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jesreads21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mayav_p's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
birgits_bookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
Patrick McGuinness verbindet in "Den Wölfen zum Fraß" alles was Großbritannien ausmacht, mit allem was wir aus hard bioled crimis kennen. Das bedeutet es fließt viel Tee und wir haben düstere, melancholische und sehr lange Monologe, die teilweise sehr weit vom eigentlichen Geschehen abschweifen. Doch dem Autor gelingt es, dass dies nicht stört. Überhaupt nicht, als Leser:in verfolgt man gerne die Gedankengänge Anders, tauscht mit ihm in seine Vergangenheit und die gesellschaftlichen Probleme Englands nach und vor dem Brexit ein. Dabei schafft McGuinness es auch sehr viele Themen anzusprechen: die Macht der Medien, die Gefahren eine Frau zu sein und wieso Männer es in der Datingwelt "einfacher" haben, englische Privatschulen, und, und, und... Trotzdem bildet der Roman ein abgeschlossenes Ganzes, ohne lose Enden, ohne unnötigen Ballast. Manchmal werden Absätze vielleicht etwas zu lang und die Gedanken drohen beim Lesen abzuschweifen, aber der Autor schafft es einen immer wieder zurückzuholen und ans Buch zu fesseln.
Ander ist ein sympathischer Hauptcharakter, der sich selbst nicht immer sicher ist. Ein Protagonist, der eine gemeinsame Vergangenheit mit dem vermeindlichen Mörder hat. Ein Protagonist, dem vielleicht nicht ganz zu trauen ist.
"Den Wölfen zum Fraß" ist kein actionreicher Thriller mit viel Blut und ekelerregenden Leichenbeschreibungen. Es ist eher ein sanft beginnender Wind, der unbemerkt zu einem Sturm anwächst und bei dem die Leser:innen nicht mehr wissen, was sie glauben sollen, wem sie Mitleid schenken sollen und auf welches Ende sie hoffen sollen... Alles in allem also ein gelungener Roman, den es so nicht mehr oft gibt und der auch Nicht-Krimifans zu empfehlen ist, denn die Leiche ist hier nur Mittel zum Zweck um viel wichtigere Themen anzusprechen.
Ander ist ein sympathischer Hauptcharakter, der sich selbst nicht immer sicher ist. Ein Protagonist, der eine gemeinsame Vergangenheit mit dem vermeindlichen Mörder hat. Ein Protagonist, dem vielleicht nicht ganz zu trauen ist.
"Den Wölfen zum Fraß" ist kein actionreicher Thriller mit viel Blut und ekelerregenden Leichenbeschreibungen. Es ist eher ein sanft beginnender Wind, der unbemerkt zu einem Sturm anwächst und bei dem die Leser:innen nicht mehr wissen, was sie glauben sollen, wem sie Mitleid schenken sollen und auf welches Ende sie hoffen sollen... Alles in allem also ein gelungener Roman, den es so nicht mehr oft gibt und der auch Nicht-Krimifans zu empfehlen ist, denn die Leiche ist hier nur Mittel zum Zweck um viel wichtigere Themen anzusprechen.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
Even if it starts as a mystery it is a multilayered story that talks about how a man considered eccentric or different can become the monster and the perfect candidate for public shame and hate.
it's a well written and riveting story, dark and very sad at moments.
It's a good reflection on our world and it's based on a real story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
it's a well written and riveting story, dark and very sad at moments.
It's a good reflection on our world and it's based on a real story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
firewolffred's review against another edition
3.0
Words hide behind the masks of intention, peering through the eye slits at the world beyond as they parade themselves as different beasts to an unsuspecting audience. These words can be said with a dozen inflections and paired up in near incalculable combinations to present anything that the human mind can imagine. Twenty six single letters to create the sum of humanity, (of the English kind).
Throw me to the Wolves, by Patrick McGuinness, tries to wear several masks simultaneously. It is a fictionalised retelling of real life events that attempts to serve as a state of the nation address, while also filling into the literature niche of a crime drama. It is a story of duality, of innocence and guilt, truth and lies, life and death, fact and fiction. It muses on modern life and the bastardisation of society and culture while critiquing the seedy underbelly of abuse that was so institutional in the country's past. It is only fitting then that my own thoughts on the book are also a duality, a fine balance of boredom and interest.
