REVIEW: RAGDOLL By Daniel Cole

Goodreads

Published April 4, 2017 by Ecco 

A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet, nicknamed by the press as the ‘ragdoll’.

Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.

The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them.

With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move? 

******

 This is one fun serial killer read! You might think that’s not possible with a story about a serial killer who stitches together body parts of victims and then taunts the police with a kill list and a timeframe for 6 more murders, but believe me it is. This debut novel is creative, original and full of eyebrow raising moments…see how I avoided saying “twisty” because lately when I see that term I often think the opposite and I want you to realize this book REALLY delivers on surprises.  In fact, there are things that the killer pulls off in this book that left me thinking ‘wow.’

The story begins with an action packed prologue in which the Cremation Killer is on trial for burning alive several victims. William “Wolf” Fawkes, who’s hunted the Cremation Killer and is convinced of his guilt,  is in attendance in the courtroom and when the verdict is read…to say chaos ensues is an understatement.

Jump to 4 years later and things are very different. Wolf is called to the scene of a murder in which the victim(s) body parts have been stitched together to make a complete grotesque figure. This little discovery is soon followed by the killer releasing a kill list…the names of the next 6 victims and the date they will die. Can you say suspense? Wolf and his colleagues, Emily Baxter, Simmons, Finley, and Edmunds set out to find the victims and catch a killer with the clock literally ticking!

One of the very best aspects of this book is the dark humor blended within tremendously snappy, realistic dialogue.  So many of the exchanges between the characters made me laugh and then in the next instance I’d be holding my breath as one more victim’s time looked to be running out. Speaking of time running out, the story is told in straightforward narration (yes!) with short chapters broken up by date and time which contributed to the relentless pace. What I especially liked was that many of the chapters ended in mini-cliffhangers which ensured that I was staying up late for one more chapter.

As I keep saying, this book is pure fun, but if you’re a die hard stickler for complete police procedural realism you might have some issues throughout. I didn’t for one second mind suspending my disbelief in places but some might.  When all was said and done, I thought the ending was perfect for the story and I’ll be waiting with fingers crossed that we haven’t seen the last of these characters.

If you’re looking for a well-written, truly unique, out of the box serial killer mystery look no further than Ragdoll! I think it’s going to be a huge success

Many thanks to my friend Amy at NovelGossip for sending me a copy of this fun read!