‘Random’ by Craig Robertson is a crime thriller novel that is told from the view of the serial killer; a man who is known best from the nickname created solely for him: ‘The Cutter’. While in the mind of this killer, we are shown how he plows through Glasgow, striking people with fear and terror as he manages to continuously avoid being caught. After all, how are they supposed to capture someone who has no pattern on how he chooses his victims?
The killer at first seems very detached and he holds no empathy for those he has chosen. He has no care for the kind of person his victim is; he just kills them without feeling very much remorse for his actions. He’s cunning and patient, which is something that allows him to plan his kills carefully always spending hours and days studying his victims. Slowly, he manages to kill more and more people in a row of succession- until he makes a mistake that makes everything much harder for him.
Slowly, he starts to unveil his thoughts, feelings, past and motives which is something that allows readers to have a strange feeling of empathy towards him. I found myself feeling rather delighted with how his character seems to develop- I appreciated the way he started to doubt himself, which allowed to start viewing him in a more humane way. Viewing the story in only the killer’s perspective restricted readers’ view of the story itself, yet, it does so in a way that allows the reader to become much more empathetic towards the show more killer. His feelings were also brought out very strong in the story allowing you to feel more connected- in a way- to what happens. The author’s ability to write about such gruesome deaths also managed to startle me. The murders were described in such detail that it thrills the reader while managing to make them feel disturbed at the same time.
The ending, for me, was the most gripping part of the novel. It felt rather open and unclear but I still found myself feeling strangely satisfied. Although I felt slightly unnerved by the ending, I also found it to be best part of this book.
I would recommend this book to people who would like to read dark stories; ones filled with death and violence. I wouldn’t recommend this book to those who do not bode well with detailed descriptions of a person dying or those who dislike crime thrillers. show less
The killer at first seems very detached and he holds no empathy for those he has chosen. He has no care for the kind of person his victim is; he just kills them without feeling very much remorse for his actions. He’s cunning and patient, which is something that allows him to plan his kills carefully always spending hours and days studying his victims. Slowly, he manages to kill more and more people in a row of succession- until he makes a mistake that makes everything much harder for him.
Slowly, he starts to unveil his thoughts, feelings, past and motives which is something that allows readers to have a strange feeling of empathy towards him. I found myself feeling rather delighted with how his character seems to develop- I appreciated the way he started to doubt himself, which allowed to start viewing him in a more humane way. Viewing the story in only the killer’s perspective restricted readers’ view of the story itself, yet, it does so in a way that allows the reader to become much more empathetic towards the show more killer. His feelings were also brought out very strong in the story allowing you to feel more connected- in a way- to what happens. The author’s ability to write about such gruesome deaths also managed to startle me. The murders were described in such detail that it thrills the reader while managing to make them feel disturbed at the same time.
The ending, for me, was the most gripping part of the novel. It felt rather open and unclear but I still found myself feeling strangely satisfied. Although I felt slightly unnerved by the ending, I also found it to be best part of this book.
I would recommend this book to people who would like to read dark stories; ones filled with death and violence. I wouldn’t recommend this book to those who do not bode well with detailed descriptions of a person dying or those who dislike crime thrillers. show less