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(also reviewed)
Order CREEP here
Order FREAK here
Life is life, Matthew. We all play God in whatever way we can.
The day I saw a photo of my grandfather as a young man was an important one for me. I've never had the chance to meet him because he died two years before I was born, but I am the closest thing to what the man once was, physically and emotionally. That day, I've learned that everybody had a part of themselves they couldn't run away from. Your experiences might shape your future, but genetics dictate how you take in new experiences. Jennifer Hillier's latest novel THE BUTCHER is about family. The bonds of blood are in many ways inescapable. But if you were explicitely given the choice, would you embrace the legacy you were born into or would take the opportunity to break free from it and create your own? THE BUTCHER is an clever, twisted thriller about genetics, fate and death. Lots of deaths in there.
Edward Shank * is the retired chief of police. The high point of his career is catching the Beacon Hill Butcher, a serial killer that haunted the city of Seattle for more than a decade. Edward is now on the wrong side of 80 years old, alone and contemplating the last stretch of his life. He gives his house to his grandson Matt, a successful entrepreneur, who's restaurant is starting to generate some national buzz. Matt's girlfriend Sam is a true crime author who's obsessed with the idea that the Beacon Hill Butcher killed her mother, even if she died two years after the alleged butcher Rufus Wedge was gunned down by Edward. Turns out that leaving the house to Matt wasn't entirely a selfless gesture from his grandfather. He planted a surprise in the backyard for Matt to find and deal with. Turns out Edward is not exactly who everyone thought he was and he intents to indulge himself one last time before shuffling off his mortal coil.
The greatest thing about THE BUTCHER is its uncanny ability to trump the narrative conventions of the conventional serial killer novel over and over again. Readers who are familiar with Jennifer Hillier novels know that her work truly takes its meaning in the second act, so in THE BUTCHER, she uses act one to throw everything you might expect out of that novel right in your face. So by page 100, everything you thought would happen happened and you're left with over 200 pages of uncharted territory of genre fiction. What happens after the killer spills everything, smiles and walks off? THE BUTCHER gives you a glimpse into the abuse of power a father figure can wallow in when it figures it has nothing left to lose. There will be no easy, clean way to bring the Beacon Hill Butcher to justice. As one of the characters put out so eloquently: some evils don't die unless they are killed **.
For some reason, I kept picturing Jeffrey Tambor as Edward.
THE BUTCHER is not a thriller that tackles death in a conventional way. Edward is a member of a senior community where everyone is sick and/or vulnerable, including him. There is a growing, reckless abandon to Edward that you don't often see in character of his acumen. He is a man who always had complete control over everything and everyone he's ever come across and he doesn't take too kindly to father time's unforgiving march, so he's going to test his boundaries one last time like a child facing an authority figure for the first time. THE BUTCHER draws a powerful, human and moving portrait of the senior community as human beings looking straight at death with the intention of leaving no remorse behind, Edward included. I loved how Jennifer Hillier wasn't afraid to beyond the usual clichés and wrote flawed and lively seniors. It played an important part in freeing THE BUTCHER from moral obviousness.
I'm always expecting a lot out of serial killer novels. Since Ted Bundy died on the chair and Hannibal Lecter came alive on the silver screen, it's a subject that suffered just about every cliché there is. THE BUTCHER not only acknowledges this issue, but challenges it by openly playing with clichés and going beyond them. Jennifer Hillier's prose remains fast paced and immensely readable as her content becomes quirkier and more cerebral with every novel. If you liked her first two novels, THE BUTCHER situates itself between the methodical suspense of CREEP and the untamed approach of FREAK ***. Whether you liked one or the other, this novel should satisfy every serial killer novels fans.
* Awesome name, I loved the man from page 1. Naming is important.
** I'm paraphrasing here.
*** Did I mention there were hilarious metafictional winks in THE BUTCHER? Well, there are!
*** Did I mention there were hilarious metafictional winks in THE BUTCHER? Well, there are!