An intriguing premise and an enjoyable mystery with an interesting cast of characters. Would recommend!

One body, six victims, body parts sewn together and strung from the ceiling of a London flat like a puppet. Immediately christened the Ragdoll Killer by the press, it is up to Detective Sergeant William Fawkes and his team at New Scotland Yard to identify the constituent parts. When Fawkes’ journalist ex-wife receives a list of six more people who are going to die – a list that includes Fawkes himself – the connection to the Cremation Killer, the case that made Fawkes a household name, is immediately obvious. But as Fawkes’ appointment with death approaches, the team must look to his past for answers and what they find there might not be what they expected.

Daniel Cole’s debut novel opens with a brief glimpse at the case that made William Oliver Layton-Fawkes, nicknamed Wolf, famous, and which also shaped the man he has become four years later. As a result, the reader goes into the main storyline with their eyes wide open, Wolf’s questionable approach to policing promising an intriguing investigation. Intriguing it most certainly is, and from the point that that opening courtroom scene fades to black, Ragdoll is the type of book that is almost impossible to put down.

There are many points that set Ragdoll apart from your average serial killer thriller, the dark central character and the rich vein of comedy being two of the most obvious. A cross between Boris Starling’s Messiah and Sky’s “A Touch of Cloth”, Cole manages to combine the best parts of both into something completely new and fresh. From the outset, it’s clear that the comedy won’t get in the way of an intense story, as it so often can. Ragdoll is gruesome and frightening, a real sense of menace plaguing the reader through its pages. The murders are startlingly original, usually completely unexpected and constructed in such a way that even the comic moments don’t relieve the tension.

The central cast of characters are memorable and go a long way towards making the reader feel comfortable in this world, drawing us completely into the story and, in many ways, giving us a stake in the outcome. From Wolf, damaged and downtrodden to smart-mouthed Baxter, a confident woman making a man’s world her own, and Edmunds, young and new to the squad, smart and keen to learn, despite the constant haranguing from more senior colleagues. Around this core are a set of lesser characters, no less well-developed: Finlay Shaw, a couple of years from retirement, with no desire to make any big splashes; Wolf’s ex-wife Andrea Hall, a bloodthirsty journalist who will do anything to be first with the story, regardless of what danger it places people in; and Elijah Reid, her Piers Morgan-like editor-in-chief, a man with no moral compass for whom nothing is too sensationalist.

This is an old-fashioned serial killer story where the reader is kept as much in the dark as the detectives. Nothing is told from the killer’s point of view, so Cole plays the motives close to the chest until the novel hits the three-quarters mark, at which point everything kicks into high gear. In many ways its adherence to the tried and trusted formula makes it feel fresh and new again, the power of the novel in the story itself, not in the ways in which it attempts to subvert the genre. While the comedy sometimes feels forced (although my own personal preference is to avoid outright humour, because what works for one person is likely to fall flat on its face for many others), it is never overplayed to the point that it feels annoying. For the most part, it’s a natural comic feeling, stemming from the characters themselves, much of it the sort of gallows humour we’ve come to expect from crime fiction.

Ragdoll started life as a pitch for a television show, and its origins are plain to see. There is a very cinematic feel to the story which, coupled with a sense that something is always happening somewhere in earshot, gives Cole a very distinctive voice. One of the most interesting aspects of his debut is the sense that we have walked into the middle of someone else’s life: there are no introductions, little in the way of backstory on any but the central characters, leaving us with a sense that these people have known each other for a long time, and that we’ve stepped into their lives for a very brief moment to watch one specific episode. So well is this managed that for one brief moment, I had to check that I wasn’t jumping into the middle of a series. It’s disconcerting, but it is a mark of the author’s confidence that he doesn’t feel the need to slow the story down to introduce us to the players.

Dark, funny, gripping. There is no easy way to sum up Ragdoll, except to say that it is an excellent debut, an accomplished and satisfying story that immediately boosts Daniel Cole into the ranks of “must-read”. With compelling characters and a story that grips from the outset, Ragdoll is guaranteed to be one of the best crime novels you’ll read this year, and Daniel Cole a name we’ll hopefully be hearing a lot more of in the near future.

Ragdoll was a brilliant serial killer thriller - addictive, page turning and unsettling, Daniel Cole is a writer to watch. Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

WHAT – A – READ!!

I stumbled across this title on NetGalley when I was searching for a new read. The synopsis excited me, but I had never heard of the author before. Well no word of a lie, the moment I downloaded this and started to read, I was hooked! Not just a little bit hooked, I mean so hooked that I didn’t want to eat or sleep because those activities took time away from finishing this book! Ragdoll is a classic police procedural with all the gore and suspense you could wish for rolled into one. There are very few authors I end up obsessively reading, but Ragdoll has catapulted Daniel Cole on to a very exclusive list of mine and I do not see that changing any time soon.

A great introduction to the duet we come to love through the books. A definite scary, thrilling police procedural book that delivers a knockout finale.

What a fantastic debut novel!!!
I was completely absorbed in the plot. Fantastic characters, and a gripping storyline.

I just couldn't get into this one. There was no real reason though so it makes me think I'm just not the target audience. Still I think other people will enjoy it.

Sorry, a bit late to the party here. I'm working my way through a very backed-up reading list, and just finished this book today. It's going to be a review of two halves, for what it's worth. On one hand, pretty well-drawn characters and enough of a page-turning drive to keep me reading in spite of the negatives, which is actually no mean feat. And the negatives? Quite a few paper thin characters, plot holes the size of St Paul's, and some squirmingly bad writing at times. Plus I thought the ending was silly. Oh well, you can't please all of the people all of the time... Many thanks for the opportunity to read :)

A good book should make you question everything and suspect everyone and that’s what this book does. A must read for any thriller fan can’t wait to read more from this author

3.5 stars

This was an interesting story with some intriguing characters but it didn't keep me hooked which is one of the reasons I marked it down. I did struggle a bit with the constant change of characters with no obvious break in the writing, this could have been because it was a proof copy.
I'm interested to see where the author takes this story from here.

Book provided by the publisher for an honest review.

With a body discovered made up of six victim’s.body parts stitched together…..The press call the killer Ragdoll. Detective William Fawkes know has Wolf and Detective Emily Baxter are assigned to the case Ragdoll certainly tickled my fancy from the blurb to the rave reviews. From the start I knew this was going to dark and gruesome and I always say the darker the better. I must point out that this book isn't for the faint hearted.

So what did I think…..Well to be honest I have mixed feelings about this book and I personally think it's a marmite book you will either love it or you won't!

I did love the dark and twistyness about it and I found it a page turner. BUT once the storyline unfolded and I was hooked I found that it was rather far fetched and unrealistic. I could hear myself saying yeah right as if that would happen. I felt totally deflated by the ending too. In Fact it really disappointed me. Giving it 3 stars for that reason.

