Michael Slade (1) (1947–)

Hangman is a rather strange, convoluted serial killer mystery. It has a number of interesting characters, many of whom are regulars in the Special X series. The book moves at a fairly rapid pace with few slow spots, but it jumps back and forth, timewise, which may it a little tough to keep up with for this reader. (Maybe I'm just a dullard...)
The plot has a number of satisfying twists, plus one really big one that I didn't see coming, but the ending left me wanting.
I've read a number of Michael Slade books in the past and have to say that this one wasn't "his" best.… (más)

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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 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.
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There is a Headhunter killing women in Vancouver and so a special unit is set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to capture him.
I read the original book some time ago (which I still have), and thoroughly enjoyed that to the extent that I have read a few of the sequels, and it's to the book credit that it left such an impression on me that I remember exactly who the killer is and so I could read the book from the perspective and see if I could see any clues.
Enjoyed this version and it has reminded that there are so good sequels to read again.
Thank you NetGalley for this book

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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.… (más)