Mister Slaughter

Getting Matthew Corbett out from civilization and on a good old-fashioned manhunt was a brilliant move on McCammon's part. This one played to the author's strengths.

He's already laid the groundwork of Corbett's world in the first two novels, so this time around, he digs into a meaty story about an 18th century psychopath, and he obviously has a hell of a lot of fun with it.

Easily the best book in the series so far.

This book is third in the Matthew Corbett series and, as we have come to expect from McCammon, does not disappoint. Colonial America comes to life in this well researched historical fiction novel. Word of warning, however! This book is also a work of graphic horror, gore, violence and death and those who are squeamish would probably be best advised to pass it up. If you can handle those things, then you should definitely read this book, and the others in the series. They are so well written, so detailed and just plain addictive.

We now find our protagonist, Matthew, at home in New York for just a brief period before a dark and twisted adventure ensues. He and his partner at the Herrod Investigative Agency, Greathouse, are given what show more sounds like a somewhat routine assignment. They are to pick up a dangerous serial killer from a mental asylum and transport him to New York to be deported to England for trial.

Well, as you can imagine, things go from bad to worse nearly from the start. And worse is so bad that I'm not even going to attempt to describe it. But Matthew and Greathouse will both look death in the eyes, and time and again it doesn't seem like there's anyway for them to escape it. Greathouse, in fact, becomes gravely wounded. Slaughter, the prisoner, who has escaped has nearly managed to kill him. Matthew vows to track down the escaped killer, whose escape he feels much blame for. The grisly scenes left along the route by Slaughter are hard to stomach, but believe it or not there are worse grisly scenes to come as we get towards the denouement.

When Matthew returns home at the end of the story, he returns a changed man and not the boastful dandy he was at the beginning.

Once again, I plan to delve into Book 4 in the series immediately. As I said, I am addicted. show less

In one big push I finished this one. Again not a whit of supernatural but still a bit> of playing with history, which McCammon quite nicely, explains at the end. Good show. In fact I may enjoy these more than McCammon's usual "horror" supernatural thriller fare, except to call them usual now would be a disservice. Call them historico-thrillers with a little historical license.

All that said, a rolicking suspenseful read with McCammon's usual good plot and well drawn characters. Well written as well. One criticism of Matthew Corbett's world is that the world is peopled with characters that are both too noble and too evil and not enough gray. But it's McCammon's world and he's free to play with it however he will, I still enjoyed it.

It has show more devolved/evolved into a series based on the "evil" Professor Fell and his diabolical global criminal network, a ploy to hook readers and an easy out for an author who doesn't know where to go with completely new plots. It is also a disservice to the first volume, [b:Speaks the Nightbird|1525997|Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)|Robert McCammon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406842131s/1525997.jpg|16692325], which is perfectly capable of standing on its own for those who don't particularly care for series novels, which I don't, usually.

I'll probably read the rest of these and certainly I would be lying if I said I didn't look forward to. I own each one, afterall. show less

Once again Robert McCammon delivers a masterpiece. Matthew Corbett has really grown on as a character and the colonial era although never before a genre that I enjoyed is now one of my favorite epics. I had previously enjoyed Wilbur Smith's ancient Egyptian saga, and then onto his swashbuckling adventures, but they didn't contain the raw substance that McCammon is able to infuse into his writings. I was very glad to hear that there will be a fourth follow up to this series, as I had previously only thought that these novels were part of a trilogy.

The characters in this series are put together very well, and for the first time in this saga we get to witness a truly evil individual. Mister Slaughter, this guy is just plain wicked and the show more viciousness by which he dispatches is victims can be quick and other times drawn out. The sad truth is that the character in this book is extremely horrific but he is just that "fiction", however at the same fact there are people who live beyond this world of fiction and preform actions like this in reality. So although grisly and you want to tell yourself it's only a story the true fact is that these things happen in the news everyday.

Moving on, another thing that I really like the blending of elements from one novel to the next are seamless. Now it's on to a Agent Pendergast novel and then I will be taking a jump back to McCammon's "They Thirst" or "Usher's Passing".

Once again, a special thanks goes out to the author for entertaining with his story-telling! show less

This book.. simply put.. is a ton of fun. The adventures of Matthew Corbett continue...only this time the stakes are considerably higher. After a savage lapse in personal judgment Corbett and Greathouse find themselves on the receiving end of a rather shiesty and detestable murderer. Adventure and revenge ensue. Great addition to the series.

I'm determined to finish this series this year. We'll see. Not sure why I'm so slow with it. Love the character Matthew and the stories so far, the narration is excellent and I own all the audio. This one involves Matthew in pursuit of a nightmarish man who plays cat and mouse like some of the modern day serial killers do in contemporary novels with police. Matthew has to embrace at times even some of his darker sides to overcome this twisted foe. The mystery isn't a point or as strong but the pursuit was especially intriguing and tense.

Mister Slaughter is the first book in a series that began with Speaks the Nightbird and continued with The Queen of Bedlam. Mister Slaughter is sort of a continuation of The Queen of Bedlam (I certainly recommend reading that book first, since this book references some of the events and people of the first. Speaks the Nightbird is more of a stand-alone novel). Here, Matthew Corbett (a “problem solver” for the Herrald Agency in New York) and his associate, Hudson Greathouse, are charged with the task of transporting a murderer named Tyranthus Slaughter from an insane asylum to New York, where he will be sent back to England to await trial—and, inevitably, the hangman’s noose. But this being a Matthew Corbett novel, things don’t show more go quite as planned, and Matthew and Greathouse find themselves hunting Slaughter through the woods of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their search eventually brings them to the attention of Professor Fell, who was a major part of The Queen of Bedlam.

This is a very strong addition to the series, all the more so because Matthew’s character develops significantly in this novel. He suffers from the sins of vanity, greed, and pride (which often go hand in hand), and part of his development in this book involves his learning to be more humble and willing to admit that he’s made mistakes—and he makes one or two here. He’s young, too, which leaves a lot of room for development over the course of more books. Hudson Greathouse takes a backseat (since he gets injured about halfway through), but the book is complimented by the introduction of a few new associates, including a Seneca tracker who’s considered mad by his tribe mates; and a teenage boy intent on revenge. Slaughter is a delightful (if a mass murderer can be called that) villain, who manages to make people trust him, even while the reader thinks, “no! Don’t trust him!”

The plot too is very good, with the right amount of tension. Robert McCammon is a little less skilled at the historical parts (retirement communities in 1702?), but I thought the book was well-researched nonetheless. In addition, at times, the characters seemed a bit too modern (at one point, one of the characters exclaims, “I’ll blow the shit out of him!”). Robert McCammon is famous for his earlier horror novels, and there’s certainly a fair amount of that kind of gruesomeness here (I’m not going to say anything, but remember what happened to Frank Bennett in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café… totally different book, I know…). Despite the books minor flaws, I really enjoyed this book. You can definitely see the inspiration of the great heroes of the 1950s and ‘60s (James Bond, in particular; there’s a ship named the Golden Eye, plus an inventor whose last name begins with Q). And indeed, there’s a lot of action and adventure in this novel. I can’t wait to read what’s next for Matthew Corbett and his associates. show less