Birdman - Hardcover

Mo Hayder

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593045203 ISBN 13: 9780593045206

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2000

Synopsis

"splendidly readable" Kirkus Reviews "Birdman's plot has more twists than a surgeon's knot" Publishers Weekly Greenwich, south-east London. Five bodies have been found, all young women, all ritualistically murdered, dumped on wasteland near the Millennium Dome. When a post-mortem examination reveals a singular, horrific signature linking the victims, officers realise that they are on the trail of the most dangerous offender known to the force: a sexual serial killer. Detective Inspector Jack Caffery, young, driven, unshockable, he now employs every weapon forensic science can offer, he knows time is limited; this sadistic killer will strike again.

About this title

Review

This crackling psychological thriller introduces police detective Jack Caffery, who is on the hunt for a serial killer the British tabloids have nicknamed "The Millennium Ripper."

The Ripper is behind the murder of five prostitutes, whose bodies are unearthed beneath the rubble of a Greenwich landfill. All the victims have been raped and their bodies horrendously mutilated--but not until after being killed by a dose of heroin injected directly into their brainstems. What stuns Caffery even more is the one detail of the murders the public doesn't know; the hearts of the women have been replaced with live birds sewn into the victims' chests.

Caffery himself is a tortured man, still burdened by guilt over the decades-old murder of his younger brother and frustrated because he cannot bring the man he knows is responsible to the bar of justice. When the Millennium Ripper confesses to the prostitute killings just before taking his own life, Caffery faces his own limitations and begins to make peace with his past. But then another prostitute is found dead, her body ravaged in the same way, a bird where her heart was--and Caffery realizes that his past may never truly be put to rest.

A solid page turner, this gripping debut by a young Englishwoman introduces a complex and fascinating protagonist destined for another appearance. Meanwhile, Birdman will enthrall readers who just can't get enough of Hannibal Lechter. --Jane Adams

From the Inside Flap

With the forensic acumen of   Patricia Cornwell and the atmosphere of Lynda La Plante's Prime Suspect series, Birdman - already an international sensation prior to publication - introduces a troubled homicide detective battling the demons of his past while facing the psychopath of the century.

In the chilling opening to Birdman, the bodies of five women are found, ritualistically mutilated and dumped on wasteland in Greenwich, England. When post-mortem examinations reveal a single, horrific signature linking the victims - a tiny bird sewn into each chest - the police realize they are on the trail of a serial killer with a terrifying mind.

Detective Inspector Jack Caffery, young,driven, unshockable, finds himself facing both hostilities within the force and his own memory of a lethal failure, as he struggles to unravel the most macabre murders he's ever seen. Now, as he employs every weapon science can offer, he knows he has little time before the sadistic killer strikes again. But he has so little evidence. All he has are five mutilated corpses and five dead little birds.

Mo Hayder - with  a keen psychological insight, brilliant forensic and procedural detail, and a psychically wounded but charismatic lead investigator - has written a first novel of raw intensity and deep understanding that will thrill the hearts of the most demanding readers of crime fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0593045203
• ISBN 13: 9780593045206
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 363