Birdman

July 30, 2012
Eschewing histrionics, narrator Damien Goodwin uses an understated, soft voice to effectively convey the horrors of this latest serial killer yarn from Hayder. London homicide detective Jack Caffery has been summoned to the iconic Millennium Dome in Greenwich to investigate a particularly gruesome crime. A young woman was raped and then killed via an injection of heroin into her brain—but the kicker is the killer’s postmortem addition of a live bird, sewn inside the victim’s torso in place of her heart. And that savagery is just the beginning, as the body count of the murderer dubbed the Birdman rises. While the volume of extreme violence in this audio edition could overwhelm some listeners, Goodwin’s matter-of-fact delivery—even when narrating insect activity on a cadaver—helps obviate the gore and slaughter. The voices Goodwin lends the different investigating officers could have been more distinctive, but given his strong representation of Caffery, fans of the series will likely look the other way. A Grove paperback.

Starred review from November 29, 1999
Treading the grisly path blazed by Thomas Harris in 1981 with Red Dragon, promising newcomer Hayder crafts a blood-curdlingly creepy debut thriller set near the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, England. When Det. Insp. Jack Caffery is called in to investigate the puzzling murder of a young woman, he is confronted by a host of ghastly details, not the least of which is a live bird sewn inside the brutally mangled corpse. The timing of the case could not be worse: DI Caffery's relationship with his girlfriend is on the rocks; there's a new DI from CID who's trying to usurp Caffery's Golden Boy status with the superintendent; and Caffery's obsession with his next-door neighbor, a convicted pedophile who Caffery believes may have murdered Caffrey's own long-missing brother, has reached a confrontational stage. The detective and his good-natured partner, Paul Essex, focus the murder case on a seedy local pub, which is both the locus of the area's illegal activities and the watering hole for workers at a nearby hospital, one of whom, Caffery thinks, must be the surgically trained killer. Caffery's CID competitor targets a local black drug dealer, which ups the political and media ante uncomfortably. Caffery's more methodical approach leads him to the man he believes is the killer, whose suicide convinces him he's right. But when more bodies turn up with the same trademark mutilations, Caffery must start all over again, and his new findings lead him to an altogether more appalling conclusion. Hayder is impressively successful in appealing to a broad, multigenre fan base (mystery/police procedural, thriller, horror). She displays a good working knowledge of forensics and English police procedures, and Birdman's plot has more twists than a surgeon's knot. But the weak of stomach are forewarned--her graphic imagination knows no bounds. Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild featured selection.

BIRDMAN is a grisly thriller not for the faint of heart. Hayder's debut novel, set in London and Greenwich, is filled with raw intensity, keen psychological insights, and forensic detail. Listeners will be convinced by all the characters--from the medical examiner and the diabolical serial killer to Jack Caffery, a wounded homicide detective working to solve one of the most horrifying cases in the department's history. Damien Goodwin delivers unique voices for the myriad characters with perfect timing. His skill with dialogue intensifies the plot's slick twists and turns. With inflection and whispers, Damien creates disturbing images that will haunt listeners. K.A.T. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine