Headhunter

Interesting to read a thriller set in my own city, I'll never look at the old neighbourhood the same way again. This is also what I'd describe as a "page-turner" once the action heats up but there are a few distractions. For starters the action is all over the map and the author(s) don't really tie the separate strands together satisfactorily (1860's Alberta, 1950's New Orleans, 1980's Vancouver), the characters are rather static, and after 400 pages of suspense the big reveal is more of a gimmicky "Ha Ha Gotcha!" moment than a truly satisfying resolution. Fun for fans of the grisly murder mystery genre I guess, but despite a great start I found the ending flat and disappointing.

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I read ‘Headhunter’, the first of Canadian author Michael Slade’s Special X series, decades ago as a teenager and really liked it. Returning to it years later I didn’t find it quite as good as I’d expected, but still had fun with it. It’s an appropriate book to review here, as Slade is a McBain fan. The master is noted in the acknowledgements and there are a couple of references to the 87th Precinct within the book, with a character recommending to one of the cops that he gives them a try.
Slade is described in the bio as a pseudonym used by a group of partners in a law firm. His Twitter presence today suggests he is just one person now, so not sure show more if the writing partnership dissolved at some point.
The book details an investigation by an elite team of Mounties into a series of sex murders where the female victims are decapitated. It’s a kind of hybrid of police procedural and out and out horror, with the original marketing of the books definitely leaning more towards the latter. The horror is pretty brilliantly done. It’s extremely graphic and quite shocking at times, with a tonne of perverse sex thrown in for good measure. That may account for my fond memories of the book from my teenage years.
What works less well is the plotting. At 470 pages it’s way too long and the storytelling is muddy and confusing at times, darting all over the place. McBain’s influence is clear in some of the prose and the flashes of humour through the book, but unfortunately not in tightness of the writing. I’m not sure if the issues may in part be down to the fact that it was written by a team, but it could definitely have used a better editor to trim it down.
For all that though, when it’s good it is very good. The action and horror scenes crackle and it’s so imaginatively disgusting that it gets a thumbs up from me. I’ve been gradually picking up the later books in the series, so expect to see more reviews here soon. show less

Police Mystery) Bodies were turning up all over Vancouver, Canada sans heads. And then the police got a series of photos of the heads, on sticks. The citizens of Vancouver were getting just a hair nervous. Detective Robert DeClercq had retired but he's the one they needed and they called him back in. This story was really interesting in the way it was told. There were all kinds of fascinating little tangents. DeClercq and his band were a good bunch to read about and I thought the setting of Vancouver to be a nice change of pace. I'm not that familiar with Canadian police procedures so that was also a nice change.

Fascinating mystery and great characters. The whole series by Michael Slade provides wonderful mystery reading and some of the books weave interesting historical facts into the story. We love the whole series and Slade is a favorite.

The Headhunter is loose on the streets of Vancouver. The Headhunter's victims are everywhere. Floating in the river. Buried in a shallow grave. Tacked to an Indian totem pole. All women. All headless.
Magic, voodoo, ritual murder, sexual slavery: these are the roots of the Headhunter's mystery. It is the toughest challenge the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have ever faced. This time, will the Mounties get their man?

One of my FAVORITE books ever! I've read it twice and I know I could read many more times and still be surprised and love it :-)

I lend this book to my good friends so they can get a better idea of just what kind of books I love :-)

Adrianne

Inhalt

Gesucht wird ein Serienkiller in Vancouver. Die Story ist wahnsinnig spannend und der Fall hat mich sofort gepackt. M. Slade lässt viele reale Fakten und Wissen in die Geschichte einfließen, was sehr beeindruckend ist und an manchen Stellen das Lesen noch gruseliger macht.

Leider zieht sich das Buch an einigen Stellen, da M. Slade bei der Arbeit der Mounties zu viel erzählt. Da die Arbeit bei der Verbrechensaufklärung heute anders aussieht, waren teilweise solche Passagen langweilig und zu lang. Oft wurde auch betont und herausgestellt, dass es zu der Zeit sehr besonders war, weibliche Detectives in der Truppe zu haben.

Die Bewertung des Festa Verlags was Brutalität, Sexualität und Anspruch angeht, kann ich zu stimmen. Es ist show more absolut kein Buch für schwache Nerven und prüde Kellermäuse.

Struktur

Leider ist die Struktur des Romans in meinen Augen nicht sehr gut gelungen. Spannend bis zum Ende bleibt er schon, allerdings gibt es mehrere Kapitel aus verschiedenen Sichtweisen und Perspektiven erzählt. Die Erzählerperspektive wechselt teilweise, was mich doch sehr verwirrt hat.

Stil und Sprache

Wie schon oben erwähnt, hat "Der Kopfjäger" einen guten Anspruch, was Stil und Sprache betrifft. Es gibt viele Erläuterungen der Arbeit und von realen Gewaltverbrechen. Daher ist die Sprache und auch der Stil gehobener. Dies hat mir gefallen, aber es steht oft in der Konkflikt/Konkurrenz mit der Brutalität und dem Absurden.

Zusammenfassung und Bewertung

"Der Kopfjäger" ist für Leser, die nicht genügend Thrill bekommen können und auch vor absurdesten Psychos nicht zurückschrecken. Zudem sollte man beachten, dass der Roman schon vor 32 Jahren erschien und daher die Ermittlungsarbeiten und auch die Gesellschaft ein wenig anders waren, als heutzutage. Für die mangelhafte Struktur gibt es bei mir Punktabzug und im ganzen war auch der Inhalt nicht der absolute Renner, daher von mir nur 3 von 5 Sternen.

https://moonysblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/der-kopfjaeger/ show less