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karlyo83's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this. I wanted to love it... it was too chaotic and messy. It’s such a shame I was so looking forward to it. I found myself hurriedly trying to finish to get to a ‘better’ bit.
Don’t get me wrong there were some really good bits but not enough to save it for me.
Don’t get me wrong there were some really good bits but not enough to save it for me.
ilokoipi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tillyrhodes's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
jane_kelsey's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately i DNF-ed this one at 55%, which is a shame as i really enjoyed the 3rd book in the series - clearly his writing has improved. I could've smacked Ash over the head a number of times, but I decided to just put it down and maybe pick up book 4 instead.
bibliotaphic_tendencies's review against another edition
4.0
Birthdays For The Dead…. This book was so brutal! There were parts of this where I physically went
mellabella's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know what to say about this book. There was a LOT going on. Ash lost his older daughter (Rebecca) to the Birthday Boy killer... A killer that abducts 12 year old girls, tortures them and kills them on their 13th birthday. His other daughter (Katie) might be a victim as well? He owes a horrible person a lot of money. Or at least money he cannot produce. Why have the serial killer story line AND him dodging those people too? I could have really done without Miss Kerrigan. That was another thing. Your daughter is missing/kidnapped (presumably by the same serial killer that took your older daughter) and, you get taken too? While the clock is ticking? Let's not forget that Ash has not told anyone (except for one person-Not his ex wife, mother of the child) that his older daughter was taken by this person. He doesn't want to get taken off the case. Add to this a "quirky" profiler Dr. McDonald? The ending didn't make me feel any way except that Ash might as well hang it up and put himself out of his misery. Not just two daughters dead? (I do think Katie should have been left alone). But, his brother too? The killers actual back story was interesting though. I kind of suspected one of them. I will check out other books by this author. I've heard nothing but good things about his other works.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
3.0
Something went wrong in the reading universe a while ago and I missed that this had been sitting in the unread list, when I picked up and enjoyed the second in the series - A SONG FOR THE DYING.
Which weirdly turned out to be a good thing as an introduction to a new character and a new series, BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD is not without problems.
MacBride is not the sort of writer who shilly-shally's around with reader sensitivies. So the fact the (fictional) victims here are children and the way that they die, and the torture inflicted on them and their families being particularly gruelling isn't really the issue (if you don't like graphic then you really shouldn't be reading MacBride's books). Nor is it a problem that Ash Henderson is a deeply flawed, odd sort of a character (if you don't like lunatic characters who come with a hefty dose of odd then you really shouldn't be reading MacBride's books). Alas the problems turned out to be considerably more fundamental. For a start Henderson refusing to acknowledge his very personal connection to these murders might have been in sync with a maverick sort of a personality, and yet, somehow it didn't come across as a personal vendetta, more a personal search for extreme punishment. Which was hard to read, hard to fathom, not so much hard to believe as hard to agree with. Add to that the slowness of the start and a certainly feeling of bogged down-ness which comes from Henderson's car crash life, and from the outset everything feels all out of wack.
Which isn't improved as things get more dire and somehow Henderson becomes less and less convincing. As he becomes less convincing his sidekick for this outing - the "delightfully quirky" psychologist who just simply never shuts up just becomes more and more pointless which also didn't help.
It's also much more obvious in the second book that what we have in Ash Henderson is a sort of anti-hero. A much different kettle of catfish than Logan from MacBride's other series after all, and that made sticking with this bloke, in this book a bit easier. Knowing he does eventually get his act together, and once the pace of the investigation improves and we get out from all the oh look at us stuff, then it certainly does start to show some glimmer of what is to come in the second book.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-birthdays-dead-stuart-macbride
Which weirdly turned out to be a good thing as an introduction to a new character and a new series, BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD is not without problems.
MacBride is not the sort of writer who shilly-shally's around with reader sensitivies. So the fact the (fictional) victims here are children and the way that they die, and the torture inflicted on them and their families being particularly gruelling isn't really the issue (if you don't like graphic then you really shouldn't be reading MacBride's books). Nor is it a problem that Ash Henderson is a deeply flawed, odd sort of a character (if you don't like lunatic characters who come with a hefty dose of odd then you really shouldn't be reading MacBride's books). Alas the problems turned out to be considerably more fundamental. For a start Henderson refusing to acknowledge his very personal connection to these murders might have been in sync with a maverick sort of a personality, and yet, somehow it didn't come across as a personal vendetta, more a personal search for extreme punishment. Which was hard to read, hard to fathom, not so much hard to believe as hard to agree with. Add to that the slowness of the start and a certainly feeling of bogged down-ness which comes from Henderson's car crash life, and from the outset everything feels all out of wack.
Which isn't improved as things get more dire and somehow Henderson becomes less and less convincing. As he becomes less convincing his sidekick for this outing - the "delightfully quirky" psychologist who just simply never shuts up just becomes more and more pointless which also didn't help.
It's also much more obvious in the second book that what we have in Ash Henderson is a sort of anti-hero. A much different kettle of catfish than Logan from MacBride's other series after all, and that made sticking with this bloke, in this book a bit easier. Knowing he does eventually get his act together, and once the pace of the investigation improves and we get out from all the oh look at us stuff, then it certainly does start to show some glimmer of what is to come in the second book.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-birthdays-dead-stuart-macbride
adierose74's review against another edition
1.0
I started disliking this book right away, but I was determined to give it a chance and read the whole thing. I wish I hadn't. It was just a very difficult read. Not because of the subject matter (which was incredibly dark and depressing), but because the book itself was just difficult to pay attention to.
My main criticisms:
1. There was not even one character I liked or felt invested in.
2. The writing was disjointed and I had a hard time paying attention to the story and keeping track of what was going on. There were too many things going on at once.
3. Literally nothing happened in the story that was in any way good or happy. Literally no one was a good person.
4. The story was too drawn out. Over 400 pages of what could conceivably have been accomplished in half of that and STILL had the same outcome.
My main criticisms:
1. There was not even one character I liked or felt invested in.
2. The writing was disjointed and I had a hard time paying attention to the story and keeping track of what was going on. There were too many things going on at once.
3. Literally nothing happened in the story that was in any way good or happy. Literally no one was a good person.
4. The story was too drawn out. Over 400 pages of what could conceivably have been accomplished in half of that and STILL had the same outcome.
blubberbooks's review against another edition
4.0
"Hilsner fra de døde" er velskrevet, levende og underholdende. Den var svær at regne ud og havde et velskrevet plot. Jeg fattede aldrig rigtig sympati for Ash Henderson, som jeg i det store hele fandt utrolig irriterende. Han gjorde alt det, han ikke måtte og burde mens han privat sank dybere og dybere ned i gæld og ulykker. Han udsatte jævntligt også andre for fare og var egentlig bare ikke særlig sympatisk. Som hovedperson fungerede han dog udmærket, og hans forhold til den nye psykolog Alice var meget morsomt at læse.
Absolut en velskrevet krimi der er værd at læse. Jeg glæder mig til at læse næste skridt i Ash Hendersons liv.
Absolut en velskrevet krimi der er værd at læse. Jeg glæder mig til at læse næste skridt i Ash Hendersons liv.