"The Puppet Show" by M W Craven

 

A murder victim, burned to death, the third in a series of killings, has the name of a police officer and the number '5' burned into his chest. The officer, Washington Poe, joins the investigation. 

This murder mystery ticks all the tropes. The hero is a loner who has been suspended from the force, is repeatedly insubordinate, repeatedly breaks the rules (I've labelled it as a police procedural but there's very little procedure) and, indeed, the law, and is, of course, always right. The crimes being investigated are horrific (many new entrants to this genre seem to substitute the shock value of extreme violence for any sort of cleverness in the plotting). The only originality lies in the hero's relationship with the data analyst, a geek who is stereotypically 'on the spectrum'. 

Even the first lines are cliched: "The stone circle is an ancient, tranquil place. Its stones are silent sentinels. Unmoving watchers." Ho hum. Time to unleash the horror.

It's not really a whodunnit because there are no red herrings. I guessed the villain well before the half-way mark. 

The pacing conforms to the four part plan. At 25% we get the key lead which is going to be crucial for discovering the identity of the killer. At 50% we discover the motivation for the crimes (surprise, surprise, it is another horrible crime committed years ago whose victim is now seeking revenge). The 'reveal' comes at the 75% mark, at which point the book becomes a straightforward thriller (more extreme violence).

Selected quotes:

• "If he were forced to spend time there, he knew that within the hour he'd be using the word 'fuck' like a comma."(Ch 8)
• "Maths had ended for him as soon as they'd replaced numbers with letters." (Ch 11)
• "He cursed himself for not having had the foresight to bring a working torch. He had one in his car but it was little more than a tube for making dead batteries." (Ch 20)
• "The walls ... were adorned with expensive-looking tat. Her philosophy seemed to be, if it shone, she should own it." (Ch 41)
• "His mind went into screensaver mode." (Ch 49)

Standard fare.

January 2024; 374 pages

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God