David's 'Clan' Blog

Somebody is slaughtering prominent atheists, a serial killer is stalking non-believers who are dying in terror in unimaginable ways - this is going to be great! We are led to believe that something terrible is stalking these infidels and our hero, a lapsed Catholic, is entering a life & death struggle to find the killer or killers and in the process save his own soul! Can't wait to see how this turns out - so I waited, and waited and waited - anytime now, this is going to be great.... unfortunately it doesn't. It turns out that God is a bit of a s*** and gets a bit pissed off if you don't believe in him and worship him in a way that he deems appropriate and far from our hero entering into a life and death struggle to challenge vile, satanic forces we spend the rest of the book watching him have a complete mental breakdown. To say this book fails to deliver is an understatement. Philip Kerr had reached a level with me where I buy his books on trust - knowing I can rely on him to deliver a great story. no longer I'm afraid - if this had been my first Philip Kerr novel it would have been my last - in fact I doubt if I would have finished it if I hadn't trusted that in the end something would happen - it didn't - maybe he should have another go at writing it as a thriller rather than as some angst filled exploration of human misery and mental illness.