Ritual - Mo Hayder

I was lucky enough to win a competition to receive all of Mo Hayder's books a couple of years ago and had really enjoyed them, so when I saw this new book in paperback in Smiths I had to buy it. The Blurb Nine Feet under water in Bristol harbour, a police diver finds a human hand. The fact that there's no body attached is disturbing, but even more disturbing is the discovery a day later of the matching hand and the shocking evidence that the victim was still alive when they were removed. Recently arrived from London, DI Jack Caffery is now part of Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Unit. His search for the victim leads him to a dark ...  Read the complete review

This is the first book I have read by Mo Hayder - and I must say I will now be reading many more! Ritual is the first in what will be a trilogy of books, and all stems from a Police diver detective Phoebe "Flea" Marley finding two severed hands in the river. as the plot thickens we come to find out where these hands have come from, and why. There is a theme of African tribes running through here - of how they use these body parts as medicine, but they only sell if the buyer can see the items being removed to ensure their "freshness".... There are several stories that are all interwoven in this book, and part of the thing that keeps you turning the ...  Read the complete review

After the mixed reviews I've read of her last two books, Hayder has wisely chosen to return to familiar ground with the welcome return of D.I Jack Caffrey from her first two novels. This time around, Caffrey has moved to Bristol to start a new life and becomes embroiled in the case of two dismembered hands removed whilst the victim was still alive. Add to this a heady mix of African mysticism and shady drug dealers and you get another tense, dark Mo Hayder thriller with lots of grim and violent imagery. Though the novel may not be anywhere as good as either Birdman or The Treatment, the first two Caffrey novels, it is still an above average read that, with its ...  Read the complete review