Blood Eagle

Desde que termine de leer El aspecto del Diablo, quería leer más de este autor, realmente me gustó mucho su estilo y no me ha decepcionado.

Es verdad que este libro es completamente diferente al que he comentado en su género y la manera en que el autor plantea toda la historia, también es verdad que ahí está la inteligencia literaria que vi en el otro libro, un estilo limpio, pero sobre todo con una buena historia y con un personaje protagónico creíble y fuerte.

Me ha encantado, lo he disfrutado mucho, me ha gustado sobre todo la manera en que se ha ido desarrollando toda la investigación de los asesinatos donde Craig Russell juega con muchos temas además de los obvios.

El libro está ubicado en Hamburgo y además de presentar show more una serie de asesinatos basados en ciertas creencias paganas, el autor toca temas políticos y sociales importantes en Alemania, corrupción policial, mafias que manejan el tráfico de drogas, pero sobre todo la forma en que la fuerza política y de seguridad tienen que andar con pies de plomo pues todavía tienen que manejar temas de neonazismo en la Alemania actual y con traumas del pasado nazi en la sociedad de ese país.

Creo que el autor que a pesar de no ser Alemán ha manejado el tema de manera muy inteligente y perfectamente documentado.

Sin embargo no me ha gustado el final de este libro, tengo que leer el segundo para saber si la manera en que ha terminado este libro es debido a que en la segunda entrega hay algún tipo de continuación de esta historia, ha dejado algunos cosas abiertas, sin epílogo para saber qué ha pasado con eso, personalmente no me gusta eso, pero a este autor se lo voy a perdonar porque el libro ha valido la pena muy a pesar del final que tiene show less

Jon Fabel is a detective working in present-day Germany, and there appears to be a new serial killer on the loose who goes through rather disturbing rituals with his victims – by the time Fabel finds these women, the women have been tortured, their ribs have been pried open, and their lungs have been thrown (intact) over the victim’s shoulders. What’s worse, is that the serial killer has chosen Fabel as a type of nemesis for himself and has a penchant for e-mailing Fabel while he’s going through the ritual of killing his victims. What we discover soon into the book is that these killings mimic a ritual that the Vikings used to go through, and is called the Blood Eagle.

To make things even more complicated, it appears that the show more serial killer is also involved in a number of rapes in the community and might very well be a part of an underground mob.

Mystery books usually don’t appeal to me at all, but as I was intrigued by blurb on the back cover of Brother Grimm – the second book in this series (ah, the story of my life!) – I had to venture forth with this one first.

I feel that this book had so much potential, but most of the time it fell short of what I had hoped for. It was confusing at a lot of points – there were more characters than I could keep straight, even with my flipping back in the book to reread things, there were parts of the book that I thought was completely unnecessary, and a lot of the time the narration was just so cheesy. I can forgive some cheesy prose, I really can… but when the author tells us that, “It was a chill that radiated out from a single fact he had locked deep inside: as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow, this killer would strike again,” I’m really not sure what to think. Stuff like that throughout the whole book. Words seem to fail me.

I have a feeling Russell tried a bit too hard with the foreshadowing. It was so obvious that he was alluding to something that would be revealed later on in the book, and it just got frustrating that he didn’t completely explain himself at once.

Also, I know this is just my thing, but I felt the book was focused too much on the plot. I’m all for more character-oriented stories, where we see how experiences make the characters grow… I think this is one of the reasons I don’t enjoy mystery novels quite as much; the ones I’ve read have all been much more plot driven than character driven, and it leaves me feeling like I don’t really care what’s going on.

Overlooking all of that, though, there were parts of this book that were really good.

I loved how Norse mythology and the history of the Vikings was worked into the story. This isn’t the first time in the past month when I’ve though how much I wish I knew more about Norse mythology, just to understand a little bit more of what was going on. I think in the near future I’m going to have to start looking into it.

The other thing that I had found really interesting was another tiny little part. This is one of the few books that I’ve read that takes place in present time in Germany; I was intrigued by how the author wrote about the German people, how they view themselves as a nation, and how they might feel towards what had happened in regards to WWII. show less

Head Detective Jan Fabel of Hamburg's police department heads up an investigation of serial killings of women. The killings are extremely brutal and grotesque in nature and represent a mythological ritual that may lead to the killer and his motives.
Fable is an interesting character and well developed. He is surrounded by a good supporting cast of lower level detectives and others in the police department. His personal life is show just enough to keep him a real enough person to enjoy over a series. Hamburg, Germany is a great place for a series to take place as it 's not the same old New York, LA, etc.

The book began quite slowly (although with a heavy murder scene)and introducing so many different strings and sub-plots that I didn't have much hope for it, yet Russell brings together all those strings very, very well and the book turned out much to its favor after 100 pages or so.

I enjoyed the fact that a Scottish author is such an expert on German history and the city of Hamburg.
I hear there is a TV movie adaptation, I can't yet imagine how the book was "tamed" for it, since it is not for the faint of heart, but I will def try to see it and will definitely continue the series!

Blood Eagle is a very complex crime thriller following the central detective, Fabel, as he tracks a serial killer in Hamburg. There is a strong mix of history, politics and crime, interwoven to provide a crime story which is challenging to predict. Cleverness of it's plot aside, the novel fails to create an edge-of-your-seat read. You will, however, want to see Blood Eagle deliver it's conclusion, which is rather remote from any initial ideas you might have, for the journey is full of modern social and cultural issues, scenes of psychotic behaviour and the usual twists and turns. Blood Eagle is not a gripping page-turner, but is an average entry in to the crowded genre. It is however the beginning of a series of Hamburg based crime show more stories and as such should be viewed as providing essential building blocks for the series ahead. show less

Wordy thriller set in contemporary Hamburg. A cop on the trail of a brutal serial killer -- you know the story. The value added by the author is the unusual setting, which makes the "stop me before I kill again" plot seem fresh. Russell seems to go out of his way to not only incorporate Germanic elements into the story, but to educate the reader on all of them, whether they are relevant to the plot or not. This worked for me in this book, although I can see it getting real old as the series progresses.

This was a great thriller with plenty of twists and turns. I read all 470pgs of it in one day! Initially there were a lot of separate aspects that seemed a little overwhelming, but it was brought together nicely. I'll definitely be reading number two.