Customer Reviews

The Executioner

The concept is good - it rips along but to be honest the plot falls apart when we get to the "who done it" - that said it's a worthy read and if you liked the last Chris Carter you will probably like this .

I bought this unaware that it was Chris Carter's second book - containing the same central characters. I was worried I'd miss something having not read the first one, but it works very well as a stand-alone book. It had plenty of twists and turns, and the story was fast-paced. It reminded me of how James Patterson used to write before he sold out. I just received The Crucifix Killer in the mail and I look forward to starting it. A very promising new author.

Obviously a lot of people enjoyed this book but for me despite an interesting central concept it was too poorly written to be enjoyble. My overwhelming advice would be to read the first twenty or so pages before you buy. That should be enough to work out whether the writing style works for you or not (I kept going until more than half way through because I had nothing else to do...)

For me specific complaints were:
- Macho but dull characters who were hard to distinguish (especially in conversation)
- Endless stereotypes and cliches. Felt like a creativity cop out.
- A near perfect hero who seemed more of an "I want to be this cool" avatar for the author than an attempt to create an interesting protagonist.
- Chapters as short as two pages ending on often painfully naff cliff hangers (I appreciate a laugh, but giggling when characters made pointless melodramatic statements mid conversation just so there could be a chapter break, and then carried on as if nothing had happened, did harm the dramatic tension for me).
- Pretty graphic scenes of violence and gore but without any strong suspense.

It gets 2*s because the central concept was interesting, the fast pacing worked reasonably well to push me to read more, and I wanted to know what happened next with the murderer (though not enough to actually force myself to finish it).

This is the second book by Chris Carter. His debut 'Crucifix Killer' was riveting and set a very high standard. Lots of twists and turns kept you guessing to the end. I was looking forward to his second book but wasn't sure it would/could be as good. Well I was wrong. I loved it, loved it loved it!!!! This book is every bit as good and kept me turning the pages - I read it in two days and felt almost bereft when I finished it. I will need to leave it a few days before I look at another book, because I will almost certainly compare it to this one.

You don't have to have read the previous book to follow the characters - it is a good stand alone book. However, if you don't read the previous one - you has missed a gem.

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I could not put it down. I will certainly be reading more of Chris Carters books in the future.

This book had me gripped from start to finish, brilliant. I could not wait to pick it up each night until after 4x days I had finished it. What an exciting twist to the story.

A real page turner that kept you guessing till the end.. great read that is really hard to put down

Exceptional if you don't like gory bits when reading give it a miss. I enjoy his books just don't know how he thinks up these storylines. Can wait for his next book/

Worth a read.

Carter knows how to write a gruesome novel.

Couldn't put it down . Cannot wait for the next book to come out.

Good read and certainly would recommend - they are quite hard to put down once you get start reading - up to usual standard