Ragdoll by Daniel Cole
Nov. 16th, 2016 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The nation is gripped by the infamous “Ragdoll Killer”.
Every news bulletin and headline is obsessed with this story.
Your friends, your neighbours and colleagues are all talking about it …
One body. Six victims …
A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet, nicknamed by the press as a ‘ragdoll’.
Assigned to the shocking case are Detective Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Baxter.
The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them.
With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?
In 2010, Detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes (known as Wolf) arrested Naguib Khalid (nicknamed the Cremation Killer) for burning 27 young women to death in 27 days. But the trial falls apart with allegations of police brutality, unreliable evidence and allegations that Wolf was obsessed and desperate. When Khalid’s found not guilty, Wolf tries to beat him to death in court. As a result he loses his job and is committed to a mental hospital. Then a couple of years later, Khalid is found standing over the body of a burning woman. A popular campaign sees Wolf reinstated to his job but demoted to Detective Sergeant.
In 2014 a grotesque puppet compiled from the body parts of 6 people is found pointing at Wolf’s flat. The killer then releases a list of 6 people who s/he intends to kill and the dates on which s/he intends to do it. Last on that list is Wolf himself. Wolf and his former partner, DS Emily Baxter race to identify the body parts and protect the 6 victims, but with hysterical media interest and a killer who seems able to anticipate their every move, the odds seem stacked against them …
If you can get through the first chapter of Daniel Cole’s debut novel without throwing the book against a wall, then you’ll probably enjoy this ludicrous thriller that doesn’t leave any cliché unturned, has no concept of how the legal system, police or media works and revolves around an emotionally unstable protagonist who’s an utter pig to those around him and incompetent police officers who pander to his whims. Although Cole’s got a gift for describing places (London’s geography is well drawn), there’s a lot of inter-scene head hopping and a key twist relies on the scenes from Wolf’s point of view deliberately not revealing key information. The female characters are shallowly characterised – particularly Wolf’s ex-wife and stereotypical ambitious journalist, Andrea, although Baxter doesn’t fair much better (and naturally they both love him. The humour falls flat, the murders are ridiculously contrived and Wolf such an unprofessional head case that I found myself rooting for the two-dimensional killer. There were so many mistakes that I literally stopped counting and the lack of any grounding in reality meant I really couldn’t get into it at all. The open ending raises the possibility of a sequel but I definitely won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
If you can get through the first chapter of Daniel Cole’s debut novel without throwing the book against a wall, then you’ll probably enjoy this ludicrous thriller that doesn’t leave any cliché unturned, has no concept of how the legal system, police or media works and revolves around an emotionally unstable protagonist who’s an utter pig to those around him and incompetent police officers who pander to his whims. Although Cole’s got a gift for describing places (London’s geography is well drawn), there’s a lot of inter-scene head hopping and a key twist relies on the scenes from Wolf’s point of view deliberately not revealing key information. The female characters are shallowly characterised – particularly Wolf’s ex-wife and stereotypical ambitious journalist, Andrea, although Baxter doesn’t fair much better (and naturally they both love him. The humour falls flat, the murders are ridiculously contrived and Wolf such an unprofessional head case that I found myself rooting for the two-dimensional killer. There were so many mistakes that I literally stopped counting and the lack of any grounding in reality meant I really couldn’t get into it at all. The open ending raises the possibility of a sequel but I definitely won’t be reading on.
RAGDOLL will be released in the United Kingdom on 23rd February 2017. Thanks to Hachette for the ARC of this book.
Every news bulletin and headline is obsessed with this story.
Your friends, your neighbours and colleagues are all talking about it …
One body. Six victims …
A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet, nicknamed by the press as a ‘ragdoll’.
Assigned to the shocking case are Detective Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Baxter.
The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them.
With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?
In 2010, Detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes (known as Wolf) arrested Naguib Khalid (nicknamed the Cremation Killer) for burning 27 young women to death in 27 days. But the trial falls apart with allegations of police brutality, unreliable evidence and allegations that Wolf was obsessed and desperate. When Khalid’s found not guilty, Wolf tries to beat him to death in court. As a result he loses his job and is committed to a mental hospital. Then a couple of years later, Khalid is found standing over the body of a burning woman. A popular campaign sees Wolf reinstated to his job but demoted to Detective Sergeant.
In 2014 a grotesque puppet compiled from the body parts of 6 people is found pointing at Wolf’s flat. The killer then releases a list of 6 people who s/he intends to kill and the dates on which s/he intends to do it. Last on that list is Wolf himself. Wolf and his former partner, DS Emily Baxter race to identify the body parts and protect the 6 victims, but with hysterical media interest and a killer who seems able to anticipate their every move, the odds seem stacked against them …
If you can get through the first chapter of Daniel Cole’s debut novel without throwing the book against a wall, then you’ll probably enjoy this ludicrous thriller that doesn’t leave any cliché unturned, has no concept of how the legal system, police or media works and revolves around an emotionally unstable protagonist who’s an utter pig to those around him and incompetent police officers who pander to his whims. Although Cole’s got a gift for describing places (London’s geography is well drawn), there’s a lot of inter-scene head hopping and a key twist relies on the scenes from Wolf’s point of view deliberately not revealing key information. The female characters are shallowly characterised – particularly Wolf’s ex-wife and stereotypical ambitious journalist, Andrea, although Baxter doesn’t fair much better (and naturally they both love him. The humour falls flat, the murders are ridiculously contrived and Wolf such an unprofessional head case that I found myself rooting for the two-dimensional killer. There were so many mistakes that I literally stopped counting and the lack of any grounding in reality meant I really couldn’t get into it at all. The open ending raises the possibility of a sequel but I definitely won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
If you can get through the first chapter of Daniel Cole’s debut novel without throwing the book against a wall, then you’ll probably enjoy this ludicrous thriller that doesn’t leave any cliché unturned, has no concept of how the legal system, police or media works and revolves around an emotionally unstable protagonist who’s an utter pig to those around him and incompetent police officers who pander to his whims. Although Cole’s got a gift for describing places (London’s geography is well drawn), there’s a lot of inter-scene head hopping and a key twist relies on the scenes from Wolf’s point of view deliberately not revealing key information. The female characters are shallowly characterised – particularly Wolf’s ex-wife and stereotypical ambitious journalist, Andrea, although Baxter doesn’t fair much better (and naturally they both love him. The humour falls flat, the murders are ridiculously contrived and Wolf such an unprofessional head case that I found myself rooting for the two-dimensional killer. There were so many mistakes that I literally stopped counting and the lack of any grounding in reality meant I really couldn’t get into it at all. The open ending raises the possibility of a sequel but I definitely won’t be reading on.
RAGDOLL will be released in the United Kingdom on 23rd February 2017. Thanks to Hachette for the ARC of this book.
