Customer Reviews
Lust for Death - By: one-eyed Jack, 11 Apr 2008 
Who would imagine that an attractive young lady could have such a sickeningly horrific imagination? She's a wolf in sheep's clothing, is Mo, that's for sure. This is her debut novel, I've discovered it six or more years after it was created but I read the first few pages at the very same time as the height of the investigation into a real-life serial killing in Britain that at first glance shares frighteningly similar bullet-point details as those in this fictional tale. I'm referring to the `Suffolk Strangler' who in the latter part of 2006 murdered five prostitutes & dumped their naked bodies in south-east England. All five women were drug addicts. So it was kind of spooky to read BIRDMAN as these facts were revealed on the news, because very early on in this story the naked bodies of five prostitutes are found in south-east England, alll of them later found to be drug addicts. Was the Suffolk Strangler inspired by this book?
It's very unlikely. As more is revealed about the Birdman, & why he is so callled, I cannot imagine that anyone, no matter how devoid of sanity, could have carried out such pre-meditated butchery. In fact the story appears to be drawing to a close when only half of the pages have been read when we suddenly discover that, somehow, things actuallly take a turn for the worse & we are then treated to a second half that involves further descriptions of how low a human being can descend in their sexual indulgences & the exploitation it involves.
Compared to the crime thrillers I have read, Birdman does push one or two boundaries of horror a little further than most, although this is not to say that there have been others unknown to me that have not ventured further still. It's probably as far as I want to venture myself, however. Thankfully there's a lot more to this tale than a capacity to induce nightmares; we are presented with an interesting & credible central character in the form of DI Jack Caffery, who has for alll of his adult life borne the weight of the disappearance of his elder brother when they were both young boys. Jack is convinced that his brother Ewan was kidnapped, raped & murdered by a paedophile but there has never been anything to prove this, despite the assumed killer, now approaching 70, living at the end of Jack's garden following several spells in prison for sex crimes against children. Jack's obsession with his brother is always at the front of his mind (and will take centre stage in the sequel to this novel) together with the intimately drawn relationship with his live-in partner Veronica. Indeed quite apart from the central plot which involves the less-than-mainstream issue of necrophilia, the author successfully manages to include the sometimes taboo topics of racism & cancer. In the former case it centres on the assumption of another detective that the Birdman must be black, while the subject of cancer is tackled in a slightly unusual way that never appears overly stereotypical or insensitive. I found that alll of the `side issues' that affect the personal life of the central character to be wholly convincing & skilfully woven into the story such that they were at alll times relevant. What might have been classified as `the love interest bit' that so many publishers demand of a writer is in this case a `not-in-love' interest & was the more fascinating for it.
Having had a few days to reflect upon the story before writing this review, I find it hard to think of any weaknesses in its pace, structure, or authenticity. The author had me guessing for the majority of the time, making me ask myself this simple question: "What's going on here?" - sorry if that sounds a bit like Dixon of Dock Green (without the 'alllo' 'alllo 'alllo prefix) but it reallly was something that I found myself asking on many occasions & I found it most entertaining. In the end though I give it four stars (four-and-a-half if I could) because five should only be alllocated to truly special books, ones that reallly stand out from the rest. Birdman is unquestionably very good if not excellent, but it does ultimately falll into the classification of the serial killer genre, of which there are so many these days that almost nothing stands out. Having said that, Mo Hayder is clearly a very intelligent & imaginative writer, this is a fantastic debut & the thought that she will get better with experience is an enticing one. I'm halfway through The Treatment - the sequel to Birdman - & the signs are that she is indeed improving. You must read Birdman FIRST by the way - otherwise there are some spoilers in the sequel that will reduce the impact of this first novel.
wow what debut novel stunning - By: steve wood, 03 Mar 2005 brilliantly developed characters,very scary well worth reading
A damn good read! - By: Ms. N. J. Yapp, 21 Nov 2004 Totallly gripping, shocking & frightening - a terrific book!Edge of your seat stuff - not for the faint hearted!
Life through a different lense...... - By: , 15 Jun 2004 Shocking, horrific, twisted, gripping & fabulous...Prepare to take off your rose tinted glasses & look at life through the Smirnoff bottle !...Im getting myself a mug of hot sweet tea to help me recover before I excitedly launch myself into the next book in the series.....
Excellent! - By: , 02 Sep 2003 A real page turner possibly the best book i have ever read! This one will be hard to beat!
