Not fair, not fair at all.

But it was a fairly good read. The ending was taunt and exciting, although once again the incompetent cop has to play a major part in it, to an almost unbelievably comic extent. But it was a thrilling and gruesome ending and certainly my favorite part of the book.

Not sure if I will continue with the series in book 2, [b:The Treatment|647954|The Treatment|Mo Hayder|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361730498s/647954.jpg|2263530]. It is rated slightly higher than Birdman on Goodreads, so I will add it to my To-Read list anyway. I do have another book by Hayder on my To Read list, [b:Pig Island|197514|Pig Island|Mo Hayder|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328863611s/197514.jpg|945668], although I am not sure where that came from. Looks like her [b:The Devil of Nanking|366787|The Devil of Nanking|Mo Hayder|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309282198s/366787.jpg|356797] is also highly rated. I will have to check them out.