Human Remains (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Loved it! Another winner from Haynes.

Annabel works as an analyst for the police. She lives with her cat, has no friends and cares for her housebound mother. One night she finds her neighbour's dead body, sat at home, apparently starved to death. Soon after, she notices a pattern of vastly increasing similar suicides in the town, all of lonely and vulnerable people. But this story isn't just about Annabel, it's also about Colin...

I'm trying very hard not to give away vital twists and plot points. I really enjoy Haynes' style, it's crime but not really about the murders. She writes about the victims, the killers, the psychology of it, which to me is much more interesting than a straightforward thriller. We are never in any doubt who the bad guy is, in fact, a proportion of the narrative is his, talking us through his life and what he does. Other reviewers have called him creepy. I loved him! Not that I want to go on a date with him, but I found him a rounded and convincing portrayal of a very intelligent and dangerous psychopath.

The story is rather sad - these vulnerable people are not murdered, in fact the dead narrate their own stories - that people with little support can easily be manipulated and there is no-one to look out for them. It's quite a scary thought.

I loved the structure of this, short chapters narrated by Annabel, the 'killer', the victims.

*SPOILER* I thought it especially clever when Annabel's narrations became those of a victim, this was such a shock (though I could see it coming and got very tense!!), as she'd been so stable and assured until that point.
*END OF SPOILER*

This isn't quite going to hit the heights of Into the Darkest Corner for me. I didn't mind the sordid details contained within, but ITDC really was the most powerful book I'd read in a long time, and while Human Remains is excellent, it's not going to make the film ITDC surely will soon (hope someone realises this!!!).

I couldn't help picturing the author in the role of Annabel, I wonder how much of herself and her job is in Annabel, the research of her work shows the minute detail and convinces.

* SPOILER* Just a thought but at the end, I actually thought Audrey's end point (psychologically and almost physically) was very similar to Catherine's at the start of Into the Darkest Corner. I wonder if that was intentional.
*END OF SPOILER*

I wholeheartedly recommend this book for readers who like intelligent crime, who can cope with rather descriptive 'body' scenes and some sordid detail. It's one that you need to keep reading, that pays off in terms of the structure, and that offers great characters you can really relish reading about.

A fairly good dark read with a sick anti hero at its heart.I thought the author over did mentioning Colin's dirty habit.Disgusting.Too much boring detail of the heroine's job.

I expected more but it was a bit too plodding.The heroine was not a fully rounded character.

I though i was going to read a "Rendellesque" account of loneliness but it did not quite come off.

This is the third novel from crime writer Elizabeth Haynes and for me this is her darkest yet. Annabel works as an analyst for the police. She is lonely, with just her cat Lucy for company at home, and a few visits a week to her housebound mum to separate her days. She works hard, and doesn't have any other close relationships, seeing the friendships amongst others at work go on around her without being part of them, feeling rather disconnected.

Having made a grim discovery in the house next door to hers one day, she realises on her return to work that similar deaths are happening in an alarmingly high number in the locality, and takes this information to her bosses at the police station. Why are so many people dying alone at home, not being discovered for some time after their deaths? Though seeming unsuspicious and raising little interest at first- these are deaths after all, not murders, aren't they? - not least a local journalist, Sam Everett.

Through other lonely, troubled voices that are heard briefly in the story, and primarily through Annabel, this novel examines loneliness and the vulnerability of it, whether society should do more for those living alone, making us question our duty to others, and it makes you wonder about both choosing to be alone and ending up that way. As the neighbour of someone who has been found dead and alone comments `I think it's terrible that in this day and age nobody notices you're gone...People should take more care of each other.' This is not to say that the novel offers no hope in this regard; in fact there are people who demonstrate the very opposite and offer kindness and friendship just when it is most needed.

Haynes has created a cold, chilling character for the criminal in this novel. She takes us into his mind; we know that from the outside he looks just like anyone else, he goes to work, goes about his life, no one would know what else he does in private: `If you met me in the street I dare say you would not be unduly worried by my presence...' But inside that twisted mind are the thoughts of man playing with the lives of others and relishing what he does, even believing he is helping them to escape, using his own particular methods: `You want to know how I do it, don't you? I can imagine it, your fervent interest, your curiosity that others might describe as morbid: I can see it in the sparkle in your eyes. Well, ask me, then. Go on. I know you're dying to...' The language here is so apt - `morbid, dying to' - in keeping with the subject matter of the book.

Elizabeth Haynes established herself as a must-read author for me with Into the Darkest Corner. This novel confirms her talent for getting to the heart of the darkest minds and imagining the awful horrors they might commit. She has crafted another compelling story, with characters that get under your skin, a mystery and investigation that keeps you turning the pages, and with a dark, creepy air pervading it all.