Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Ragdoll
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: c. 1984
WEBSITE:
CITY: Bournemouth, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
https://www.harpercollins.com/cr-124346/daniel-cole
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2017052854
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2017052854
HEADING: Cole, Daniel (Novelist)
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008 170425n| azannaabn |n aaa c
010 __ |a no2017052854
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca10780705
040 __ |a CaBVa |b eng |e rda |c CaBVa
100 1_ |a Cole, Daniel |c (Novelist)
374 __ |a Novelists |2 lcsh
670 __ |a Ragdoll, 2017: |b title page (Daniel Cole) dust jacket flap (has worked as a paramedic, an RSPCA officer, and most recently for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution; this is his first novel; lives in Bournemouth, England)
PERSONAL
Born c. 1984.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. Also worked as a paramedic, an RSPCA officer, and for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
WRITINGS
Ragdoll has been optioned for television.
SIDELIGHTS
“Daniel Cole,” wrote Michael J. McCann in the New York Journal of Books, “is a former paramedic and animal cruelty prevention officer who endured the usual round of rejections until he hit the winning lottery ticket with this publisher. The manuscript was the hit of the 2016 London Book Fair, it has already sold in over twenty-five countries, and Cole has signed a television deal with a British production company.” Cole’s novel, Ragdoll, tells the story of a search for a serial killer by a trio of flawed investigators. “The book opens in a courtroom,” stated a Debbish Dotcom website reviewer, “with Detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes (WOLF) attacking a man after he’s found not guilty of killing and cremating twenty-seven teenage prostitutes.” As a result Wolf loses his job and is committed to psychiatric care. Then the accused “Cremation Killer” is caught in the act, and Wolf is summoned back to work to catch another murderer. “Wolf is hunting the Ragdoll,” explained Christine Tran in Booklist, “a cunning killer who has merged parts from six victims into a Frankensteinian corpse.” “Wolf and his former partner, DS Emily Baxter, in charge of training the team’s new guy,” declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “… determine that the chopped bits are all related to Wolf’s previous case.”
Ragdoll has been celebrated for drawing inspiration from the author’s own experiences. “Having previously worked for three years as a paramedic,” wrote Dalya Alberge in the London Guardian, “Cole’s direct experience of life’s horrors fed into his writing, although he wanted to ensure that the story was also entertaining. It has a gallows humour, he said, `that comes from the emergency services jobs–the coping mechanism.'” “I don’t think you can avoid populating anything you write with experiences, people, interests, and relationships from your own life,” Cole told Barbara Copperthwaite in an interview appearing on the Blood Type website. “Jobwise, my time working on the ambulances certainly helped when writing some of the more gruesome scenes and in setting the tone of the book–that world weary, dark sense of humour held by those in the emergency services runs throughout the entire book.”
Reviews of Ragdoll were mixed, but many critics recognized the strength of Cole’s novel. The author, said a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “uses the rising tension and the mystery of the killer’s true identity to create a page-turning narrative.” “Ragdoll,” opined an AustCrime website reviewer, “has a beautifully twisted storyline, peopled with wonderfully flawed human beings, delivered a break-neck pace. There’s enough surprising twists and turns to the plot elements to allow the standard clichés–like the tension with upper echelons, and the difficulties in forming working partnerships–play out against suspicion and the sheer weirdness of having a list of victims .” “This is a book like no other I’ve ever read, boasting a central character with more layers than an onion,” said a contributor to the Crime Fiction Lover website. “Wolf is an enigma–unpredictable, troubled, infuriating, funny, personable and driven…. Cole marries the dark and desperate with flashes of laugh-out-loud humour to lighten the load. It’s been called the most talked-about debut of 2017 and I’m more than happy to join the conversation.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2017, Christine Tran, review of Ragdoll, p. 33.
Guardian (London, England), April 8, 2016, Dalya Alberge “Ex Paramedic Wins Three-book and TV Deals for Detective Thriller.”
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2017, review of Ragdoll.
Publishers Weekly, January 16, 2017, review of Ragdoll, p. 40.
ONLINE
AustCrime, http://www.austcrimefiction.org/ (February 21, 2017), review of Ragdoll.
Blood Type, https://www.barbaracopperthwaite.com/ (October 18, 2017), Barbara Copperthwaite, author interview.
