Ritual (Jack Caffery/Walking Man Series, 1)

I believe Mo Hayder was distinctly brilliant. Phenomenally insightful. Profoundly wise. A master story-teller. I believe she spent maybe thousands of hours researching EACH BOOK, interviewing people who did, for a living or as a calling, that which her granularly observed, complex, surprising and, often satisfying, characters did. I also believe that she, as a writer, could be tangential. Undisciplined, in ways. Which can be thrilling. It can also, as with “Ritual”, lead her down an, at least satisfying-for-her, rabbit hole where characters who should remain peripheral become central and factoids roll downhill like snowballs. And, she engages in far too much “writing the research”. One can let one’s research inform or one can allow it to dominate. Take Ibogane. No, really, take it. An hallucinogen, it will open your mind and heart and soul to the memories, colors, lights and monuments of your past, even the voices of the dead. “Ibogane”. A root or tuber which, when chewed upon, allows the author to take literal, limitless, flights of fancy. Every writer needs their Ibogane. Here, this perhaps fictional substance, is used primarily in rituals, in South Africa. But we are never really told to what purpose. The drug in the root can help people with narcotic addictions to give up their “gear”, but, considering that “Ritual” is a book filled with addicts, FILLED with them, nothing is made of that benefit. Here, Ibogane and drug addiction, and what these addictions do to the body, the “heart”, the “soul”, lead inevitably to betrayal, criminality, the “I am the center of the universe, and my need is THE need” mode of thinking, as well as, apparently universally, prostitution. The book has purpose, but not, I’d wager, the purpose with which Hayder began writing it. And, throughout, the purpose shifts, winnowing characters and plots away, ultimately focusing almost entirely on unknowable, unsavory characters (for me, “unsavory” is usually a compliment — not here). As a strictly formal matter, where was Jack Caffery? It is his series, after all. Now, Hayder could and did define that as she saw fit, but we, well, don’t exactly miss him, particularly with how he’s been choosing to live his life of late; the alienation, the living rough, the evidence-free fascination with outsiders, the prostitutes, the lack of friends one might meet outside an Asylum. But as the prominent name on our tickets, we do expect him to “do a set”. Aside from his physical and contextual absence here, Hayder, I hope, eventually stopped limiting Caffery to almost entirely “The Man Who Lost His Brother” and began to dig below, dig above, inward and outward, allowing layers, dimensions, allowing others to dig without almost immediately hitting, with their shovels, a coffin lid. Frustrating for them. Frustrating for us. Further, on just about any level, I simply don’t believe, or “don’t buy”, that someone can be so singularly obsessed. Not within sanity. Not to live also as a functioning human being un-confined to a psychiatric ward. Given Jack’s childhood traumas, his suspicions (not facts), he could indeed be someone who, so coated with guilt, fantasy and frustration, no outside love can penetrate. And, any inner love is starved of the elements it needs to survive. Sunlight. Oxygen. Vitamin D. The warmth of a touch. The recognition of a feeling or thought coming, not from within, but from without. Also, there’s far too much Ibogane. There are also far too many very small, skeletal black men. There are too many characters who go by more than one name. Some have four. With a plethora of characters in a complex “plot”, it may be wise to stick to one name, with maybe one special nickname used by one special person. But, “Mossy” must be called, formally, five different names. I also, it’s just me, had trouble with two semi-main characters, called “Flea” and “Tig”. Neither is a name, really, but abrupt enough to, at times, interchange and confuse. I knew Flea was Flea, but I found myself, for paragraphs, believing Tig was Flea. Further, there really isnt any “criminal case” here. No real investigation. There are criminals, most motivated by attaining the next “hit”, and, at the start of the book a police, I think, diver finds two severed hands, semi-buried in the murky, trash-littered sand in the (ocean, bay, lake, river) just outside a waterfront restaurant owned by an “African” (which would be like calling me a “North American”. Africa is a CONTINANT made up of MANY COUNTRIES). So, with no case, no investigation, what do we have? Ibogane. Tiny, skeletal “Africans. Everyone’s life is ruled entirely by an addiction (Caffery’s? His brother). And, there MAY be a budding sort of maybe romance between Caffery and Flea, the maybe police diver (whose feet are begining to web). She is described as tiny, skeletal, blond hair. I have no idea what she looks like, but a look from Jack makes her fall off a pier). So, read. Struggle. Worth it? It’s MO HAYDER!

