The Butcher and the Wren: A chilling debut thriller from the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast MORBID

Product Information

The MC, Jeremy, is the serial killer. I actually really enjoyed his character because he had a funny personality and we got to see him go through a range of emotions in almost every chapter. We also got a tiny tiny glimpse into his childhood, which of course helped his character arc.

There is nothing Alaina can say or write, that I won't read or listen. I absolutely love her storytelling ability on Morbid which is why I requested this book. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.MO: This is your debut novel, and it’s got a killer hook. Tell us a bit about your new novel, and the cat-and-mouse game that drives the plot. To start, this book is not a dynamic/well-rounded read. The characters and overall storylines fall flat and don't develop at all. For example, our MC In one of the episodes of the podcast, either Alaina or her cohost, Ashleigh, talks about seeing a ghost woman who 'didn't have a body; she was just made of bones,' and oddly enough, I feel like that is the perfect description of The Butcher and the Wren. The story is there, but it desperately needs to be fleshed out to be a real winner. The characters don't have any depth, and I have no idea of their motivations for 95% of their actions. I didn't connect with any of them because there wasn't really anything with which to relate; Wren, the main character, has her work as a forensic pathologist, and that's about it. There are a bare minimum of scenes with her doing anything outside of work, and even those scenes have her talking about her work. We do eventually get more of her story with the twist--which is actually really good--but even that isn't enough to make her feel like a real character. Likewise with the serial killer; his actions are explained by the basic "he wanted to know what it felt like for things to die" motivation, which wasn't enough for me. The setting feels generic as well. The story is meant to be set in New Orleans, but other than visiting St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the setting could be any hot, swampy place near a big city with music festivals, bars, and tarot card readers. CrimeReads needs your help. The mystery world is vast, and we need your support to cover it the way With her encyclopaedic knowledge of humanity's darkest minds, and years of experience examining their victims, forensic pathologist Dr Wren Muller is the best there is. The longer the Butcher's killing spree continues, the more determined she is to bring him to justice.

He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest, handsome family man admired by men and desired by women.If I had to draw comparisons, I'd say this one definitely gave me the spine-tingling vibes of Silence of the Lambs, one of my all-time favorites!

And indeed, The Butcher isn’t some D&D-playing, heavy-metal-listening social outcast skulking around in the shadows. He looks like an ordinary guy, and is even perhaps a little more charismatic than the average Joe. He has an ordinary job and skillfully hides his heart of darkness from most of the people he interacts with. In this, he’s like many of the other real-life serial killers that Wren and her colleagues discuss over the course of the novel, as they seek to stop him from killing again. People look for patterns that aren’t there because they are scared shitless. They can’t handle that they are just as likely to be scooped up by a totally normal-looking psychopath as the victims were, so they make this crap up instead.” Alaina Urquhart: I love being an autopsy technician. Working with the dead has given me a different perspective on life. It makes me confront my own habits and misconceptions and reveals how intricate and fragile the human body truly is.There ware so many things in this plot that make no sense. How did Jeremy have enough time to bury Emma, then dispose of another body under the stage, and then the police had enough time to find the stage-body and get to the coffin in time?? Why was Wren the one digging with a shovel when she literally had cops with her who were using their bare hands?? Why was Wren allowed to go to Jeremy's house after he literally broke into her home and made it personal?! Why were the cops twiddling their thumbs in the last scene so he could escape and I would be tortured with the possibility of a sequel to this??! With the help of police detectives and others in her office, Wren tries to stay one step of Jeremy, but can she stop him before she becomes the next victim? A Psychological thriller that takes you in the mind of the killer, and the ME who desperately wants him caught. The Louisiana bayou holds many deadly creatures, including a killer who is set on taunting authorities and making no mistakes. However, Wren Muller is on the case and she has yet to fail at solving a case. As their stories intertwine however, Wren must face the demons of her past or else she will let down those who can no longer speak that lay on her table in the morgue. AU: I love watching autopsies in television shows and movies. Though I’m a firm believer in suspending my disbelief for the sake of storytelling, I can’t help myself from occasionally yelling out, “That’s not how they really do that!!”

Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.On a more personal level, she differs from me in her ability to let herself feel her emotions and feel them hard. I tend to push emotions away immediately while in work-mode, and it was important to me that she be strong, but real as well. I love how she can both experience her emotions authentically and focus on her bigger picture of speaking for the dead. Urquhart] uses all aspects of her familiarity with crime, corpses and the practices of forensic pathology to write convincingly about the showdown between a serial killer and an ME. Her setting is especially absorbing, from the haunting darkness of the bayou at night to the rising fears of the characters’ fellow parishioners. . . . I found that mid-book twist delightfully astonishing—and I’m hoping to read more from her.” —Doreen Sheridan, Criminal Element Lobotomies were mentioned so many times as Jeremy's interest but the potential to build up on this was lost. IMO if his whole MO was attempting a successful lobotomy, this whole book would make much more sense. That would be why he was going to medical school, why he tried to paralyze Emily and other victim and why there was a body with a botched lobotomy in his freezer. Try and tell me that isn't a stronger plot?! As a huge fan of the Morbid podcast I was already inclined to love this just because I'm so proud of Alaina, but I was also genuinely impressed by the quality of writing and the imagination on display here. As much as I love #morbidpodcast I wanted to love this book instantly, and I hate to admit that it was hard for me to get into, BUT the twist?! HOLY CRAP Y'ALL. Thank goodness the ending left room for a sequel #needtoknowwhathappensnext