You see, Throw me to the Wolves is less of a story than a written exploration of McGuinness' own wandering thoughts about his life. The murder of a young woman and the solving of the crime barely factor into the book, instead serving as a backdrop from which to frame thoughts about the justice system, schooling, the press, and the internet. Every single line of the story is beautifully written and evokes philosophical musings from the reader, yet none of them work to progress the narrative. It is a book where I could open any random page and read any random extract and feel merrily content, yet grow increasingly frustrated with each additional sentence read despite each being as good as the previous.
Like a man stood at the edge of a bridge feeling that pull, that call of the void, and contemplating the blissful finality of the fall, so too does Throw me to the Wolves teeter on the edge of intention. Does it want to regale readers with a fictional murder mystery? Does it seek to shine a light on a real world injustice? Should we read it as a lamentation of society? The book stares into all of these aspects of itself without ever committing to the jump into any.
Thinking it all over now, the book takes place more inside the protagonist's head than it does in any physical setting. We delve into his past and reside in his daydreams and musings with very little time dedicated to the here and now of the murder case. As someone wanting to read a story, this makes the narrative sparse and dry, but then perhaps this mirrors reality far closer than most. As humans we do live inside our own thoughts. Our internal monologue is always running, like a TV left on in the background to fill the void of an empty house. We each have these tangential thoughts and drifting memories that are merely punctuated by the physicality of the present. And just like in reality, there is no dramatic conclusion, no neat tying up of the threads, just a mental tick in a checkbox beside the event, a turning of the page of the book of our lives.
Like everything in the book, the characters drift across the spectrum from great to unnecessary. Alexander/Ander’s thoughtful philosophy is interesting to read and comes across as very realistic because this protagonist is as close to McGuinness as a fictional character can be. Take away his name and profession and we are left with the history and thoughts of the author. Gary is another great character who brings humour and ‘poor man’s’ logic to Alexander’s high class musings. Then there is Wolphram, who well portrays the slightly weird ‘other’ that he needed to. Outside of this small central cast, the other characters are either little more than named extras like the other members of the police, two dimensional caricatures such as the other teachers, or interesting characters who serve absolutely zero function to the plot like Vera and her dead husband.
I feel myself being strangely unsure about this book. I can't decide if I like it or not. I struggled to finish it and think that few people would glean any entertainment from it, yet still find myself wanting to recommend it, to gauge the thoughts copy and pasted straight from McGuinness' mind against those of other people. What do you think about the clickbait hate culture of the modern media? How was your experience of school in the 60s and 70s? The book makes me think, makes me want to continue thinking, and that has to be worth something, right?
Throw me to the Wolves, by Patrick McGuinness, tries to wear several masks simultaneously. It is a fictionalised retelling of real life events that attempts to serve as a state of the nation address, while also filling into the literature niche of a crime drama. It is a story of duality, of innocence and guilt, truth and lies, life and death, fact and fiction. It muses on modern life and the bastardisation of society and culture while critiquing the seedy underbelly of abuse that was so institutional in the country's past. It is only fitting then that my own thoughts on the book are also a duality, a fine balance of boredom and interest.
You see, Throw me to the Wolves is less of a story than a written exploration of McGuinness' own wandering thoughts about his life. The murder of a young woman and the solving of the crime barely factor into the book, instead serving as a backdrop from which to frame thoughts about the justice system, schooling, the press, and the internet. Every single line of the story is beautifully written and evokes philosophical musings from the reader, yet none of them work to progress the narrative. It is a book where I could open any random page and read any random extract and feel merrily content, yet grow increasingly frustrated with each additional sentence read despite each being as good as the previous.
Like a man stood at the edge of a bridge feeling that pull, that call of the void, and contemplating the blissful finality of the fall, so too does Throw me to the Wolves teeter on the edge of intention. Does it want to regale readers with a fictional murder mystery? Does it seek to shine a light on a real world injustice? Should we read it as a lamentation of society? The book stares into all of these aspects of itself without ever committing to the jump into any.