This is a very creepy suspense novel with horribly damaged main characters: Caffery is still haunted by the disappearance of his brother Ewan when they were both children--he is convinced to a moral certainty that Ewan was taken and killed by a pederast who lived nearby while Flea/Phoebe, a police diver, hasn't come to terms with the death of her parents while on a technical dive in Africa. It is not surprising that both characters feel there are people (or something) just out of reach that they can't quite see or hear but who are there nonetheless.The story begins when Phoebe finds a pair of recently severed human hands in a shallow lake while on a dive looking for evidence of an unrelated crime. Much hangs on this discovery and on Phoebe's ability as a diver--Hayder brings this home with excellent descriptions of search patterns, equipment and, most importantly, how it feels to be blind underwater while seeking to find something in the murk and mud on the bottom.Neither Caffery nor Flea are likeable--one (at least this one) would not want them as regular companions. But compared to the criminals, suspects, witnesses and others they are exemplary individuals. Three key characters, only one of whom is a definite bad guy, torture others. One did it for retribution--he slowly cut up a child murderer, keeping him alive for as long as possible to force him to feel everything, including the nails used crucify him. Another videotaped the degradation and torment of young men (who may or may not have been witting volunteers) as part of a social science experiment. The third eviscerated homeless drug addicts--those who wouldn't be missed--while recording their screams of agony since his customers would pay more the body parts or blood if he could prove they were taken from living people who really felt the pain."Ritual" may seem like a blood drenched creep-fest with a high butcher's bill--which it is--but Hayder keeps things hurtling along and the reader is hooked if horrified. I haven't read the other Jack Caffery novels but based on "Ritual" and the sublime "The Devil of Nanking" I will be getting them soon.

This has been my least favorite of the Jack Caffery series so far. First off, after leaving on a somewhat cliffhanger last book, we jump ahead four years. An odd choice to me. Then this novel was a little too coincidental. Too many things lined up too easily to be believed. I also thought Hayder's imagery in the final conflict was hard to follow/picture. The book still contained Caffery and his self-destructive self. I enjoyed the new character of Flea but her back story was a bit much. Overall, a decent crime book with too many puzzle pieces being corner pieces.

I say good because it seems that Jack should have been stopped by now. The story itself was convoluted with to much information at times yet very surface layer at others. I didn't come away truly understanding Why all of this started. You get a page explaining that yet not enough to really grasp it. I enjoyed the exploration of the book and the idea of witchcraft, or voodoo, and I think it could have been even more interesting to go deeper into the subject. I can't even find a way to explain why I needed more. I'd recommend this book just because it's part of a series yet I would be lost if this was a stand alone book. I'd much rather feel immersed in a book than feel like I'm not actually invested in it. I'm someone who has to finish a book even if I don't enjoy it. Unfortunately, this book, in my opinion, was one I could have skipped.

Ha il suo perché, poi come sempre va a gusti senza voler sempre fare troppa filosofia dietro ad un romanzo

Scritto benissimo, ogni capitolo termina in maniera inaspettata ed è necessario iniziarne un altro. I personaggi entrano nel cuore, originali, complessi, studiati perfettamente. Ottima lettura, da consigliare senz'altro!

Ich hatte die ersten beiden Bücher von Mo Hayder gelesen - The Birdman und The Treatment.Beide Bücher waren atemberaubend spannend und gingen teilweise - besonders The Treatment - sogar über meine Grenzen.Mit Vorfreude und etwas Vorangst fing ich an, The Ritual zu lesen. Und bin enttäuscht. Ich bin jetzt auf Seite 100 und bisher langweile ich mich. In ihren ersten beiden Büchern ist dieses Gefühl nie aufgekommen.Ich habe nun das Buch erst einmal beiseite gelegt und lese jetzt etwas anderes.Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das Buch noch mal anfangen werde.

I have to admit I was disappointed with this book, the third book written by Mo Hayder with the character Detective Caffery. Her first two books  Birdman  and  The Treatment  were incredible but I didn't find this book to be any where near as good--those books I couldn't put down and I loaned to my friends with very high recommendations. That being said, this book did have an interesting and horrific crime, with a plot that built and built throughout the book but there was something missing that I can't quite put my finger on, but I just couldn't get into the story. I found the book easy to put down and I wasn't in any hurry to pick it up again. I am not sorry for the purchase because the author reveals a little more into the life of the lead character, detective Caffery and answers a few questions left open from the last book.Her other books  Pig Island  and  Devil of Nanking  are amazing. BirdmanThe TreatmentPig IslandDevil of Nanking

More Hayder tells a great talent gain. Enter Jack Caffery's world, in Bristol now, removed from London. There are still the creepy characters, whores, drug addicts and other assorted dregs of society. Jack still caries the loss of his brother Ewan, to a child molester, in his childhood. The search for a handless man leads him to a horrifying ring supplying African immigrants with body parts for witchcraft from the old country. The tale pounds on relentlessly to its final conclusion. Another great if disturbing read.