The Butcher and The Wren by Alaina Urquhart
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Format Read: Physical
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Released: 2022
Pages: 245
Trigger Warnings: murder, violence, death, torture, stalking, kidnapping, animal death, drug use, parental death, fatphobia, gore
Book Description
From the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast Morbid, a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of anotorious serial killer and the medical examiner following where his trail of victims leads.
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.
But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner’s office, she’s never encountered a case she couldn’t solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up on Wren’s examination table, and soon she is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day.
An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.
Book Review
SPOILER WARNING ⚠️
In the book, you shift between the perspectives of Dr Wren Muller, the forensic pathologist, and Jeremy Rose, the serialkiller. It’s a game of cat and mouse in New Orleans where Jeremy is causing chaos and leaving bodies for Wren to find. You find out (spoiler alert) Wren was a victim of Jermy’s but she escaped and is now trying to hunt him down to end his reign of terror on innocent people. She is still haunted by the memories of her capture but she also uses that as her strength and knows how he thinks. He leaves clues on all the bodies at every crime scene, especially for her that she has to figure out. I really enjoy books where I get to see the perspective from both the one trying to find the killer and the killer themselves. It fascinates me to see where they are both coming from, what they are thinking. Jeremy is a brutal sadistic killer who enjoys experimenting on his victims. I could feel the fear of his victims in the writing, it really felt like you were there experiencing with them. I really liked how gory and detailed things got. Now for the downside, there are some fatphobic statements made by the serial killer that made me incredibly uncomfortable at the beginning of the book especially as a plus-size person. I really did not think that was needed and could have been left out. Other than that, I enjoyed the rest of the book and read it in two days; I could not put it down. If you enjoy this kind of back-and-forth, gory details, then you may enjoy this book just trigger warning for fatphobia.
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