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hollispaige's review
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Sexism, and Racism
billymac1962's review against another edition
5.0
Michael Slade is a ghostname for two Vancouver lawyers who specialize in the criminally insane.
Small wonder.
When I finished this novel in the wee hours, I was awake for an hour thinking back through the story. This novel hit me like a bag of bricks. It's mercilessly brutal, and not for the faint of heart.
Although it is a novel of psychological suspense, it's typically found in the horror section of most book stores.
It's a great read, and if I were pressed to say anything negative about it, it would be that it was just a tad over-researched. No matter. It's a must read. Don't miss this!
Small wonder.
When I finished this novel in the wee hours, I was awake for an hour thinking back through the story. This novel hit me like a bag of bricks. It's mercilessly brutal, and not for the faint of heart.
Although it is a novel of psychological suspense, it's typically found in the horror section of most book stores.
It's a great read, and if I were pressed to say anything negative about it, it would be that it was just a tad over-researched. No matter. It's a must read. Don't miss this!
modernzorker's review against another edition
5.0
Sladism is an acquired taste. In my case, I acquired it back in 1995 when I stumbled across a copy of 'Ripper' at the library. I read it, loved it, and promptly forgot the title and who wrote it because I was in high school and had a billion other things to worry about.
Fast forward a few years, working at a bookstore, and I find a copy of 'Ripper' again. And then I realize, hey, there are more books written by this guy! So I set about scoring as many as I could, and decided to read them in order.
Here's the thing though: Slade books are awesome, but damn are they some of the densest thrillers you will ever read. Plowing through a Slade novel is like eating a gallon of delicious, zero-calorie pudding: slow going, but the rewards are well worth the effort. You will feel your head turn around, your brain wonder why it's upside down, your stomach clench at some truly wrenching scenes of brutal sexual violence. Even though Headhunter was penned in the 80s, and the technology described in the book is now woefully outdated, the story itself is not. Slade works because he (all right, "they"...he's a pseudonym for multiple authors working in conjunction--happy now, you pedants?) and his style were so ahead of the times.
Headhunter, the first book, is no exception. You get police procedural wrapped in a thriller and tied with a history lesson. Anywhere else, anybody else, and I'd dismiss this as boring. But you can't with Slade: stuff that seems devoid of merit or not worth considering always winds up being the clue that puts you, the reader, ahead of the rest of his characters, but only so long as you're paying attention.
You don't have to read Slade like a traditional Whodunnit. If mysteries aren't your thing, that's just fine. The resolution will smack you in the face and leave you wondering how the hell you were supposed to see that coming. Then you go back and start reading again and realize the little hints that were dropped, the turns of phrases you missed, the red herrings scattered around that you picked up on at the expense of the real clues. Hell, Slade flat out tells the reader, by way of a lecture to his fellow officers of the RCMP by main character Robert DeClercq, not to discount anything and not to read more into a situation than is absolutely necessary. Don't make assumptions based on incomplete information.
But we're all human, so we do it anyway, and then we get gut-punched by a conclusion that seems to come out of nowhere, and then double-gut-punched when DeClercq, far from figuring out the true story, actually forgets his own advice and comes to a completely incorrect conclusion about what actually happened and who was responsible. Slade's protagonists are far from superhuman or perfect, and their flaws will come back to haunt them again and again over the rest of the Special X series.
That's all I'll say about Headhunter. No spoilers. No coy nudges or winks to try and put you on the right track. No talk about how I beat Slade at his own game and figured out who was responsible--because I didn't. I had a few pieces of the puzzle worked out (and, in fact, going through it a second time I am utterly floored at one of the clues Slade drops which damn near gives away the whole game halfway through the book, the significance of which I failed to pick up on), but I wasn't anywhere close to solving the mystery before the final page.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. Now it's time to move on to Ghoul.
Fast forward a few years, working at a bookstore, and I find a copy of 'Ripper' again. And then I realize, hey, there are more books written by this guy! So I set about scoring as many as I could, and decided to read them in order.
