Number 68 - Poppet - Mo Hayder

 

Mo Hayder sadly died on 27th July this year after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2020. 

The first of her books was The Treatment, one of the most disturbing thrillers I've ever read. The treatment is the second Caffery book so I bought the first book in the series (Birdman) very quickly.  That turned out to be equally disturbing with one revelation in particular that made me put the book down and go for a walk to get the image out of my head.

Since then I've collected each of her books as they were released,  I'm slightly behind in reading them and decided to pick up on the Jack Caffrey series where I left off when I heard the sad news.

While she's never reached the sheer disturbing heights of those two books since, she is still a guaranteed source of dark and gritty crime drama that hovers on the edge of true horror fiction.

This one is no exception.  A hysteria is spreading in an insane asylum about a dwarf that sits on the chests of the inmates and smothers them.

AJ is one of the chief nurses at the institute and is naturally concerned about the patients, especially when a spate of power cuts lead to an increase in the sightings, and a number of the patients self harming and worse. He contacts Jack Caffery for help  and the ensuing investigation forces both men to stand up to their internal demons.

For some reason the narration has turned to present tense, compared to the standard past tense of the previous 5 books in the series.  this lends the story a sense of immediacy and urgency. The story is gruesome and filled with unpredictable twists and turns.  The chapters are short and choppy, keeping the pace moving at a hectic rate. 

Luckily, Flea Marley is kept to the sub-plot in this book.  In the previous Caffery book I'd started to find her incredibly annoying. She basically went against all rules throughout and get herself into eminently avoidable danger as a result. Sidelining her from the main story in this one was a very good decision on Hayder's part.

This is an excellent addition to the Caffery series. It's best to read them in sequence since there is a strong continuity in place. However they do all also work well as standalones.

Once I've finished Wolf and hanging Hill I'll have read all the books she wrote as Mo Hayder.  She has a new book out posthumously next year - The Book of sand -  under the name Theo Clare.  It will certainly be on my to buy list.