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A serial killer novel like none you have ever read, The Butcher and the Wren takes a cat-and-mouse chase between two instantly memorable antagonists and turns all the conventions of the genre upside down. Dark, twisty, full of authentic detail, it'll have you listening to the night in an entirely different way Neil Nyren, Booktrib MO: So, I’m a big fan of Bones, but I know that entertainment can get things wrong. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to fictional autopsies?
Wren is a forensic pathologist whose knowledge of prolific serial killers aids in her day to day. I had a hard time with her. I cannot pinpoint who Wren is as a person. There are no distinguishable aspects of her personality to round out her character. What are her quirks? What are her hobbies outside of work? It doesn't help that Wren has no real agency throughout the book and no character arc to speak of. What are her goals? What does she need to overcome? What is something the reader can relate to root for her? If she was a victim of Cal, what happened with the investigation? Why didn't she see the similarities with these new killings? Also, did The Butcher take time off and started up again? I may have missed that bit.Alright, let's pause here. It's obvious that this book was perhaps lightly massaged rather than properly edited. The sad irony of publishing a book that already has an eager and willing audience is that editing isn't necessarily a priority: the publisher knows that it will make money regardless of -- ahem -- talent or technique. I think they actually did Urquhart a disservice by agreeing to publish this mess; she has the writing skills of a ninth grader who just discovered true crime, and with her first book selling so well, it's unlikely that she'll make the effort to improve. Impressively detailed in its analysis, as you might expect from someone who spends their life conducting autopsies, it leaves little to the imagination, but is captivating, with lacings of the occult amid the deaths. There may be moments when the reader might want to shut their eyes, but the joust between the killer and the pathologist makes that impossible.” - Daily Mail Before writing her first psychological horror novel, she received degrees in criminal justice, psychology, and biology. When she isn't hosting Morbid, she hosts the Parcast original show Crime Countdown, and a horror movie podcast called Scream! Her days are usually spent either recording or eviscerating. The wa Alaina Urquhart is the science-loving co-host of the chart-topping show Morbid: A True Crime Podcast. As an autopsy technician by trade, she offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue. Alaina hails from Boston, where she lives with her wonderful husband, John, their three amazing daughters, and a ghost puggle named Bailey. She is about 75 percent coffee, and truly believes she and Agent Clarice Starling could be friends. The stereotypes don’t stop with the setting either – the characters are also walking cliches. And it’s all the characters. They’re all cardboard cutouts which evoke no empathy in the reader at all. There is some attempt at giving us insight into why the killer behaves as he does but I found this heavy handed. One sequence in particular is undoubtedly meant to horrify the reader and although it is longwinded, what actually happens is fairly common in rural/hunting communities. However these efforts are fruitless since by the end of the book the killer is just ‘evil’. We don’t get any understanding of the motives of the killer, especially in relation to Wren, and overall the character is underdeveloped. Nor do we really get any insight into Wren herself, despite being the main character. We get a series of neurotic aspects to her personality but it’s never really explained why she’s even involved in the case, other than doing the autopsies which is her job. The police officers are portrayed as fairly useless unless Wren needs someone to converse with to move the story along.
Urquhart paints a tense and dangerous world for us right from the start and delivers it all with a skilled and evocative hand.” - Aaron Mahnke, creator of the Lore podcast and author of The World of Lore series I absolutely loved the short chapters which helped to keep the pace up. I also really enjoyed the twist which I did not see coming. It took me a while to wrap my head around it because it completely blindsided me! However, after the twist I felt things slipping a little. The ending felt really abrupt and came out of nowhere. It is clear it was setting up for a sequel but I was left feeling a little unsatisfied. That being said, I loved the sprinkling of true crime facts throughout and will definitely be reading the sequel if there is one! I think this was an impressive debut that shows a lot of promise! Set in the Louisiana bayou, it is centered around forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Chad Villella, Tyler Gillett Getty Images Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.I don't want to discredit Alaina entirely because obviously this was a passion project for her - but I hope for her sake IF she chooses to write another novel to A) HIRE A GOOD EDITOR and B) DO YOUR RESEARCH. She didn't this time around and it shows. Dignity is key in both my work as a true crime podcaster and as an autopsy technician. For example, I always try to part the victim’s hair in a way that allows me to make the necessary cuts without damaging their hair. Just like the person on my autopsy table is a human being who has people who love them, the people we discuss on Morbid are mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, and friends. Gallows humor has a place in the death industry, to allow workers to cope with the sometimes suffocating sadness that comes with the job, but it can never be in relation to the victim. While on the podcast, I maintain a more fact-based/clinical tone to avoid having the stories of real victims feel like exploitative entertainment, in my fiction, I allow myself a bit more creativity in my narrative style.
An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter. I know some people have issues with her descriptions of Louisiana. Having family there and being very familiar with the state, I do see these points. BUT it's really hard to write in a climate that's not your own, so I do give her props to writing in a setting she is not familiar with). Moving on... With her encyclopedic knowledge of humanity's darkest minds, and years of experience examining their victims, forensic pathologist Dr Wren Muller is the best there is. The longer the Butcher's killing spree continues, the more determined she is to bring him to justice. And yet, he continues to elude her.
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On a more personal level, she differs from me in her ability to let herself feel her emotions and feel them hard. I tend to push emotions away immediately while in work-mode, and it was important to me that she be strong, but real as well. I love how she can both experience her emotions authentically and focus on her bigger picture of speaking for the dead. The Butcher and the Wren is already one of the buzziest titles of the Fall. If you somehow haven’t already heard about what the big twists of the story are already, do your best not to find out until you get the chance to experience Alaina Urquhart’s debut for yourself.” - Lacy Baugher Milas, Paste Magazine THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIAL KILLER THRILLER FROM THE CO-HOST OF CHART-TOPPING PODCAST MORBID I never said it was his sole intention. I just don’t like my abilities being tested by some gutless asshole who thinks he’s Hannibal Lecter or something.” In one of the episodes of the podcast, either Alaina or her cohost, Ashleigh, talks about seeing a ghost woman who 'didn't have a body; she was just made of bones,' and oddly enough, I feel like that is the perfect description of The Butcher and the Wren. The story is there, but it desperately needs to be fleshed out to be a real winner. The characters don't have any depth, and I have no idea of their motivations for 95% of their actions. I didn't connect with any of them because there wasn't really anything with which to relate; Wren, the main character, has her work as a forensic pathologist, and that's about it. There are a bare minimum of scenes with her doing anything outside of work, and even those scenes have her talking about her work. We do eventually get more of her story with the twist--which is actually really good--but even that isn't enough to make her feel like a real character. Likewise with the serial killer; his actions are explained by the basic "he wanted to know what it felt like for things to die" motivation, which wasn't enough for me. The setting feels generic as well. The story is meant to be set in New Orleans, but other than visiting St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the setting could be any hot, swampy place near a big city with music festivals, bars, and tarot card readers.
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