Thinking it all over now, the book takes place more inside the protagonist's head than it does in any physical setting. We delve into his past and reside in his daydreams and musings with very little time dedicated to the here and now of the murder case. As someone wanting to read a story, this makes the narrative sparse and dry, but then perhaps this mirrors reality far closer than most. As humans we do live inside our own thoughts. Our internal monologue is always running, like a TV left on in the background to fill the void of an empty house. We each have these tangential thoughts and drifting memories that are merely punctuated by the physicality of the present. And just like in reality, there is no dramatic conclusion, no neat tying up of the threads, just a mental tick in a checkbox beside the event, a turning of the page of the book of our lives.
Like everything in the book, the characters drift across the spectrum from great to unnecessary. Alexander/Ander’s thoughtful philosophy is interesting to read and comes across as very realistic because this protagonist is as close to McGuinness as a fictional character can be. Take away his name and profession and we are left with the history and thoughts of the author. Gary is another great character who brings humour and ‘poor man’s’ logic to Alexander’s high class musings. Then there is Wolphram, who well portrays the slightly weird ‘other’ that he needed to. Outside of this small central cast, the other characters are either little more than named extras like the other members of the police, two dimensional caricatures such as the other teachers, or interesting characters who serve absolutely zero function to the plot like Vera and her dead husband.
I feel myself being strangely unsure about this book. I can't decide if I like it or not. I struggled to finish it and think that few people would glean any entertainment from it, yet still find myself wanting to recommend it, to gauge the thoughts copy and pasted straight from McGuinness' mind against those of other people. What do you think about the clickbait hate culture of the modern media? How was your experience of school in the 60s and 70s? The book makes me think, makes me want to continue thinking, and that has to be worth something, right?
bjr2022's review against another edition
5.0
What glorious writing. I've never read Patrick McGuinness before (Thanks, Mary Lins.), but his writing is so exquisite, I wager he could write anything and it would be a joy to read.
Here, he's used his skill to write a crime story, but my guess is the originality, music, humor, and literary muscle* are his gifts no matter where he aims. You could almost point to any sentence as an example, but here's the bit that launched me to my computer to begin drafting my thoughts:
_____________
*By "literary muscle," I mean a combination of rhythm, vocabulary and observations that sparkle and surprise you with their originality, and technical prowess to build a story. In addition, he has a deep understanding of truth and how people work psychologically and weaves this, like breath, into the narrative/social commentary that builds just right, then coasts into a poignant conclusion.
I'm about to read an ARC of the new Jess Walter novel, another "muscular" writer, and I think Walter fans would have a similar ent1husiasm for Patrick McGuinness's work in this book.
Here, he's used his skill to write a crime story, but my guess is the originality, music, humor, and literary muscle* are his gifts no matter where he aims. You could almost point to any sentence as an example, but here's the bit that launched me to my computer to begin drafting my thoughts:
No one knew her, no, but her profile [on a dating site] had been viewed over a thousand times, cyber-fondled, screen-groped, eyed up and trackpack-fingered, put on lists and bookmarked and favourited. . . . Women have hundreds of visits to their profiles, men a handful. Sometimes none. The most recent looks at her profile were last night: 'Bruce from Middlesbrough' and "Medway Man'. There's a bloke describing himself as 'Husky, dusky and musky', which Gary says sounds like Snow White's three sex-offender dwarves.A sensational reading experience.
_____________
*By "literary muscle," I mean a combination of rhythm, vocabulary and observations that sparkle and surprise you with their originality, and technical prowess to build a story. In addition, he has a deep understanding of truth and how people work psychologically and weaves this, like breath, into the narrative/social commentary that builds just right, then coasts into a poignant conclusion.
I'm about to read an ARC of the new Jess Walter novel, another "muscular" writer, and I think Walter fans would have a similar ent1husiasm for Patrick McGuinness's work in this book.
missmesmerized's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
5.0
Als man eine Frauenleiche findet, scheint der Täter offenkundig: der etwas exzentrische Einzelgänger Michael Wolphram, der das Opfer auch kannte und gar nicht verhehlt, gelegentlich mit der attraktiven jungen Frau gesprochen zu haben. Vor seiner Pensionierung war er Lehrer am Chapleton College, das auch Alexander, einer der beiden Polizisten, die den Fall untersuchen, besuchte. Er hat gänzlich andere Erinnerungen an den Mann als das Bild, das die Presse schnell von ihm zeichnet. Sein Kollege Gary will eigentlich nur noch die notwendigen Beweise sichern und den Fall abschließen. Was zunächst offenkundig scheint, wirft jedoch schnell einige Fragen auf.
