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Summary: BROILING SUN...
Review: ...Broiling emotions. A murderer is stalking young women and girls, eviscerating as well as killing them. Although his name is not revealed initially, he is plainly the lone wolf, the predator of human game. His twisted psychopathology is revealed throughout the book; memories and background of this predator or interspersed throughout the story.Investigator (Pakad) Daniel Sharavi is introduced. This is the one book that is NOT about Alex Delaware. Sharavi, like Delaware possesses a street savvy and a keen insight into human nature. Kellerman maintains his readers' interest in Sharavi; one is never quite sure of Sharavi's next move. The descriptions given of Jerusalem's weather, flora, fauna and cities are vivid and realistic. Readers can see alongside of the author and those familiar with the terrain the scenes being described. One can also feel the simmering tension, the cauldron of tension that is turned up high. One can feel the ancient history, the political unrest, the beautiful ancient traditions of this historic city. The contrast between the ancient traditions and the current values is effectively drawn. I did not detect any note of racism in this story. The fictitious characters were given their own racial views, but again, this was part of the development of the characters in response to the times they were living in and the issues they were confronting. Sharavi is an interesting blend of the Western World's white hatted cowboy and a man with his own agenda. He clearly has a mean streak. In one chilling scene, Sharavi verbally baits and slaps a prisoner. The prisoner, Anwar, born with malformed genitals was arrested after he beat and nearly strangled a prostitute who laughed at his misfortune. When Sharavi questions him in jail, he tells him his "manhood" is "worthless" and slaps him when he tries to retaliate. That was disturbing. Anwar's congenital deformity is a parallel to the killer's deformed psyche. Sharavi makes for a very interesting character and I was delighted to see him make a guest appearance in "Survival of the Fittest." This is one of Kellerman's best works.
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Summary: An incredible inside view of a serial killer's mind
Review: Besides being an excellent thriller, portraiting very realistic police work, "The Butcher's Theater" gives a very believable serial killer. I read it in one night, and that had only happened once before to me.
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Summary: Top marks - a gritty thriller in an unusual locale
Review: Detailed and disturbing in its portrait of a demented, racist killer, 'The Butcher's Theatre' delivers plausible and - three cheers - genuinely interesting characters in an unusually exotic location. This is the first of Kellerman's novels I have read, and must confess that it was the setting that initially attracted me. Those who love Israel and Jerusalem can revel in a tale that deals with murder and sexual depravity in a society where bloody family quarrels and the horror of political terrorism are the norms. They can also rejoice, as I did, in descriptions of the city that do justice to its beauty. The tension generated by ignorance and decades of habitual racial intolerance fades as the very different detectives in Sharavi's team learn to resolve their differences and work together to catch a psychopath. As well as the analysis of the serial killer which I suppose, given his psychologist background, is to be expected of Kellerman, he deserves credit for credible insights into the lives of his detectives outside the case. From Sharavi's experiences in the '67 war to Schmeltzer's bitterness over the deaths of his wife and son, finally to North Tel-Aviv rich-kid Cohen and the concept of protekzia; we are presented with characters to think about. In fact, one of my few gripes about a more or less flawless read was the absence of the Chinaman or Schmeltzer in the closing pages. What happened to the latter's burgeoning relationship with Eva, hmm? In conclusion, I had no reservations about the book's ending; I thought it was intriguing, well executed (no pun intended) , not to mention suitably gruesome. The ambiguity surrounding the future of Avi Cohen frustrated me deeply - but only because I was so desperate to tie up all those pesky loose ends! Congratulations to Jonathan Kellerman! I should add that finding out that Pakad Dani Sharavi is due to feature in another novel absolutely made my day. I look forward to renewing our acquaintance. I've not been so impressed with a novel since reading King and Straub's The Talisman, and Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. Both radically different sure, but masterpieces nontheless. 'The Butcher's Theatre' is up there with them. Truly a triumph.
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Summary: Anti-muslim seems to be OK
Review: Having enjoyed Kellerman's Delaware stories,I happened on this one and was stunned by his cultural/racial bias. It is astounding how often the Arabs, Turks, Bedouins, Muslims are described as "sweat stained," "filthy," "lazy" and "shiftless." The idiot Arab boy and the dishonest shop keepers are typical. The Israelis are always industrious, clean, eager to do the job. The "good" Arab detective, Mahoud, isn't even Muslim--he's Christian! The description of the 1947 and 1967 wars are difficult to consume, knowing the complexity of the issues then. This was an old (1988) book, and one hopes that Kellerman will stick to his detective/psychologist stories.
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Summary: Anti-muslim seems to be OK
Review: Having enjoyed Kellerman's Delaware stories,I happened on this one and was stunned by his cultural/racial bias. It is astounding how often the Arabs, Turks, Bedouins, Muslims are described as "sweat stained," "filthy," "lazy" and "shiftless." The idiot Arab boy and the dishonest shop keepers are typical. The Israelis are always industrious, clean, eager to do the job. The "good" Arab detective, Mahoud, isn't even Muslim--he's Christian! The description of the 1947 and 1967 wars are difficult to consume, knowing the complexity of the issues then. This was an old (1988) book, and one hopes that Kellerman will stick to his detective/psychologist stories.
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Summary: One of JK's best
Review: Having read most of this author's books, I found this to be one of, if not the best, of them. It is not part of the established series, which was refreshing to read. I enjoyed it.
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Summary: Kellerman's Finest
Review: I found Butcher's Theater to be a taut, well-written detective story, and those with an interest in mysteries of this sort will find it exciting up until the last page. However, in addition to the detective work, there is wonderful development of the detectives, especially Sharavi, and the Butcher himself. Both of these elements are set in Israel, where race and religious issues dominate the landscape, in a much more explicit way than typcially happens in the states. Before reading this book, I was familiar with Kellerman's Alex Delaware series but had not read any of his other books. After Butcher's Theater, however, I would certainly pursue any other fiction he wrote.
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Summary: Ho-Hum
Review: I have to agree with the majority of views, here. This novel was an odd embarkment from the Alex Delaware series, and didn't really have the flowing plot that you come to expect from a Kellerman read.
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Summary: Interesting description of Israel and of Jewish life.
Review: I like this book better than any of Jonathan Kellerman's other books. Sharavi is an interesting detective and the detail about Israel was really fascinating. I've always found Kellerman's chief drawback as a writer to be his clinical descriptions of the various emotional problems the characters suffer from. Can't they just be interesting without being neurotic or depressed or whatever? I suppose it is because he is a psychologist. There was less of that in this book than in his others.
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Summary: Critique of the book as racist
Review: I read The Butcher's Theatre some years ago, and recently read the reviews featured here. I am surprised that no one commented on the books most striking feature - its racist portrayal of the Arabs, and a corresponding idealisation of Israeli society. The frequent excursions into political history were very baised, and did not advance the plot. Given the authors standpoint, one knew from early on that the killer could not be Jewish, and this detracted from the suspense. The author is a psychologist, yet he shows very little understanding of his own prejudices. The virulent passage in which he accuses Arab men in the Israeli prison camp "Al-Ansar" of homosexuality (of all things - the least of their probelms in that hell hole) was very revealing of Kellerman's own mind. He might like to read some European anti-Semitic fictions from the early 20th century, where Jews are routinely accussed of corruption, murder, lust and homosexuality.
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