Here's the thing though: Slade books are awesome, but damn are they some of the densest thrillers you will ever read. Plowing through a Slade novel is like eating a gallon of delicious, zero-calorie pudding: slow going, but the rewards are well worth the effort. You will feel your head turn around, your brain wonder why it's upside down, your stomach clench at some truly wrenching scenes of brutal sexual violence. Even though Headhunter was penned in the 80s, and the technology described in the book is now woefully outdated, the story itself is not. Slade works because he (all right, "they"...he's a pseudonym for multiple authors working in conjunction--happy now, you pedants?) and his style were so ahead of the times.
Headhunter, the first book, is no exception. You get police procedural wrapped in a thriller and tied with a history lesson. Anywhere else, anybody else, and I'd dismiss this as boring. But you can't with Slade: stuff that seems devoid of merit or not worth considering always winds up being the clue that puts you, the reader, ahead of the rest of his characters, but only so long as you're paying attention.
You don't have to read Slade like a traditional Whodunnit. If mysteries aren't your thing, that's just fine. The resolution will smack you in the face and leave you wondering how the hell you were supposed to see that coming. Then you go back and start reading again and realize the little hints that were dropped, the turns of phrases you missed, the red herrings scattered around that you picked up on at the expense of the real clues. Hell, Slade flat out tells the reader, by way of a lecture to his fellow officers of the RCMP by main character Robert DeClercq, not to discount anything and not to read more into a situation than is absolutely necessary. Don't make assumptions based on incomplete information.
But we're all human, so we do it anyway, and then we get gut-punched by a conclusion that seems to come out of nowhere, and then double-gut-punched when DeClercq, far from figuring out the true story, actually forgets his own advice and comes to a completely incorrect conclusion about what actually happened and who was responsible. Slade's protagonists are far from superhuman or perfect, and their flaws will come back to haunt them again and again over the rest of the Special X series.
That's all I'll say about Headhunter. No spoilers. No coy nudges or winks to try and put you on the right track. No talk about how I beat Slade at his own game and figured out who was responsible--because I didn't. I had a few pieces of the puzzle worked out (and, in fact, going through it a second time I am utterly floored at one of the clues Slade drops which damn near gives away the whole game halfway through the book, the significance of which I failed to pick up on), but I wasn't anywhere close to solving the mystery before the final page.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. Now it's time to move on to Ghoul.
deltajuliet83's review against another edition
5.0
Daaaaaaang! That was all kinds of twisty and awesome!
beckylouise2904's review against another edition
4.0
Gripping and entertaining, perhaps over the top on gore in places, an enjoyable crime thriller.
trackofwords's review against another edition
3.0
Some books are initially deceptive, and deliberately don’t give you much in the way of clues to their contents from their title, cover or blurb on the back. Others are completely up front about what you will find within their pages. With a title like Headhunter, and a cover showing a severed head on a spike, this one falls firmly into the second category, and it’s not too hard to work out that this book is going to be a little bit gruesome.
For the full review visit http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/headhunter-michael-slade/
For the full review visit http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/headhunter-michael-slade/
silvan's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
gearsofted's review
1.0
DNF. About 110 pages.
Sorry, the 71 page prologue was off putting. Then had a bunch of characters introduced right from the jump, to the point where you didn’t know who the hell was who. Disappointing, was really hoping this was gonna be something I liked.
Sorry, the 71 page prologue was off putting. Then had a bunch of characters introduced right from the jump, to the point where you didn’t know who the hell was who. Disappointing, was really hoping this was gonna be something I liked.
the_bookubus's review against another edition
4.0
If you like The Silence of the Lambs or Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy you might like this. It straddles the line between horror and thriller so if you're a fan of either, or both, then I recommend it! There are a lot of moving parts, lots of detail, many characters and different time periods, excellently put together to create a compelling story.
The story is pretty dense and does go off on a bunch of tangents but it was well written and thoroughly absorbing. It is a slow build as we follow different characters over different time periods but it's well worth it to see it all come together at the end. I had heard that the ending was shocking; it didn't quite have that effect on me because I figured out who the killer was, but I still thought it was a great story with a satisfying ending. I definitely want to read more in this series!
The story is pretty dense and does go off on a bunch of tangents but it was well written and thoroughly absorbing. It is a slow build as we follow different characters over different time periods but it's well worth it to see it all come together at the end. I had heard that the ending was shocking; it didn't quite have that effect on me because I figured out who the killer was, but I still thought it was a great story with a satisfying ending. I definitely want to read more in this series!