This was a very entertaining and even unique mystery/procedural/crime/slasher type deal. The odd way it bounces back and forth between horror and police procedural stuff totally gripped me. One on hand this is a totally trashy and gory horror exploitation film in novel form, but on the other it's a very serious and in-depth look at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the way they handle their shit. It seems like Slade (who is apparently actually a nom de plume for several people) couldn't decide exactly what his book was gonna be and for some that's gonna be a fatal flaw but I occasionally enjoy a relatively schizophrenic experience and it just consistently worked for me. It also passes the Did This Freak Me Out test that I rigorously apply to all of the crime/horror books I read with flying colors...some seriously mind-burningly harsh stuff goes on in these pages, so weirdos like myself that enjoy this kind of thing are encouraged to seek it out.You may have noticed earlier that I mentioned the RCMP...that's right, this takes place in Vancouver and all of the good guys are fucking Mounties! If you are an asshole American like myself, when you think mountie you think of the goofy-ass old cartoon character Dudley Doo-Right, who was surpassed in competence by even his donkey (To any of my Goodreads friends who may be Canadian: I'm sorry. I'm just being honest. Literally no one mentions Mounties in America except in the Doo-Right context.) Thankfully Slade has done a great job of educating me on the RCMP--it's a super long running institution that has handled some extremely sketchy shit in extremely sketchy settings. Slade includes a lot of Canadian crime history in the book, and while America obviously has my Canadian brothers and sisters beat in the whole "horrible and unnecessary violence" department there's some very interesting cases mentioned in here, like the one concerning Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper. A very interesting setting across the board, and not just because of the novelty. I've never been to Canada, but going by the book it's pretty fucking cold and foresty up there, with lots of uninhabited areas--the perfect setting for a horrible series of murders.I should probably talk about those murders a bit...they're pretty ugly ones, even in a long and sordid history of Human Kill Human; the decapitated bodies of women are found in several areas that are seemingly unrelated but are all in and around the metropolitan Vancouver area. I don't really wanna harp on specific plot details and the fucking grisliness of the cases but this shit is appalling and had me utterly committed to finding out whodunit by the first few pages. A lot of this book has to do with the psychology of the killer and we examine it in detail, which is unpleasantly fascinating to say the least. As I said before, all the victims are women and Slade did some very intriguing examinations of why these kinds of men are gripped by such a fervent misogyny that they do this kind of horrible shit. As someone who will eternally be confounded/disturbed/disgusted by the long-running, horribly prolific Maquiladora murders in Ciudad Juarez I was very interested to read someone who has been so deeply involved in the subject (one or more personalities of the Slade-thing was a lawyer dealing with murder cases.) Yeah...if you haven't figured it out by now this is a oft-and-profoundly disturbing book, but it should be. I can't even really describe it as even fun...I was more compelled by grim, obsessive curiosity to keep reading than any sense of "This book is a blast!"The characters were forgettable, but that was okay given the heavy focus on crime details, plot and setting. There's a decently-sized team of cops working the Headhunter case but the main dude is Robert DeClercq. He's interesting because he's a genius and is into classical music and has skeletons in his closet and blah blah blah, but he's also genuinely and relatably flawed. (view spoiler)[I mean, how many detective stories end with the detective fucking up the case and getting the wrong guy? Riddle me that! Even though I did score upon the killer's identity about halfway through in my frantic attempt to outguess the author it was the kind of thing where you're like "Could it be...nahhhhh." Then when the bomb dropped, I was sincerely a little shocked. (hide spoiler)]
Someone is killing women, beheading them, and posing their bodies (minus their heads) around Vancouver. With the RCMP on the case, an investigative squad is hunting down the hunter and it is only a matter of time before he is found. Mr. Slade is a successful criminal lawyer and his background has afforded him insight into the criminal mind that most people never get. However, this is not a book about a trial, it is a book about everything that leads up to a trial. He focuses on criminal motivations and actions, while contrasting it with police and medical investigations, research, and processes. He does not shy from details and many of the crime scenes are gory and macabre. It is well-developed and an incredible read, full of suspense and mystery.
Do You like book Headhunter (1986)?
This book not only has a riveting narrative set in Canada but is the only book I have ever read where I was clueless who the murderer was till the end. What makes it so cleverly written is that Michael Slade realizes the assumptions his readers make to figure out who the killer is and then uses them to mislead the reader and hide the killer by using the readers own assumptions. He takes your typical whodunnit and turns all the methods we use to deduce the end on their ear; making an extremely satisfying read for any suspense/thriller fan.
—Norman Van Der Linde
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/201...
—Michael Dodd
It's a gritty police procedural written by a team of authors with great experience in criminal law. Their knowledge shines through in the technical detail and understanding of practical police work. And it is dark - the heroes are damaged and lots of bad bad things happen. Indeed, a lot of crime writers might have written a book around incidents that are tossed off as color or sidebars in Headhunter. The worldview is consistent and unrelentingly grim, with a strong element of psychological horror throughout. Indeed, the final words are quite distressing if you have become at all attached to the characters involved. It effectively plays on and undermines your expectations for the genre.Technically, I think it could use more polish. POV jumps around a great deal, there are flashbacks to various time periods, and there are a large number of characters and elements to keep track of. On the one hand it makes for a richly developed story, and the puzzle is intricately designed. The author is clever enough to throw the reader off again and again, hinting at the identity of the murderer but misdirecting well. In fact, when you are surprised by the final reveal you don't feel cheated or tricked, because they played fair - the information was there and everything fits. On the other hand, the writing is just a bit of a grind at times, and I think they could have trimmed the length a bit and achieved better effect overall.
—Ken