Crime Fiction Lover, https://crimefictionlover.com/ (March 4, 2017), review of Ragdoll.
Debbish Dotcom, https://www.debbish.com/ (February 21, 2017), review of Ragdoll.
Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/ (October 18, 2017), author profile.
New York Journal of Books, http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/ (October 18, 2017), Michael J. McCann, review of Ragdoll.
At 33 years old, Daniel Cole has worked as a paramedic, an RSPCA officer and most recently for the RNLI, driven by an intrinsic need to save people or perhaps just a guilty conscience about the number of characters he kills off in his writing.
He has received a three-book publishing and television deal for his debut crime series which publishers and producers describe as “pulse-racing” and “exceptional”.
Daniel currently lives in sunny Bournemouth and can usually be found down the beach when he ought to be writing book two in the Nathan Wolfe series instead.
Ragdoll is his first novel.
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Publishing
Ex paramedic wins three-book and TV deals for detective thriller
The Bournemouth-based 33-year-old was offered a six-figure sum for his series about a troubled Met investigator in the sights of a serial killer
A London ambulance
Working in the emergency services gave the author a black sense of humour that fed into his debut novel. Photograph: Alamy
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Dalya Alberge
Thursday 7 April 2016 19.39 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 20 September 2017 06.05 EDT
A former paramedic has received a three-book publishing and television deal for his debut crime series, which publishers and producers describe as “pulse-racing” and “exceptional”.
Daniel Cole, 33, received a six-figure contract from Orion for his story of a detective and a serial killer, and sold the rights to a production company for an undisclosed fee. “It’s a bit overwhelming,” he told the Guardian, all the more so because Cole tried in vain to interest producers in several screenplays and a play in recent years. “I’ve got a nice pile of rejection letters at home. Very disheartening. But I really wanted to do it, so just kept going.”
Sue Armstrong at Conville & Walsh, who signed Cole after being sent three sample chapters of his manuscript, Ragdoll, described him as a “brilliant writer”. “I’m literary in my taste and the quality of his writing made him feel quite distinctive.” Armstrong receives up to 200 unsolicited submissions a week. “A lot are quite good. The ones that immediately catch your eye turn out to be special. This made me want to read on and I got very excited about it,” she says.
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The lead character of Cole’s series is detective Nathan Wolfe, reinstated to the Met Police after months of psychological assessment following accusations of a shocking assault. In the opening story of the series, he is called to a gruesome crime scene – the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet into a corpse that becomes known in the press as the ragdoll. Wolfe’s ex-wife, a reporter, is then anonymously sent photographs from the crime scene along with a list of six new names and the dates on which the killer intends to murder them. The final name on the list is Wolfe’s.
Cole describes Wolfe as a man with “a very troubled past” who is “very loyal”, “funny” and convinced “he’s always right”. Armstrong said: “I felt he was someone I wanted to spend time with.”
Cole, whose mother is a schoolteacher and father is a mechanic, had just started a job in the control-room of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in his hometown of Bournemouth when his book was accepted. Having previously worked for three years as a paramedic, Cole’s direct experience of life’s horrors fed into his writing, although he wanted to ensure that the story was also entertaining. It has a gallows humour, he said, “that comes from the emergency services jobs – the coping mechanism”.
At the forthcoming London Book Fair in April, Cole’s series will be offered to overseas publishers and will be published in the UK in January 2017.
Sam Eades, senior commissioning editor at Orion, said: “Daniel is the next big brand in crime fiction, with a long and exciting career ahead of him.”
Sam Symons, script executive at production company Sid Gentle, who made ITV’s The Durrells said the company had long been searching for a crime story that was distinctly different when it bought the rights to Cole’s work, and that his writing made the crimes feel “very real” without sensationalising them
Sally Woodward Gentle, a former creative director of Carnival, which made Downton Abbey, and the founder of Sid Gentle said: “We’re driven by the writing first. A strong story and strong script should attract a strong cast. There are strong actors now wanting to do clever TV.”
Symons said: “It’s a well-conceived story. Nathan Wolfe feels like a strong iconic character that will work well on screen,” adding: “It’s rare to get something as exciting as this.”