Patrick McGuiness erzählt zwar oberflächlich in "Den Wölfen zum Fraß" einen klassischen Krimi, darunter liegt jedoch eine scharfsinnige Analyse der Gesellschaft, die auf unterschiedenen Ebenen von Vorurteilen und klaren Grenzen zwischen den Schichten und Bevölkerungsgruppen geprägt ist. Die Frage nach dem Mörder rückt immer wieder hinter diese zurück und eröffnet so Raum für weitaus größere und interessante Aspekte.
Die beiden Polizisten sind perfekt austarierte Partner, die trotz ihrer Verschiedenheit, oder vielleicht auch gerade wegen dieser, hervorragend zusammenarbeiten und sich ergänzen. Alexander der gebildete, studierte, der mit klarem Kopf sachorientiert vorgeht; Gary repräsentiert mit seinem Dialekt eher die Arbeiterklasse, zu der er naturgemäß bei Befragungen auch besser einen Draht aufbauen kann.
Durch die Rückblicke in eine längst vergangene Schulzeit eröffnet Alexander nicht nur ein differenzierteres Bild des Verdächtigen, sondern zeigt auch wie eng die realen und geistigen Mauern des britischen Internatslebens sein können und wie schwierig es für Außenseiter ist, dort Fuß zu fassen. Mehr noch allerdings exponiert er die Presse, die blutsaugend hinter dem Fall her ist. Die Geschichte basiert auf jener von Christopher Jeffries, der 2010 wegen des vermeintlichen Mordes an Joanna Yeates durch die Boulevardblätter bereits verurteilt wurde, bevor überhaupt die Polizeiarbeit abgeschlossen war.
Kein Roman, der mich von der ersten Seite gepackt hätte, sondern einer, der zunehmend sein Potenzial zeigt, dessen pointierte Sprache ihre Bedeutung erst langsam enthüllt und dann erst erkennen lässt, um was für einen großartigen, bis ins Detail ausgefeilten Roman es sich handelt.
sputnikamor's review against another edition
patrick mcguiness mi nuevo ídolo literario
thebibliophilegirl's review against another edition
4.0
Throw Me to the Wolves is another book that I had to read for my MA Creative Writing course. I was actually supposed to meet Patrick McGuinness, but it had to be cancelled due to current happenings in the world. Even though I haven't really enjoyed the core texts of the course, the secondary reading has been surprisingly enjoyable!
The body of a young woman is found by the river Thames, and a neighbor, a retired teacher from Chapleton College, is arrested. An eccentric loner—intellectual, shy, a fastidious dresser with expensive tastes—he is the perfect candidate for a media monstering.
In custody he is interviewed by two detectives: the circumspect Ander, and his workaday foil, Gary. Ander is particularly watchful now, because the man across the table is someone he knows—someone he hasn’t seen in nearly thirty years. Determined to salvage the truth as ex-pupils and colleagues line up against the accused, he must face a story from decades back, from his own time as a Chapleton student, at the peak of anti-Irish sentiment.
Patrick McGuinness is a man of many talents. Poet, literary critic, and author, he was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2011 for his first novel, The Last Hundred Days and has won accolades for his poetry, such as 19th Century Blues, which won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition in 2006.
"It's not the machines that frighten me... it's the people becoming avatars on the end of them - no longer quite human, like some new kind of centaur breed: half flesh and half... touch-screen, Twitter-handle, gaming name."
His second novel - Throw Me to the Wolves - is based on the 2010 murder of Joanna Yeates, whose body was found on the roadside during the Christmas period. Those who are familiar with the murder case will instantly know the twists and turns that are scattered throughout the novel. Throw Me to the Wolves follows two storylines: the murder of Zalie Dyer, and also the mystery of the high-school. The reader follows Ander who is a cop investigating the murder of Dyer, and we soon find out that he was a student of the main suspect - Mr. Wolphram (who is based on the real life main suspect, Christopher Jefferies).
The murder case also inspired by the ITV television show: The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, which details how Jefferies was villainised by the media and how he was automatically portrayed to be the killer even though he was innocent. The TV drama is a two-parter that was written by Peter Morgan and was directed by Roger Michell who was a student of Jefferies.
"Defiance is always a good look, but you ned to know when to stop before you over-defy and start to break."
