Wolf (Jack Caffery/Walking Man Series, 7)

Wolf is another thriller featuring detective Jack Caffery who has been featured in several other books by the author. There are two underlying story lines, one following the efforts of Jack to solve the disappearance and murder of his younger brother many years ago and the other a home invasion at the home of a family in the rural English countryside.

The antagonists are two men posing as police officers who hold the family hostage and psychologically and mentally terrorize the father, mother and daughter for no apparent reason. While their actions are disgusting and gruesome I found the brutality of their deeds less than intended because there was an almost comedic interaction between the two villains and the family. I just could not take these two alleged monsters seriously. Also, there is little character development of the family members with the possible exception of Matilda, the mother.

Will these two plot lines come to a satisfactory conclusion? While the last hundred pages contain many twists and turns for me it just wasn't enough to save this story. Also, I found the inclusion of the Walking Man in Jack's search for his brother's killer absurd. Mo Hayder has written some darn good books but this was not one of them.

The first 50 pages or so are intriguing but what follows is ridiculous premise with a contrived ending sandwiching 300 pages of sadism and yet another depressed (though not Scandinavian) detective. Cut 150 pages out of the repetitive sadism, and I'm not at all bothered by graphic violence, and you'd have a decent crime novel. BTW no animals are harmed and a little dog is kind of the hero so that's a saving grace.

I don't know why this novel got such good ratings. I found it pretty boring and not well-written. Gory for the sake of being gory. The ending is a writer's trick to come up with something supposedly unexpected, if you hadn't guessed after the first 30 pages...

I see lots of books advertised as "psychological dramas", etc. by lots of authors. However, no one I have read does the genre better than Mo Hayder. Normally I read books in fits and spurts, picking one up several times a day to read a few pages and then going on to something else. However, with this series I find myself so totally immersed that I lose track of time - reading into the wee hours. I'd suggest going back to Hanging Hill and reading the whole series forward.

Mo Hayder delivers once again! Plot twist at the end took me by surprise and I thought it wasn't fleshed out or explained well enough earlier but maybe that was the point. Riveting read anyway!

Love the series!

I have been reading mysteries for over 40 years, and I don't remember the last time I was gripped by a book like this. I want to tell you to read it immediately, but you really should read all the previous books in the series because things that happened several books ago are referenced or resolved in this one. I was reading it on a lovely summer evening while my husband was out working overnight, and I had to get up and lock the sliding door, close the blinds, and finish it in a sweltering, well-lit room. I didn't see the biggest twist coming, but in retrospect, all the clues were there. I finished it on a deep breath, appreciating the work of a true virtuoso. On a side note, check out her author website - it's a lot of fun!