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Welcome
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Barbara Copperthwaite
CRIME AUTHOR
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Barbara Copperthwaite
CRIME AUTHOR
Flowers For The Dead, best-selling novel by Barbara Copperthwaite
The Darkest Lies, by Barbara Copperthwaite
Invisible, best-selling novel by Barbara Copperthwaite
Her Last Secret, by Barbara Copperthwaite
Crime authors spill their guts about writing...
This week: Daniel Cole
Tell us about yourself.
How do you go about plotting your book?
I always start with just a beginning and an end. I then work on a chapter-by-chapter basis with some major set pieces in mind. I find that there isn’t much point in me planning everything out because everything changes as soon as I actually start writing and letting the story play out in my head.
I did end up drawing an enormous spider diagram at the end of writing Ragdoll though to ensure that I had sewn up all of the loose ends.
Where do you most like to do your writing?
What is the best writing tip you have ever been given? How has it influenced you?
I’m more influenced by television and movies than anything else. I remember hearing one of my heroes – writer/director Joss Whedon talking in an interview about minor characters. Although it seems obvious, he was saying that no one exists just to be cannon fodder for the main characters – everyone good or bad has their own story that led them up to that point. If you watch his films (Shane Black is equally as brilliant at this) even the tiniest characters are memorable/entertaining in some way.
That’s something that stayed with me and that I try very hard to emulate.
Daniel Cole is interviewed by Barbara Copperthwaite
Hi. I’m Daniel Cole. I’m thirty-four and live in sunny Bournemouth. I wrote a book called Ragdoll, which is out on February 23rd and am currently hard(ish) at work on book 2.
What book do you wish you had written?
I’m going to go for the Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden. Like Ragdoll, they are very cinematic, have a large ensemble cast, and dashes of humour, which is probably why I love them so much.
I don’t think you can avoid populating anything you write with experiences, people, interests, and relationships from your own life. Jobwise, my time working on the ambulances certainly helped when writing some of the more gruesome scenes and in setting the tone of the book – that world weary, dark sense of humour held by those in the emergency services runs throughout the entire book.
What scene in your latest book did you most enjoy writing? And why?
What’s the best and worst thing about being an author?
I think the best thing about getting Ragdoll published was just the relief that I wasn’t completely deluded after all and hadn’t wasted years of my life chasing something that was never going to happen.
The worst thing is editing. I love writing – hate editing so, so much.
I think it was actually the scenes that I was dreading writing – the dull, office based investigation work that needed to be in there to move the story forward. These ended up being the pauses for breath in which I had free reign to let the characters interact with each other, inject some humour, and go off on little tangents in the narrative.
Overall, it was incredibly hard, and I almost gave up several times. I genuinely think I would have if Ragdoll had been rejected like everything else I’d ever written. You do start to worry that you’re deluding yourself when you’ve been writing screenplays for six years and have nothing to show for it but rejection letters.
Ragdoll was my first attempt at a novel however, and has been surprisingly smooth sailing in comparison. I was very fortunate that the right people happened to read it at the right time.
How easy/hard was it to get your first break?
I can only write if I’m really in the mood. But, when I am in the mood, I’ll do it obsessively for weeks at a time. I tend to work best relaxing down at the beach or working all through the night at home on a laptop.
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How much do your own life experiences appear in your writing?
Describe your current work in progress in five words.
Entertaining. Funny. Twisty. Twisted, and Cinematic.
How long does your first draft take you?
I’d say the first draft of a book takes me approximately 9 months but then the endless rewriting and editing process begins. And it is endless. Just before Christmas I was in the weird situation of discussing the rewrites on book 2, writing the opening chapters of book 3, and going through last minute edits to Ragdoll all in the same week… That was a bit confusing.
Ragdoll author Daniel Coleis interviewed by Barbara Copperthwaite
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Print Marked Items
Ragdoll
Christine Tran
Booklist.
113.12 (Feb. 15, 2017): p33.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Ragdoll. By Daniel Cole. Apr. 2017. 384p. Ecco, $27.99 (9780062653956); e-book, $12.99 (9780062653970).
