Intense. Dark. Gritty. I was impressed by The Jigsaw Man and the lead investigator, Angelica Henley on the case. Being pulled back into a serial killer case that resembles the exact case that took her off field work a few years prior.

Forcing her to confront the past while trying to stop the bodies from piling up. Henley is a complex character who's committed to her job and her young daughter. But there's not enough of her to go around and the culprit seems to be four steps ahead of her. 

The narrative is written in a steady, consistent manner that delivers information to the reader in third-person. This helps to keep readers informed without being too distracting or overly pretentious. I felt the close were laid out in a what that I could piece together elements of information of the case along with the detectives.

Olivea's character was one for the books because he was truly bone chilling creepy and conniving. He lives up to the hype that we're given about him in the beginning. And he really doesn't take kindly to someone else creeping onto his "reputation" as the Jigsaw Man.

I feel there's a lot that can be said about all the elements of this case having to do with Henley and the killers. I would recommend this book to crime podcast enthusiasts and thriller readers alike. 

Brilliant cultural diversity throughout, horrific antagonist, and lots of layers to what promised to be a kicker of a mystery.

The main flaw of this otherwise very engaging thriller was the

motive of the copycat killer and the straight-out-of-a-C-movie confrontational scenes between him and Olivier

. I felt Matheson set me up for a chilling mystery and then pulled the rug out from under me three quarters of the way through.

A compelling read that kept me hooked as I followed along with thr story trying to piece together the mystery

This is an impressive debut, police procedural thriller novel and is definitely a tense read. 

However, the majority of the tense action takes place in the last 10 (short) chapters of the book and is done in a manner that feels rushed and needing to be quickly wrapped up. This is no more evident in the back to back chapters where there is a huge mistake with details. 
<Spoiler> When Kirkpatrick is taken and we finally get the POV scene in chapter 95 of Pine getting ready to torture and dismember Kirkpatrick, we are given the graphic scene of Kirkpatrick having his arm sawed off. "... He couldn't ignore the feeling of the skin on his right arm being gently tugged and the river of vibrations as the saw went back and forth. He couldn't shut out the heavy groaning sound as the saw made its way through bone. Then it stopped... He could see the bone now as his arm hovered in front of his face .. he didn't close his eyes as the blood from the separated arm fell..."
As well as additional reference to his leg then being sawed through. Only to have chapter 96 tell us that "his hands were tired behind his back" and that " Henley...cut the cable ties binding Michael's wrists and feet". 
It just gets worse. In chapter 98 we are told that Kirkpatrick is "being treated for dehydration and shock. He hasn't got any serious injuries." As well as a statement from him that "Pine...was going to come back and was going to start by cutting off his left arm..." Which directly contradicts chapter 95 where his arm is graphically cut off.  </Spoiler> 

Needless to say, this oversight, although perhaps minor to the book as a whole, took me completely out of the story. There was no coming back from that for me, and the rest of the book (4 ch.) wrapped up far too quickly and without a full resolution to completely redeem itself. 

Read my full review here: