The Birdwatcher is the first book of the author’s that
I’ve read and I have to say that I’m impressed. Set on a desolate patch of
isolated Kent coast it tells the story of Police Sergeant William South, a keen
birdwatcher, who arrives at the scene of a brutal murder, only to find that
it’s a close friend, beaten and stuffed into a trunk. With him when he makes
this grim discovery is Detective Sergeant Alexandra Cupidi, newly arrived from
the Met from where she transferred, a talented officer keen to make a good
first impression.
It soon transpires that the murder victim, William’s
neighbour Bob Reyner, a friend he used to go birding with, has been living a
lie, complete with fake sister and make believe past as a school teacher. Early
on, Donnie Fraser, a drifter from Northern Ireland and a ghost from Sergeant
South’s past is fingered for the crime, and South becomes convinced that Donny
didn’t do it. What follows is a twin investigation, the official one led by
Cupidi, and South’s own, more tentative, private one.
There is much to contend this book. I liked how the
protagonist William South wasn’t your usual detective, instead he’s a
neighbourhood beat cop, uncomfortable in this world of CID investigation. Early
on we also learn that he has a past, that he grew up amongst the troubles of
Northern Ireland and murdered his father. The author successfully uses this to
hang a pall of foreboding over events, but is careful not to overdo it. Capidi,
the single mother of a teenage daughter, is also well drawn, as is her daughter
Zoë who takes to birding in the same way South did, to avoid troubles at home
and at school.
To be sure there are a fair few coincidences and loose
ends left open in this book. Just why was Donnie Fraser, a man from South’s
past in Northern Ireland in Kent? Towards the end we learn that he might have
been looking for South. Well OK, but how did he get mixed up in events? This is
never adequately explained. Similarly, while the mystery of who Bob Reynor was
and why he was murdered is finally solved, we never learn why his entire past
was fabricated. It’s kind of explained but we don’t learn who he was, prior to
the relationships that got him killed. None of this ruined the book for me and
they were only nagging issues, but still.
In conclusion, this was an enjoyable and intelligent
thriller and I have no hesitation in recommending it to others.
4 out of 5 stars
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