Four years ago, DS William Oliver Layton-Fawkes (known to the London public as Wolf) hunted serial killer Naguib
Khalid. When the defense's mind-bending assault on Wolf's case resulted in Khalid's acquittal, Wolf brutally attacked
Khalid, intent on preventing more deaths. The assault landed Wolf in a psych ward, but the Met Police brings him back
on the job after Khalid is caught killing another victim. Now, Wolf is hunting the Ragdoll, a cunning killer who has
merged parts from six victims into a Frankensteinian corpse. As detectives scramble to identify the six victims, the
killer announces his next targets' names and times of death, including Wolf as his grand finale. When Wolf fails to
protect the first victim on the killer's list, London's mayor, he's confronted with his team's distrust and his own selfdoubt.
Ragdoll's inventive ability to sidestep his preys' protection and the thoughtful evolution of Wolf's character make
for a smart, psychologically complex read. Think Luther (BBC) meets Harry Bosch, and toss in some dark, old-country
folklore for good measure.--Christine Tran
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Tran, Christine. "Ragdoll." Booklist, 15 Feb. 2017, p. 33+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485442520&it=r&asid=545c6cf2f997dbb722cb58f4611e0791.
Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485442520
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Ragdoll
Publishers Weekly.
264.3 (Jan. 16, 2017): p40.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Ragdoll
Daniel Cole. Ecco, $27.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-265395-6
Set in London, Cole's strong first novel-- a gritty fusion of police procedural, mystery, and thriller--follows emotionally
unstable detective William "Wolf' Fawkes as he attempts to track down a killer who dismembers his victims and
stitches various body parts back together to create a nightmarish single "ragdoll." As a team of overworked
investigators diligently searches for clues, it becomes apparent that all the victims are somehow connected to a highly
controversial case in Fawkes's past, one that involved freeing a man suspected of being London's most prolific serial
killer (27 teenage prostitutes killed in 27 days). When the press receives a list of the killer's future victims and the exact
dates of their deaths, Fawkes--whose name is last on the list--realizes that he has just a few weeks to find the deranged
psychopath and save himself. Cole uses the rising tension and the mystery of the killer's true identity to create a pageturning
narrative, though the final payoff seems a bit underwhelming after such a powerful setup. Agents: Esther
Neivberg and Zoe Sandler, ICM. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Ragdoll." Publishers Weekly, 16 Jan. 2017, p. 40. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA478405252&it=r&asid=ed8142ed9b661e0bba41de934142883e.
Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A478405252
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Cole, Daniel: RAGDOLL
Kirkus Reviews.
(Jan. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Cole, Daniel RAGDOLL Ecco/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $27.99 4, 4 ISBN: 978-0-06-265395-6
A serial killer with a gruesome M.O. taunts an already damaged London detective.If there's one thing that takes the
wind out of fictional serial killers' sails it's when they deliver exactly what they threaten. Especially when this involves
a kill list, such as the one in Cole's predictable debut, which earns high marks not for originality but for the number of
cliches utilized. DS William Oliver Layton-Fawkes (no wonder he goes by Wolf) is only just back on the job after a
demotion and a stint in a mental hospital following a violent blowup in court, where, after a verdict didn't go his way,
he beat the newly vindicated man nearly to death. Turns out that Naguib Khalid, whom Wolf was positive was "The
Cremation Killer," was bad news after all, as he went on to set a child on fire (the squeamish should not read this book;
Cole seems to delight in being gruesome without the benefit of furthering any salient plot points). Wolf's new case isn't
any less grim: in an empty apartment, a strange corpse is discovered with the singular distinction of being one body
comprised of pieces of six victims sewn together like a psychotic poppet. Wolf and his former partner, DS Emily
Baxter, in charge of training the team's new guy--who seems to be the only one capable of real police work--determine
that the chopped bits are all related to Wolf's previous case. And the killer isn't done: a list is delivered containing six
names and six dates, presumably the so-called Ragdoll Killer's next victims. And Wolf's is the last name on the
list.Unnecessary blood and guts can only go so far to obscure the fact that this is a well-trod plot lacking in any real
twists or substantive character development.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Cole, Daniel: RAGDOLL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA477242434&it=r&asid=1e443d144852c7654f9fc82ad587c569.
Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A477242434
Ragdoll: A Novel
Image of Ragdoll: A Novel
Author(s):
Daniel Cole
Release Date:
April 3, 2017
Publisher/Imprint:
Ecco
Pages:
384
Buy on Amazon
Reviewed by:
Michael J. McCann
“debut effort . . . ultimately not worth your time.”