I have my fingers crossed that the second book is going to be much better I am gutted because it started off brilliant!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Trapeze for offering me an ARC copy of this novel that I freely chose to review.
This novel had passed me by (my to be read list is getting longer and longer) when it was first published, but I have been reading quite a number of thrillers recently, saw this book mentioned, and remembered I had yet to read it.
The ARC copy I read includes a funny introduction by the author, which sets the tone for what is to come quite well, although I did not see it in the look inside feature at the front of the published e-book version. The novel is a hard thriller but with a considerable amount of dark humour thrown in (a very British version of it as well). The initial premise is gripping. We have a brief prologue that introduces us to a past case and a deranged detective, and then we discover that four years later he’s back at work, and he has to investigate a very bizarre case. The ragdoll of the title is the name given to the macabre discovery of a body composed of the parts of six different victims. Not happy with that, the killer also releases a list of names of people and the dates when he intends to kill them. And the said detective (Wolf) is the last one on the list. The methods the killer employs are also very imaginative, and there is plenty of violence (and pretty extreme at that).
This thriller, set in London, follows the format of a police procedural novel, but as some reviewers have noted, it does require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. The fact that somebody who was as disturbed as Wolf, and who very seriously assaulted a suspect in front of a whole courtroom, is allowed to go back to work, stretches the imagination. The way the team works, that seems confused and disorganised, also will surprise those who appreciate the attention to detail and authenticity. As a psychiatrist who has worked in the UK, I didn’t find the portrayal of the mental health secure unit where Wolf had spent time very realistic either (although one could query the fact that he was not well at the time, and other than a brief visit by one of the members of the team, we don’t have any objective accounts of it), and one hopes that news agencies will not be like the one depicted in the novel either (Wolf’s ex-wife works for a TV news station and becomes involved in the case also). But, if we accept the premises of the novel, and forget about how likely it is that this could happen in the real world, it is difficult to fault the book for its imagination, pace, energy, and for the way it grabs and keeps the reader’s attention.
This novel keeps taking us back to the past, and at some points it felt as if it should have been the second novel in the series, as it is evident that what happened four years earlier has a lot to do with the current events, and the way the narration is structured, around the previous case, is one of the strong points, in my opinion. It is as if the whole department had been affected by what happened to Wolf and it has become something of a dysfunctional family. Although there are things that seem far-fetched, on the other hand, the general feeling of pressure, desperation, media attention, cover-ups… felt very real. I have mentioned dark humour, and there is a very cynical undercurrent permeating the whole book, which suits it well and, perhaps, will be easier to appreciate by those who live in or are familiar with the UK, its politics, and its current social situation. I felt as if it was almost a caricature of the truth. Exaggerated and taken to the extreme but easily recognisable nonetheless.
Although it is not a psychologically complex story (and many of the characters play to stereotype: the older detective who is about to be retired, the young rookie who’s just been transferred from a different section and is a stickler for details and rules, the young attractive female detective who looks up to the lead investigator but whose feelings are unclear…), there is plenty of action and many twists and turns, characters, locations, and the ticking clock makes it a rather tense and intense read that will keep most readers guessing. There are a large number of characters, and although we get to know the members of the New Scotland Yard team fairly well over the novel (although quite a few of them keep secrets and are contradictory at best), victims, witnesses, characters from the personal lives of the detectives… all are given a bit of space, and it is important to pay attention not to get lost, especially because of the way the story is narrated. The story is told in the third person but from quite a number of characters’ points of view, not always the main characters either, and although I did not find it difficult to follow and it is a good way to keep the intrigue (by switching points of view and giving us snippets of information only some characters have access to), it means readers should not miss a beat.
Notwithstanding the dark and sharp sense of humour, there are some introspective moments, guilty feelings, and characters wrestle with the morality of the situation, although I do not think it breaks new ground or is the most successful attempt at delving into such issues. At some point, the novel seems about to enter into paranormal territory, and it did remind me of Jekyll and Hyde, as there comes a moment when you have to wonder what it takes to make somebody step over the fine line between fighting a monster and becoming the monster. I don’t want to go into too much detail to avoid any spoilers, but let’s say that good and bad are not ultimately such clear-cut concepts as we would like to believe.
This is a very enjoyable page-turner, especially recommended for those who like a tense and gripping read and are not put off by some over-the-top characterisations and some stretching of the truth, and who don’t mind graphic violence and dark humour. And if you enjoy a London setting, even better.

This book is fantastic.
Spooky and terrifying crime which twists and turns.
Great characters, just ace!

I have to say that this book is horrifying!! It's one of the most gruesome books I've read in years and I LOVED it!!

An amazing start to the series!! Where will it go next? Brilliantly written with great characters and a gripping storyline. Huge amounts of potential for the next books.

This detective's name is unusual and immediately links to the parliamentary explosives expert however there is no connection. Ragdoll refers to the detective newest case a puppet style gruesome collection of six body parts stitched together. More importantly the body parts are from different bodies. Fawkes' ex wife a journalist is anonymously given crime scene pictures and a list of the next victims. With his partner and her sidekick trainee they try to identify the six victims before anyone else is murdered. It seems a regular murder enquiry except for the strange circumstance, however with ex-wife, partner and sidekick relationships added in, it is no longer straightforward. As the body count starts to rise so does the tension and the credibility of Fawkes. Will he solve the case and survive? Recommended

Didn't enjoy this book at all, normally a serial killer book has me glued to the pages but the writing style just didn't hook me, I'm afraid.

I love detective stories with hauntingly scary crimes and mature characters. This one kept me up till late at night wonder what The Wolf's hunch is going to be about next and how accurate it will be. Luckily for him, the wolf is correct most of the time.

I have decided not to read and review this title, but thank you so much for giving me the opportunity.

Gripping read from the start. Real page turner! Highly recommended