Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Jigsaw Man

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson

10 reviews

kylamunoz's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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midnightmarauder's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Jigsaw Man follows Detective Inspector Anjelica Henley as she fights to solve a string of murders in London that leave the victims dismembered. The murders are similar to murders that have happened prior, to which a man, Peter Olivier (dubbed "The Jigsaw Killer"), did the exact same thing. But, because Olivier is incarcerated at the time of the new murders, it is up to Henley to figure out who is doing the killings, and why.

Joining her is Trainee Detective Constable Salim Ramouter. Henley, a tough and well-respected detective, isn't too fond of him initially. Yet, as time goes on, the pair become close and work well together to solve the case.

What I liked about this book is how fleshed-out the characters were. I related a lot to Henley, as she is another person who puts up a tough exterior, but internally, is very fearful and anxious. She had a traumatic incident with Olivier at the time of his arrest, which left her with a panic disorder. The incident prevented her from working for a while, but she stayed determined to solve the crimes and despite being fearful, pushed through and did her best to stop the murders.

Ramouter is well-written too, even though I would've liked to see more of his thought-processes when it came to solving the murders.

Olivier is written almost too well. He is a haunting, sociopathic individual with little regard to how other people feel. Why he begins to murder people is explained briefly at the start of the book, but I would've wanted to see a bit more about his childhood and how it may have affected his mental state.

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and more from Nadine Matheson as a whole.

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literatebird's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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hazeyjane_2's review against another edition

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dark 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? N/A

3.0

Brilliant cultural diversity throughout, horrific antagonist, and lots of layers to what promised to be a kicker of a mystery.

The main flaw of this otherwise very engaging thriller was the

motive of the copycat killer and the straight-out-of-a-C-movie confrontational scenes between him and Olivier

. I felt Matheson set me up for a chilling mystery and then pulled the rug out from under me three quarters of the way through.

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reno_percival's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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ibjilln's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

This is an impressive debut, police procedural thriller novel and is definitely a tense read.

However, the majority of the tense action takes place in the last 10 (short) chapters of the book and is done in a manner that feels rushed and needing to be quickly wrapped up. This is no more evident in the back to back chapters where there is a huge mistake with details.
<Spoiler> When Kirkpatrick is taken and we finally get the POV scene in chapter 95 of Pine getting ready to torture and dismember Kirkpatrick, we are given the graphic scene of Kirkpatrick having his arm sawed off. "... He couldn't ignore the feeling of the skin on his right arm being gently tugged and the river of vibrations as the saw went back and forth. He couldn't shut out the heavy groaning sound as the saw made its way through bone. Then it stopped... He could see the bone now as his arm hovered in front of his face .. he didn't close his eyes as the blood from the separated arm fell..."
As well as additional reference to his leg then being sawed through. Only to have chapter 96 tell us that "his hands were tired behind his back" and that " Henley...cut the cable ties binding Michael's wrists and feet".
It just gets worse. In chapter 98 we are told that Kirkpatrick is "being treated for dehydration and shock. He hasn't got any serious injuries." As well as a statement from him that "Pine...was going to come back and was going to start by cutting off his left arm..." Which directly contradicts chapter 95 where his arm is graphically cut off. </Spoiler>

Needless to say, this oversight, although perhaps minor to the book as a whole, took me completely out of the story. There was no coming back from that for me, and the rest of the book (4 ch.) wrapped up far too quickly and without a full resolution to completely redeem itself.

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beanjoles's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Gruesome but super engaging page-turner. This is a thriller that definitely lives up to the moniker. I felt as though I were reading a CSI episode or similar, and I mean that as a compliment to the author! She did a tremendous job walking us through the ins and outs of the investigation whilst maintaining a sense of mystery and tension. Olivier is a truly frightening villain, and Henley is a brilliant but archetypically flawed detective. It’s a match made in thriller heaven. 😅 Can’t wait to pick up the next book when it is released!

I particularly appreciated how thoroughly grounded this story is in its setting. I’ve never been to London, but having read the book I now know more about its neighbourhoods, traffic patterns, types of buildings and features of the Thames, etc. Because the descriptions of the setting are so realistic, I spent a lot of time searching the Google Maps street view to see some of the places mentioned. I recommend tearing your eyes away from the page periodically to do this, if you aren’t familiar with the city!

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