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amberlyswords's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was okay. Both the writing and the atmosphere was fine. The paced of plot was okay and the ending was fine. The cover of book was okay. I did really liked the characters but I would liked the characters to been flash out bit more
beckylej's review against another edition
5.0
DI Jack Caffery's brother has been missing for decades. In his time as a cop, he has never stopped looking for clues to his brother's fate. When the Walking Man finds a dog sporting the message "Help Us" he asks Jack to step in, promising in exchange to reveal something key in that long ago disappearance. But uncovering the identity of the person behind the message is just part of an increasingly odd and twisted crime. And as Jack investigates, time is surely running out for the family in danger.
There's not much that matches my excitement in being able to spend an afternoon absorbed in a new book by one of my favorite authors. Mo Hayder's phenomenal plots (really, I'm not joking. They're phenomenal. I've said it before but pieces are in place multiple books ahead of time and it's only in coming across the meaning of those pieces that you then remember where you saw it first!), impeccable attention to detail (those pieces again), and truly creepy way of bringing it all together and all to life keep me coming back for more. And she honestly never disappoints.
It's hard to find something new to say in reviewing a long running series. Especially when I'm trying valiantly, I feel, to keep my fan girl gushing in check while also not giving too much away about the series or the particular installment. This is the seventh book to feature Caffery and while many of them can be read on their own, there are obviously ties to the previous books throughout the series. Jack's brother has been a long running element, one that plays a big role in the character's development. The Walking Man is another key player who has been in the series for a number of titles now - in fact the books featuring him are a sub series the author refers to as the Walking Man Series.
If you do happen to be new to Hayder - and if you haven't read her before I do highly, highly recommend her, but with a warning: the books are quite violent and quite disturbing. If you're sensitive to those things this is not the series for you.
There's not much that matches my excitement in being able to spend an afternoon absorbed in a new book by one of my favorite authors. Mo Hayder's phenomenal plots (really, I'm not joking. They're phenomenal. I've said it before but pieces are in place multiple books ahead of time and it's only in coming across the meaning of those pieces that you then remember where you saw it first!), impeccable attention to detail (those pieces again), and truly creepy way of bringing it all together and all to life keep me coming back for more. And she honestly never disappoints.
It's hard to find something new to say in reviewing a long running series. Especially when I'm trying valiantly, I feel, to keep my fan girl gushing in check while also not giving too much away about the series or the particular installment. This is the seventh book to feature Caffery and while many of them can be read on their own, there are obviously ties to the previous books throughout the series. Jack's brother has been a long running element, one that plays a big role in the character's development. The Walking Man is another key player who has been in the series for a number of titles now - in fact the books featuring him are a sub series the author refers to as the Walking Man Series.
If you do happen to be new to Hayder - and if you haven't read her before I do highly, highly recommend her, but with a warning: the books are quite violent and quite disturbing. If you're sensitive to those things this is not the series for you.
clair_82's review against another edition
4.0
From the opening chapter I was hooked. Hayder wonderfully creates a terrifying tension right fom the start through the innocence of a 5 year old and a missing dog with a message. At times throughout this book, I found the anticipation of what was to come almost unbearable but I just could not put this book down! As the interwoven stories come together, bringing the past and present into unison, the twists still keep coming. Hayder's ability to scare her reader really comes into its own in the Wolf
monty_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Ballsy. That's the best word I can think of to describe Mo Hayder's work on her sixth Jack Caffery novel. It's ballsy for two reasons: 1) Caffery, the London detective who always takes center stage in these novels, is more or less a supporting character in this one, spending much of his time searching for the owner of a lost dog with a mysterious plea for help in its collar, and 2) it's now clear that what Hayder's doing isn't giving us a detective series as much as she's telling an epic-length story of a man consumed by his past. Birdman, Hayder's first Caffery book, stands on its own, but books 2-6 essentially tell one extended narrative. An extended narrative that comes to a none more black resolution at the end of this volume.
About that supporting character business. Most of the action takes place at an old mansion in rural England. A family is being held captive by two men who promise much torture and murder in the family's future. At one point, however, the mother is able to sneak the family dog out of the house with a note in its collar reading, "Help us." Caffery – through circumstances I won't spoil here – is tasked with finding the dog's owner. And that's what he does for much of the book: travel through the villages outside Bristol trying to piece together who this dog belongs to. The catch, of course, is that he doesn't know what we do: the clock is ticking, and ticking fast.
And that's all I'll relay here. Wolf is the work of someone who's pushing the boundaries of what detective fiction can do. Rather than be content to give us just another murder-of-the-week, Mo Hayder is going deeper and darker by using the crime genre to explore the nature of obsession and the danger of dwelling too much in the past.
About that supporting character business. Most of the action takes place at an old mansion in rural England. A family is being held captive by two men who promise much torture and murder in the family's future. At one point, however, the mother is able to sneak the family dog out of the house with a note in its collar reading, "Help us." Caffery – through circumstances I won't spoil here – is tasked with finding the dog's owner. And that's what he does for much of the book: travel through the villages outside Bristol trying to piece together who this dog belongs to. The catch, of course, is that he doesn't know what we do: the clock is ticking, and ticking fast.
And that's all I'll relay here. Wolf is the work of someone who's pushing the boundaries of what detective fiction can do. Rather than be content to give us just another murder-of-the-week, Mo Hayder is going deeper and darker by using the crime genre to explore the nature of obsession and the danger of dwelling too much in the past.
joebathelt's review against another edition
2.0
I really like Mo Hayder’s first two Jack Caffery novels (Birdman, The Treatment) and read all of the other books in the series. Unfortunately, the later books are a far cry from the quality of the first two. This is nowhere more apparent than in Wolf. This book bears all the signs of a writer who ran out of ideas. First, the entire spiel about a psycho-killer who captures a family in their house is a rehashing of The Treatment. Unfortunately, it is a lot less gripping and a lot less convincing in Wolf. What bugged me the most is that the motivations for the character’s actions are lazily constructed. The attack on the family is first motivated by the family patriarch’s dealings in the international arms trade, which is not the strongest of plot lines in a crime novel. Then, the attack turns out to be orchestrated by the daughter because of sibling rivalry (?). This creates a plot twist but requires the reader to suspend their disbelief quite a lot. The motivation for DI Caffery to be involved is even weaker. Hayder introduced the walking man as a mysterious figure that provides some insight into the inner conflicts of DI Caffery in the third book. But now, the walking man also acts as a deus ex machina to get Caffrey involved in this case. It just seems like a lazy way to motivate the protagonist to unwillingly take up the case and link the narrative to his troubled past. While the book is in no doubt gripping, it left me dissatisfied and I felt like the author does not respect the intelligence of the reader.
saharbghh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
bill_muganda's review against another edition
4.0
Not even apologetic about giving this piece of heaven a 5/5 and to think it was on my To Read List for month, like God I was throwing the book on the wall *I Apologized