Ragdoll, Daniel Cole’s debut novel, offers an absolutely irresistible premise. Police discover that a body hanging in an empty apartment is actually parts of six different victims stitched together into a single corpse. Cole’s protagonist, London detective William Fawkes, a.k.a. Wolf, is a disgraced homicide investigator drawn into the Ragdoll case by his former partner, Detective Emily Baxter. The case promptly follows two tracks: as police are trying to identify the Ragdoll victims a list of six new victims surfaces—and Wolf’s name is the last one on the list.
Daniel Cole is a former paramedic and animal cruelty prevention officer who endured the usual round of rejections until he hit the winning lottery ticket with this publisher. The manuscript was the hit of the 2016 London Book Fair, it has already sold in over 25 countries, and Cole has signed a television deal with a British production company. All very good for him.
Unfortunately, it would have been a good idea, perhaps, to have written a better novel first. While it’s currently fashionable for bestsellers to trick readers with unreliable narrators and surprise plot twists at the end, fashion doesn’t always translate into quality.
The plot of this novel is a ragdoll in itself, stitched-together segments that don’t match up and that leave the reader puzzled, confused, or downright frustrated as the story proceeds from one improbable development to the next.
The protagonist, Wolf, is by turns irritating and disappointing as a main character. The moral ambiguity of the story, also fashionable these days, is summed up when one of the detectives declares, “There are no ‘good’ people. There are just those who haven’t been pushed far enough yet, and those that have.” While many readers enjoy this kind of nihilism, many others do not.
Cole’s writing skills also leave much to be desired. While Ragdoll shows the stylistic immaturity of a first novel, granted, he would have been well-served to have used the five years he waited for his lottery ticket to hit the jackpot to put his manuscript through a much more vigorous rewrite than it obviously received. His squad room banter, for example, comes off as more painful than humorous:
“Once you’re in the interview room, you’re in there for the long haul.”
“How long?” asked Wolf.
“Until we’re sure the mayor is safe.”
“I’ll get you a bucket,” called out an arrogant detective constable named Saunders, finding his own contribution hilarious.
“I was actually wondering what was for lunch,” replied Wolf.
“Blowfish,” sneered Saunders, testing Simmons’ patience.
“Do you think this is a laughing matter, Saunders?” Simmons shouted, perhaps overreacting a little for the sake of the commander. “Get out!”
The rat-faced detective stuttered like a chided schoolboy:
“I actually physically can’t . . . because of the lockdown.”
“Then just sit there and shut up.”
Choosing the worst possible moment to enter the meeting room—Baxter and Edmunds entered the meeting room.
Add to this sophomoric writing style a series of lame attempts at black humor, perhaps the worst of which comes when Wolf is confronted by a villain with a sword and counters with a fountain pen, invoking the tired old cliché, and you have a novel that is by turns annoying, confusing, and dissatisfying.
While his debut effort will apparently catapult Daniel Cole into the starry heavens of literary success, the blunt truth is that Ragdoll is little more than a NaNoWriMo project in bestseller’s clothing, and ultimately not worth your time.
Michael J. McCann’s most recent novel, Sorrow Lake, was shortlisted for the 2015 North American Hammett Prize for excellence in crime fiction.
Buy on Amazon
Author Name:
Daniel Cole
Author's Home Country:
United Kingdom
HidePublication Details
Book Title:
Ragdoll
ISBN:
9781409168744
Series:
Wolf and Baxter
Year of Publication:
2017
Publisher:
Hachette Australia
Publisher Website:
Hachette Australia - Ragdoll (link is external)
HideCategories & Groupings
Category:
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre:
Police Procedural, Thriller, Serial Killer
Location:
United Kingdom
HideBook Synopsis
A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet, nicknamed by the press as the 'ragdoll'.
Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William 'Wolf' Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.
The 'Ragdoll Killer' taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them.
With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?
HideBook Review
Frequent readers of crime fiction tend to be over some plot element or standard form or another. It's hard to avoid getting a little jaded when a particular structure shows up time and time again - and in my case it's been serial killers for sometime now. Which does at least mean that it's a discomfortingly nice surprise when you come across an interesting twist on the tired old form.
