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A review by caszriel
Hangman by Daniel Cole
4.0
Detective Chief Inspector Emily Baxter had her life thrown into chaos following the ‘Ragdoll’ murders, a highly televised horror. While few know of her involvement in the disappearance of her former partner Detective William Fawkes, she still feels guilty and is unsure of whether she made the right decision. When she is asked to help with a series of copycat murders occurring in the US, she is reluctant but it soon becomes apparent that the person in control is trying to send a message with victims falling on both sides of the Atlantic. Will she be able to trust her American counterparts enough to solve the case before it’s too late?
I had a complicated relationship with this book; I both loved and hated it, though there was considerably less hate. How could there be, especially after the thrill of Ragdoll? However, as far as sequels go, Hangman is a disappointment. The plot is mediocre at best, and seemed far fetched even in my opinion. The structure of the chapters is alright, but I lost interest a bit while reading as nothing interesting happened, though I liked the pace of the story. Hangman made up for all of this with the amazing character dynamics especially between Baxter, Rouche, and Curtis but also just Baxter’s interactions with all other characters made my day. I also enjoyed the omniscient perspective which really suited this book as we get to see inside the heads of all the unique characters.
Don’t get me wrong, Baxter is an awesome main character, but I miss Wolf. He added so much more to the story and his absence here left a gaping hole. But that doesn’t discount the genius of Baxter’s relationships with Rouche and Curtis; these two newly introduced characters are unlike anyone Baxter has encountered before, and I greatly enjoyed reading her interactions with them. Edmunds’ involvement in the story was another highlight for me, because while he wasn’t part of a lot of the interaction in person, he still contributed a lot. I’m not a fan of Thomas, but I’ll admit he does good for Baxter particularly at the end of the book. I feel like Andrea could’ve been utilised more as an annoyance since when she was used, it was done to devastating effect; she’s a dislikable character by nature and I think that could’ve been explored more in depth.
Part of my issue with this book is that its amazing predecessor, Ragdoll set it up for disappointment. In no way was Hangman a bad book, it just wasn’t nearly as good as Ragdoll. Wolf wasn’t mentioned nearly enough for my liking, and being one of the primary characters in Ragdoll I thought he deserved more but he is my favourite character so that may just be personal bias speaking. Something I loved the most about Ragdoll is the interaction between Wolf and Baxter, and since it wasn’t a part of Hangman I felt disappointed. As for the plot, I didn’t hate it, but I found it a little hard to believe. I rarely question the plot of books, but Hangman had me going that far and I didn’t like how that took me out of the universe of the book and into the universe of common sense and logic versus imagination. My favourite part of the book was the epilogue, and I won’t spoil anything but you can probably guess why; let’s just say it makes me very excited for book three.
If you judged Hangman solely by the characters, you’d find a phenomenal book. But the plot didn’t meet the standard of the people chosen to carry it out, and the bar was set high for this book after Ragdoll. Omniscient perspective did these characters justice, and complimented the plot nicely though it couldn’t totally account for the weaknesses in it. The story could’ve been improved through more use of the ‘annoying’ characters. Baxter stepped up as the sole main character, and her development drove the story forward when it lost momentum. Hangman is a disappointing sequel, but a good standalone book as I’m not sure anything can truly measure up to Ragdoll. Let’s hope book three reaches the level of Ragdoll so we get the conclusion to this series it so deserves!
I had a complicated relationship with this book; I both loved and hated it, though there was considerably less hate. How could there be, especially after the thrill of Ragdoll? However, as far as sequels go, Hangman is a disappointment. The plot is mediocre at best, and seemed far fetched even in my opinion. The structure of the chapters is alright, but I lost interest a bit while reading as nothing interesting happened, though I liked the pace of the story. Hangman made up for all of this with the amazing character dynamics especially between Baxter, Rouche, and Curtis but also just Baxter’s interactions with all other characters made my day. I also enjoyed the omniscient perspective which really suited this book as we get to see inside the heads of all the unique characters.
Don’t get me wrong, Baxter is an awesome main character, but I miss Wolf. He added so much more to the story and his absence here left a gaping hole. But that doesn’t discount the genius of Baxter’s relationships with Rouche and Curtis; these two newly introduced characters are unlike anyone Baxter has encountered before, and I greatly enjoyed reading her interactions with them. Edmunds’ involvement in the story was another highlight for me, because while he wasn’t part of a lot of the interaction in person, he still contributed a lot. I’m not a fan of Thomas, but I’ll admit he does good for Baxter particularly at the end of the book. I feel like Andrea could’ve been utilised more as an annoyance since when she was used, it was done to devastating effect; she’s a dislikable character by nature and I think that could’ve been explored more in depth.
Part of my issue with this book is that its amazing predecessor, Ragdoll set it up for disappointment. In no way was Hangman a bad book, it just wasn’t nearly as good as Ragdoll. Wolf wasn’t mentioned nearly enough for my liking, and being one of the primary characters in Ragdoll I thought he deserved more but he is my favourite character so that may just be personal bias speaking. Something I loved the most about Ragdoll is the interaction between Wolf and Baxter, and since it wasn’t a part of Hangman I felt disappointed. As for the plot, I didn’t hate it, but I found it a little hard to believe. I rarely question the plot of books, but Hangman had me going that far and I didn’t like how that took me out of the universe of the book and into the universe of common sense and logic versus imagination. My favourite part of the book was the epilogue, and I won’t spoil anything but you can probably guess why; let’s just say it makes me very excited for book three.
If you judged Hangman solely by the characters, you’d find a phenomenal book. But the plot didn’t meet the standard of the people chosen to carry it out, and the bar was set high for this book after Ragdoll. Omniscient perspective did these characters justice, and complimented the plot nicely though it couldn’t totally account for the weaknesses in it. The story could’ve been improved through more use of the ‘annoying’ characters. Baxter stepped up as the sole main character, and her development drove the story forward when it lost momentum. Hangman is a disappointing sequel, but a good standalone book as I’m not sure anything can truly measure up to Ragdoll. Let’s hope book three reaches the level of Ragdoll so we get the conclusion to this series it so deserves!