The Butcher and the Wren

The writing is incredible, getting almost 1/3 of the way through the book and realizing certain connections are different. There's certainly the horror elements too, with some graphic deaths.

I definitely appreciated the protagonist working cohesively and openly with her team. 

I wish I appreciated the ending as much. 

Couldn't get into this one.

This reminded me of the thrillers I always enjoyed, like the early days of Kathy Reichs books but a little less clinical. Definitely picking up the next book.

This is a series I can get behind for sure. I cannot wait for the next installment as the ending has me on pins and needles lol

An interesting and fast-paced read. Very unsettling to get the serial killer's POV alongside the investigator! Neat twist, too.

An enjoyable, quick read!

I am used to more psychological thrillers than horror/ thrillers but with the story jumping right into one of the two perspectives, the serial killer, as he tortures two victims there's really no time to adjust. As affronting as the first chapter was it speaks to how the story starts fast and doesn't let up as it continues to grip you through the storyline.

It's a pretty short book and encompassed some twists and turns that I wasn't anticipating which made for a fun read, although I feel the character development was missing a bit for me.

It reminded me a lot of a horror movie where they don't really have the time to fully develop characters and their pasts so they just kind of jump in and create a thrilling story that's a bit surface level. I also don't feel that I got as much closure on everything as I would have liked.

But for what it is, a short, fast read it was enjoyable. So I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is up for just that.

Way too many inconsistencies.

Too many mentions of and references to Silence of the Lambs.

Too many errors and things that don't make sense that could've been easily avoided by a quick google search.

Too much attention on the “gore” made the whole book read like a poorly written true crime podcast.

Where was the character development of Wren??

I really like that Urquhart brought her insider knowledge to the story. Being an autopsy tech probably helped quite a bit. Beyond that, I wasn't too impressed. Having that knowledge, I would have hoped she'd maybe described certain situations better. Honestly, I'm OK with the clinical writing that some did not enjoy, but maybe setting up scenes could have been done better.

I could write a laundry list of complaints, but the only thing I really want to touch on is how badly Urquhart relied on cliches and tropes. For someone who runs a true crime podcast, I had hoped she hadn't used so many as a crutch. For instance, the myth of the genius serial killer is used here. He's smarter than everyone, he always has a plan (until he doesn't), he somehow kills dozens of people in a short amount of time without being caught, etc. Everyone else is one-dimensional and, honestly, pretty bad at their jobs. And that culminates into a poorly done sequel hook for no reason. I'm not tagging that as a spoiler because the book is already titled as “The Butcher and the Wren, #1) on Goodreads. I won't give away details, but another one of the most-used tropes of all time here.

This sort of book reflects poorly on the true crime fandom to be perfectly honest. It turns fascination of the human mind and a wish for victims to be brought to justice into cheap torture porn and exploitation.

Not the best pacing, and a twist that I sort of like yet think would have worked better had this been a sequel book. Butcher and the Wren is unfortunately far too reliant on superior pop culture references to the point it became very tedious to get through the author's constant desires comparisons. I swear Silence of the Lambs is brought up at least 10 times. By the time things start to pick up, the book is nearly over and by the time the ending arrives, it over far too quickly and extremely underwhelming.

DNF