Birdman

[Dave]

Just finished Birdman for the second time. I read it again to familiarise myself with Jack Caffrey. I'll also do the same with The Treatment very soon in preparation for Ritual. I fully enjoyed Birdman as much the second time around. What particularly impressed was the attention to medical detail, as well as police procedures.

[Josephine]

Dave, SNAP you rascal. I started re-reading it this week. Due to the vast amount of books I have to read and meagre time, I'm only up to chapter ten. I'm really amazed by how great it is for a first novel. It has even more snap, crackle and pop than I remembered!

[Kevin]

It's a while since I read The Birdman, but I can remember the vivid descriptions of the murder victims. Unlike the previous posters, I've got too many other books to read to have the luxury of a second read, but I'll promote The Treatment up my "to be bought" order, so that I can make a more telling contribution some time this century! 

[Josephine]

I finished my re-read of Birdman last night and I'm amazed by how much I had forgotten. It makes me feel like going back to re-read all my loved books. I still think it's so well written for a first book. The most frightening moment for me was the scene with Susan Lister - I didn't sleep very well that night and had to check behind the door and started fretting about when my partner goes away etc, etc. I still hate thinking about it - it creeps me out so much! It was Stephen King at his best the way Mo wrote the final sentence of that chapter.
Caffery was as complex and simmery as I remembered . I still found Veronica a cow - almost too much at times. I prefer Mo's male characters to female. I never really took to Rebecca the first time and she was as irritating as ever.  I was rather nastily hoping she would get the chop.  Let's face it - she's so not right for Jack. He can do so much better than Rebecca! She's nasty! My favourite female characters of Mo's tend to be the more feminine, curvy, motherly types (Marilyn Kryotos) or the dyke, Sousness. I love Sousness and hope she gets to feature a lot more!
I was surprised by how gross and violent it is (how could I be surprised? This is Mo) There were several parts when I would have preferred the gross-out  bits to be scaled back and left to the imagination. I felt I had got how terrible it was and didn't have to be shown it quite as vividly.  I sound like Nanna here, I know. I'm smiling to myself as I'm always being told by the Sisters in Crime in Australia that I go too far and to scale things back. Mo outdoes me however, I have to admit. It really struck me about the ethics of writing about violent crime and how much responsibility we have as writers to portray the suffering a murder victim undergoes. A Sister in Crime member told me how much she loved my stories but they were too dark, too depressing and she wanted me to lighten up and include a few jokes. I'm not a fan of jokey type crime books at all. I remember thinking at the time how crime is dark and depressing and I can't joke them up to save my life and it would be disrespectful to the victims that I base a lot of my writing on to do so. Some people might have that skill. At the same time, I don't feel that I need to be told exactly how a breast is sliced off without it grossing me out too much that I feel like giving up.  Mo certainly made sure she ticked all the boxes in gross out things when she plotted Birdman.
The other scene that didn't work for me was the party scene of cops when Penderecki scatters the bones. In real life I'm sure the cops would have picked up Penderecki pretty quickly after bashing the crap out of him. It was like a scene from a movie that one rather than a book.
It feels like an angry book in places but very powerful. Even more amazing on the second read than the first read, actually.  About to take a deep breath and start The Treatment now.  I think I'll have to dig out my Agatha Christies a hottie and hot Milo for some cozy time crime when I finish Ritual.     

[Dave]

Like you, Josephine, I'd completely forgotten whole chunks of Birdman and it was, in part, almost like reading it for the first time.

Spoiler

I even forgot that there were two killers working together. Following on from Mo's comments in the recent TV interview, what struck me more than anything was the apparent Thomas Harris influence. I think this lessened slightly with The Treatment and by the time Tokyo and Pig Island were published Mo had found her own voice and quite unique style.

[Kevin]

OMG, after those last two posts, I may just have to break the habit of a lifetime and read it again!

[Josephine]

Dave, I forgot that too! 

I also forgot a major death at the end. I feel like re-reading all my books now in anxiety at everything I missed. One of my writing pals reads all her favourite books twice - the first time to enjoy the ride and the second to study the technique.

[sixesandsevens]

I am going to loan my copy of Birdman to my mother soon, because she read The Treatment, and loved it. But now I am tempted to read Birdman...for a third time. Is that bad?! Hmmm, well...I dunno...I just might have to. I also found The Treatment in hardback, so now I have two copies of that (one paperback and one hardback). I'm quite obsessive when it comes to my book collection.

But yes. I remember the storyline of Birdman quite well, and I remember actually liking Harteveld. If you get past the fact that he's a necrophile and a murderer, and a little ill, he's just...okay. Maybe it was the Hannibal Lecter effect - cannibal, killer, intelligent yet sociopathic, but you can't help liking the guy.

[Paul]

Hello everyone... I myself have read it more than once. I still get chills when Toby is introduced for the first time, and considers biting the canvas of his mothers painting.

I don't think I've ever felt more driven to finish a book, after that first moment...
Just as good the second time~

Did anyone notice how Mo introduces Bliss exactly one chapter later? Clever clever, I missed that little detail the first time around...

PM