The Jigsaw Man

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This does give the book a slightly repetitive feel sometimes, as whilst there is variation in the methodology of both killer and investigations and the personalities involved on both sides of the law, it sometimes feels as if Britton is working from a template to tell his side of these crimes. His tone doesn’t vary an awful amount either, being largely dispassionate and it sometimes feels as if he is writing a textbook or the basis for a lecture series. Although he does occasionally let his emotions show, usually when he sees the victim, or pictures of the victim, for the first time, the tone and pace of his writing doesn’t change a huge amount and it almost reads as if he’s expressing emotions because it feels like the right thing to do, rather than because he actually feels anything.

The Jigsaw Man is a tense and engrossing crime thriller, with a refreshingly diverse cast of characters. I also learned something new: I have never heard of “hybristophilia” (people who are sexually aroused and attracted to people who have committed cruel, gruesome crimes, for example, murder and rape). Crazy or desperation? The modern history of what came to be known as "offender profiling" began in the 40s when the US Office of Strategic Services asked William Langer, a psychiatrist, to draw up a profile of Adolf Hitler. After the second world war, Lionel Haward, a psychologist working for the Royal Air Force, drew up a list of characteristics which high-ranking Nazi war criminals might display. Then in the 50s, James A Brussel, a US psychiatrist, drew up what turned to be an uncannily accurate profile of a bomber who had been terrorising New York. The writing was excellent! I loved the short chapters and how some chapters switched perspectives. Brilliant execution of this debut novel! I highly recommend! The hearing is important to the society. It is campaigning to be given statutory status - a psychologist cannot be compelled to attend a disciplinary hearing or to swear on oath - and for the title of psychologist to be protected. At present anyone can say they are a psychologist. One respected practitioner, who prefers not to be named, says: "I'm appalled it's taken so long but it's of enormous importance that the British Psychological Society looks at the details of this case and takes a clear view."THE JIGSAW MAN (An Inspector Anjelica Henley Thriller Book #1) by Nadine Matheson is the first book is a new British police procedural thriller series featuring DI Anjelica Henley and the members of the Serial Crime Unit. Notably, Britton’s credentials remain in dispute, as his profiling led to the prolonged arrest of an innocent man. Although Britton claims he draws from verified psychological thinking, it’s impossible not to suspect that some of his profiling is based on conjecture. He also makes some statements about the intersection of fantasy and reality that I found unconvincing. It was a good but frustrating read. I’d still read more books by Paul Britton but I’d definitely take what he says with more of a pinch of salt than I did when I started reading this one. For psychologists such as Canter the idea of a lone psychologist being called in ad hoc to help in police investigations cannot work. When he is asked at what point a psychologist should be brought into a police investigation his reply is simply: "Before the crime."

I started off enjoying this, but it really began to wear of me as I continued reading. Much of the material in the book is deeply disturbing and even as someone usually unfazed by crime, I began to worry irrationally about serial killers breaking into my house. Henley is given a trainee to help her on the case and she is not overly impressed but soon finds that they work well together and with the help from the other staff at SCU Serial Criminal Unit they are uncovering more information. She needs to visit Olivier in prison and that is not easy, they have more questions than answers. Henley is still dealing emotionally with her last confrontation with the Jigsaw Killer as she investigates this new case. When he escapes from prison, Henley and the other members of the SCU must work to capture not one, but two serial killers as the number of body parts continues to grow and the Jigsaw Killer focuses on his revenge. Alongside the central police procedural plot, we also follow Henley and, to a lesser extent, Ramouter's personal lives. Both are dealing with significant additional pressures based around their marriages and family situations, and are well-developed into flawed, yet sympathetic and three-dimensional characters. The supporting cast of fellow SCU detectives, civilian staff and forensic specialists provide additional sub-plots, character relationships and create an enthralling fly-on-the-wall experience as the details of the gruesome crimes are elucidated. Although I enjoyed the storyline, I did not find it that original, as while reading I found some scenes, dialogues and situations similar to other books that I have read (“Silence of the Lambs”, “The Alienist”, “Irene”, “13”... just to name a few), or at least that’s the impression I had.The balance between procedure and personal story is just right. Henley is a strong character but has her flaws as well. The ending was left open in an nontraditional way that I felt worked for the book and this specific story. It makes the reader think of all the possibilities that the future could hold for Inspector Anjelica Henley and I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next. 4-stars! I loved the strong, well-developed characters but it missed the mark with the elements to make it a compelling Police procedural for me. Even though it missed that mark, I think it is one of the better books from an author moving forward with our times. I recommend it. While the subject matter, for the most part, is both carry and horrific, Britton goes out of his way to make it as digestible as he can. He split the book up to show the type of cases he works on and how each requires a different skill set to break apart. For many people living in England a lot of them will be very recognizable. For those outside perhaps not after all each of your countries has cases that spent week s in the news and will be remembered forever. For me, at least the serial killers Fred and Rosemary west is still rattling about in my subconscious. While I was too young to really take any notice of it at the time it is one of those stories that has left a stain that will never go away. The other is that of the Jamie Bulger, it wasn't until reading this book that I realized these two boys who had been turned in the spawn of the devil by the news were in fact around my own ages. A fact that seems to have a very chilling effect on me. In reading their interviews you get a very disturbing insight into these two boys worlds and just how little they cared. This book is pretty gruesome and has the characteristics of a classic police procedural. The reader follows Henley into the crime squad and learns about the case at the same time she does. The relationship between Oliver and Henley reminded me of Silence of the Lambs and made my skin crawl in the best way. It has all the best aspects of a serial killer book, but is not for those with a weak stomach. The reader is transported to the mind of a killer, and taken on a twisted journey. Whilst what is missing may be unforgivable, what is here is interesting. The period during which Britton was an active criminal psychologist covers a period of time I was old enough to be aware of many of the cases, which made the stories more interesting to me, as I was already familiar with the outcomes, as far as was reported in the news at the time and this provided an additional look inside a case from a perspective that few of us get to see. As someone with an interest in both true crime and psychology, much of what was mentioned here was fascinating to me.