Which, of course means, that you've taken a punt on something with a blurb that's guaranteed to be off-putting. For this reader there was something about the author's bio and the blurb of RAGDOLL that hinted at something out of the ordinary. Mercifully there didn't seem to be slightest indication (nor eventuality) that time would be spent in the killer's head, whilst they explained their twisted little justifications ad infinitum. Whatever it was that made me pick up RAGDOLL though, thank goodness it was there. This is a brilliant book, and I'm acutely aware how dodgy that sounds, what with the whole serial killer thing and all.
That's not to say that there's not a hefty serving of ick about the discovery of dismembered human remains, sewn together and strung up like a puppet. Hence the "Ragdoll Killer" nomenclature from the press.
That's not to say that there's not a stressed, fragile, and flawed central character. In fact Detective Wolf Fawkes raises each of those to a new high, and adds highly suspect into the bargain. His offsider is the only person who can work with him for a whole heap of complicated, nuanced or blazingly obvious reasons.
And it's definitely not to say that there's not quite a headliner to the whole serial killer plot - what with a list of intended victims, and the dates of their deaths delivered straight into the hands of a slightly less than eager member of the press - she being the ex-wife of Wolf Fawkes and all. His is, after all, the last name on the list and the divorce wasn't that acrimonious.
RAGDOLL has a beautifully twisted storyline, peopled with wonderfully flawed human beings, delivered a break-neck pace. There's enough surprising twists and turns to the plot elements to allow the standard clichés - like the tension with upper echelons, and the difficulties in forming working partnerships - play out against suspicion and the sheer weirdness of having a list of victims who the police are desperately trying to identify and protect. Then there's the complication of connecting the dots between them. What do a series of seemingly random killings have to do with each other, and does that answer provide even the vaguest hint about a killer who is resourceful, cunning and very deadly.
It's been a while since finishing a debut book made me mildly miffed I'd have to wait a while for the second in the series. Particularly as the end of RAGDOLL does not in anyway telegraph where a second might be heading, let alone starting out. Which statement is trying to be deliberately tantalising because really this is a debut book everyone should be reading - serial killer allergy or not.
Submitted 7 months 4 weeks ago by Karen.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 - 5:22pm
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Book review: Ragdoll by Daniel Cole
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 Permalink
Ragdoll is Daniel Cole’s first novel and it started life as a screenplay. Perhaps that’s where the problem lay a little for me. I mean, don’t get me wrong… I enjoyed this book, but I know many have LOVED it. And I didn’t. I think the book had great potential, but it felt like we were in people’s heads when we shouldn’t have been and timing and elements (on occasion) seemed bit confusing.
Book review: Ragdoll by Daniel ColeRagdoll
by Daniel Cole
Series: Detective William Fawkes #1
Published by Trapeze
on February 23rd 2017
Source: NetGalley, Hachette Australia
Buy on Amazon
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Genres: Thriller / Suspense, Police Procedural
ISBN: 1409168751, 9781409168751
Pages: 359
three-stars
Goodreads
A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together like a puppet, nicknamed by the press as the 'ragdoll'.
Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William 'Wolf' Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.
The 'Ragdoll Killer' taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them.
The book opens in a courtroom with Detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes (WOLF) attacking a man after he’s found not guilty of killing and cremating 27 teenage prostitutes.
We’re in the head of one of the jurors when it happens, but suddenly move to Wolf’s as he ‘tastes blood’ when tackled.
We then leap forward in time and – perhaps I’m thick – as I found it a little confusing as we’re drip-fed information about Wolf for some time. Eventually we learn he did some time in a psych ward before returning to the police force. (And if that seems improbable – without offering up any spoilers – he came back by popular demand. An encore of sorts, if you like. 😉 )
Wolf, Emily Baxter and her new probationer Edmunds are given the case of the stitched-together body and tasked with identifying those who died so the doll could live. Well, not live… but you know what I mean!
However, they’re sidetracked as Wolf’s ex-wife (and journalist) receives a package from the killer with a list of who’s next.
We soon learn the Ragdoll case has ties to the Cremation Killer and Wolf’s on the killer’s hit list. And there’s the proverbial race against time as the detectives try to save each of the intended victims.