Patrick McGuinness was taught by Jefferies and it is blatantly evident that he had first had experience with Jefferies’ teaching through his writing. The story itself is beautifully written, with beautifully haunting techniques, but the character of Gary juxtaposes the idea of the story, with the hilarious one-liners such as “there’s a bloke describing himself as ‘Husky, dusky and musky’, which Gary says sounds like Snow White’s three sex-offender dwarves.”
The one thing that seems quite tenuous is that the novel has been marketed as a post-Brexit novel, however, there are no indications of this, no political issues that advocate it is set in post-Brexit times. I wonder why it was marketed this way, when there is only one brief mention of Brexit throughout the entire novel.
"Death was the landlord who came in with the master key sometimes when we were out, for maintenance or to check the inventory, but basically left us to it until the contract was up."
Throw Me to the Wolves is an enjoyable read that explores how much power the media actually has over every day events, and how it can do more harm than good. The use of two time-periods to show two different crimes happenings and how they unravel is such a brilliant way of telling the story. With McGuinness's beautiful, lyrical writing style, vivd descriptions, and stereotypical, dry British humour, Throw Me to the Wolves proves to be a novel that will stay with the reader for a long time.
The body of a young woman is found by the river Thames, and a neighbor, a retired teacher from Chapleton College, is arrested. An eccentric loner—intellectual, shy, a fastidious dresser with expensive tastes—he is the perfect candidate for a media monstering.
In custody he is interviewed by two detectives: the circumspect Ander, and his workaday foil, Gary. Ander is particularly watchful now, because the man across the table is someone he knows—someone he hasn’t seen in nearly thirty years. Determined to salvage the truth as ex-pupils and colleagues line up against the accused, he must face a story from decades back, from his own time as a Chapleton student, at the peak of anti-Irish sentiment.
Patrick McGuinness is a man of many talents. Poet, literary critic, and author, he was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2011 for his first novel, The Last Hundred Days and has won accolades for his poetry, such as 19th Century Blues, which won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition in 2006.
"It's not the machines that frighten me... it's the people becoming avatars on the end of them - no longer quite human, like some new kind of centaur breed: half flesh and half... touch-screen, Twitter-handle, gaming name."
His second novel - Throw Me to the Wolves - is based on the 2010 murder of Joanna Yeates, whose body was found on the roadside during the Christmas period. Those who are familiar with the murder case will instantly know the twists and turns that are scattered throughout the novel. Throw Me to the Wolves follows two storylines: the murder of Zalie Dyer, and also the mystery of the high-school. The reader follows Ander who is a cop investigating the murder of Dyer, and we soon find out that he was a student of the main suspect - Mr. Wolphram (who is based on the real life main suspect, Christopher Jefferies).
The murder case also inspired by the ITV television show: The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, which details how Jefferies was villainised by the media and how he was automatically portrayed to be the killer even though he was innocent. The TV drama is a two-parter that was written by Peter Morgan and was directed by Roger Michell who was a student of Jefferies.
"Defiance is always a good look, but you ned to know when to stop before you over-defy and start to break."
Patrick McGuinness was taught by Jefferies and it is blatantly evident that he had first had experience with Jefferies’ teaching through his writing. The story itself is beautifully written, with beautifully haunting techniques, but the character of Gary juxtaposes the idea of the story, with the hilarious one-liners such as “there’s a bloke describing himself as ‘Husky, dusky and musky’, which Gary says sounds like Snow White’s three sex-offender dwarves.”
The one thing that seems quite tenuous is that the novel has been marketed as a post-Brexit novel, however, there are no indications of this, no political issues that advocate it is set in post-Brexit times. I wonder why it was marketed this way, when there is only one brief mention of Brexit throughout the entire novel.
"Death was the landlord who came in with the master key sometimes when we were out, for maintenance or to check the inventory, but basically left us to it until the contract was up."
Throw Me to the Wolves is an enjoyable read that explores how much power the media actually has over every day events, and how it can do more harm than good. The use of two time-periods to show two different crimes happenings and how they unravel is such a brilliant way of telling the story. With McGuinness's beautiful, lyrical writing style, vivd descriptions, and stereotypical, dry British humour, Throw Me to the Wolves proves to be a novel that will stay with the reader for a long time.