Birdman (Mo Hayder) PB-Good

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.

USA Today – Ann Prichard

All-points bulletin to crime writers everywhere: enough with the autopsies. Cork the formaldehyde and cut the cadaver palaver. And as for necrophilia, need one say more?

Mystery readers acknowledge living in a post-Patricia Cornwell, latter day Hannibal Lecter universe, in which sensational suspense stories are often gory, dark and diabolical. Birdman, a debut novel by British writer Mo Hayder, is right up there in the unnatural acts department.

Hayder”s novel is awash in perversion, gore and unkind cuts. And yes, one hates to admit, Birdman is a page turner, compelling in an awful way and mighty suspenseful.