All of that was enjoyable, but… there are leaps in time (and continuity) that plagued the last part of the novel (for me). Of course there’s meant to be an element of confusion as we try to separate the goodies from the baddies, and I have no problem with ‘grey’ in my reading. However… it (occasionally) felt a little all over the place (structurally) and seemed to end quite abruptly.
I wondered on more than a few occasions if bits had been cut and pasted as I kept thinking I was missing some backstory… ‘why does Chambers walk with a limp?’ and comments about Wolf leading Baxter on ‘for years’, for example. I know structural edits usually pick up on those types of issues so wondered if the novel needed a little more work. Of course, it also could have just been me!
But… having said all of that, I did enjoy this book for the most part and kept turning the pages, needing to know what was next.
Ragdoll by Daniel Cole will be published in Australia by Hachette and available from 28 February 2017.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.
Hi, I’m Deborah… a 40-something seachanger who now lives on Australia’s Fraser Coast, in Queensland and blogs about books and other stuff.
Ragdoll
March 4, 2017
Written by DeathBecomesHer
Published in iBook, Kindle, Print, Reviews
1 comment
Permalink
Ragdoll, Daniel ColeWritten by Daniel Cole — Rag dolls are harmless toys, right? Something for your kid to cuddle up with in bed or to chuck out of the buggy at tantrum time. After reading this book, you’ll never look at them in the same way again.
Perhaps the strange truncation of the two words into one for the title should have set off alarm signals (and not just for bad spelling). It certainly makes the cover stand out, as does the sparse design. No shadowy silhouettes looking into the distance here, just a few spots of blood and a strange, looping needle and threat, reminiscent of a doodle on a pad.
It’s there to lull you into a false sense of security; do NOT be fooled. Things start calmly enough, with a prologue focusing on a juror on a high-profile trial at the Old Bailey. It is, literally, the day of judgment and after hours of deliberation the jury can only come to a majority verdict about the Cremation Killer, the man the police say is responsible for the death by incineration of 27 female prostitutes in 27 days.
But Naguib Khalid is found not guilty, and what happens next offers a first glimpse into the off-kilter plotting skills of the talented debut author Daniel Cole. As Khalid smiles in relief, Met Police detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes – called Wolf by friends, colleagues and the press – jumps into the dock and begins a ruthless assault of the defendant. It’s an act that will have massive repercussions.
Move on four years and Wolf has been re-instated to the force after a period in a mental institution. He is divorced and has recently moved into a crummy flat in an unfashionable part of the capital, where he is living out of boxes and sleeping on a mattress on the floor. An early-morning call sends him running to a crime scene, dressed in an old T-shirt and brightly patterned swimming shorts, much to the bemusement of the forensics team. His clothes are still in one of the boxes, and the crime has happened in the block opposite to his. What Wolf finds there changes his life forever.
The dead body is suspended puppet-like by myriad wires, hand pointing out of the window. To Wolf’s apartment. And that’s not the only chilling link to our strange detective, because the body bears the face of Wolf’s old enemy, Naguib Khalid – which is odd, because Khalid is banged up in prison, finally caught in the act and given his just deserts.
I said the face, didn’t I? And that was no slip of the flying fingers – because this is not the scene of one murder, but six. The ‘body’ is a composite of six dead people, stitched together, rag doll style, and apart from the obvious first victim, the police are at a loss as to the identities of the others.
Thus begins an inquiry of mammoth proportions, but as the owners of the body parts are uncovered one by one, the connection between them seems unclear. Then a hotshot local TV reporter receives an horrific message from the killer. He has a list of the people who will be next to die, and reveals the date each will be dispatched. As the reporter in question is Wolf’s ex-wife, Andrea Hall, it is in her interest to share it – especially as the final name on the list is Wolf himself…
This is a book like no other I’ve ever read, boasting a central character with more layers than an onion. Wolf is an enigma – unpredictable, troubled, infuriating, funny, personable and driven. But, with his history, is he to be trusted? Cole marries the dark and desperate with flashes of laugh-out-loud humour to lighten the load. It’s been called the most talked-about debut of 2017 and I’m more than happy to join the conversation. My favourite debut novel since Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing.
If you find the composite victim concept interesting, you can also try Jigsaw Man by Helen Forbes.
Trapeze Books
Print/Kindle/iBook
£5.99
CFL Rating: 5 Stars