The Mercy Chair
Washington Poe, Book 6
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The Mercy Chair
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Gesprochen von:
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John Banks
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Von:
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M. W. Craven
Über diesen Titel
'Mesmerising, macabre and magnificent. The Mercy Chair is truly terrifying, laugh-out-loud funny, and impossibly clever. Poe and Tilly are unstoppable' Chris Whitaker
'Washington Poe is a brilliant creation, from one of the finest and most inventive crime writers of today' Peter James
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Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin . . .
Washington Poe has a story to tell.
And he needs you to listen.
You'll hear how it started with the robber birds. Crows. Dozens of them. Enough for a murder . . .
He'll tell you about a man who was tied to a tree and stoned to death, a man who had tattooed himself with a code so obscure, even the gifted analyst Tilly Bradshaw struggled to break it. He'll tell you how the man's murder was connected to a tragedy that happened fifteen years earlier when a young girl massacred her entire family.
And finally, he'll tell you about the mercy chair. And why people would rather kill themselves than talk about it . . .
Poe hopes you've been paying attention. Because in this story, nothing is as it seems . . .
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'Craven renders the darkness of the human condition with immense skill, ratcheting the tension to a nails-on-chalkboard pitch. Don't turn out the lights.' Vaseem Khan
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Gesamt3 out of 5 stars
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Sprecher5 out of 5 stars
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Geschichte2 out of 5 stars
- M. Ryan
- 03.09.2024
Not like the other Washington Poesi
Loved the series so far, but this one was as different as if it had been written by someone else. Too much blood and gore, not enough Bradshaw and Doyle.
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Gesamt1 out of 5 stars
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Sprecher2 out of 5 stars
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Geschichte1 out of 5 stars
- AmazonKundin
- 06.09.2024
Unpalatable
I discovered the Washington Poe series a couple of years ago and quite liked it. The characters were interesting, the mysteries gripping, and I really enjoyed the humour in the books. I decided to try the audio version for this one. I didn’t know the narrator and didn't like his performance much. I found his tone of voice stilted and unnatural; he often sounds like he's giving a rehearsed speech rather than reading from a book. But the narrator's only a minor annoyance, the main problem was the book itself: The plot, the characters, the structure… It’s all shockingly awful.
The plot:
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The crimes Poe and his team investigate have always been gruesome, violent and far-fetched. I was okay with that because they were rather gripping and often unexpectedly funny. Apparently the author wanted to up the ante in this one, but when you've already used all kinds of gruesome, violent and far-fetched themes, there's very little left to choose from. So he tries to increase suspense and shock effects by pseudo cliffhangers. Most chapters end with a dark foreboding (mostly Poe's) and a variation of “Yes, what you’ve just heard is UNBELIEVABLY cruel and terrifying. But wait till you hear what happens next! It’s going to get even more cruel and more terrifying! You won’t BELIEVE just how cruel and terrifying it’s going to get!!” Spoiler alert: It doesn’t work. There’s only so much shock effect you can squeeze out of the well-worn trope of religious fanatists torturing innocent people. Adding more and more layers of violence, cruelty and plain madness just felt gratuitous. If you get a kick out of cruel, violent fantasies (the sicker, the better), this book is perfect for you. If not, walk away now. Quickly.
The characters:
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My main grievance is with Poe himself: I HATED him in this book. He’s rude, immature, unprofessional, obnoxious. Take his treatment of Linus. It’s probably supposed to be funny, but I found it childish and really off-putting. The Snoopy reference isn't particularly funny to begin with, and Poe repeats it EVERY SINGLE TIME he talks to Linus. He treats him like an idiot throughout the whole book and generally behaves like a schoolyard bully. And none of the others ever puts him in his place, they are totally fine with him his childish, unprofessional behaviour. And Poe doesn’t stop with Linus. Oh no, he’s rude to just about everyone he deems inferior (which applies to most people he meets). And Dr. Lang feels sorry for him because Estelle is a little short with him during an autopsy?! Give me a break! Poe feels superior to almost everyone, routinely ignores other people's opinions and advice and thinks it's okay for him to treat other people like garbage, because he's Washington Poe, the oh-so-great detective. What a creep!
Tilly reels off her usual programme, but it's like she's just going through the motions. She doesn’t add much to the story and remains a minor character throughout. The chemistry between her and Poe is beginning to feel off. Tilly has been with the police long enough and she’s seen and done a lot, but Poe still treats her like a child and she’s totally fine with it. They tell people they're "best friends" at every opportunity, but they don't act like it. Poe acts like an indulgent parent towards her, and she hero-worships him for no discernible reason. When they first met Poe was furious with other people bullying Tilly, yet Tilly seems to have no problem with Poe bullying others.
The structure:
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Poe is telling his story retrospectively to a psychiatrist weeks after the events – not a good idea. It undermines any feeling of danger and suspense, rendering the already ludicrous plot often boring as hell. Poe repeats himself multiple times (or the therapist repeats what he’s said), and the narrative flow is often interrupted by the therapist’s questions and comments – mostly variations on “Poor you! You’ve seen so much! How much you’ve suffered!” By the way, after the events described in previous books and considering his obnoxious behaviour in this one I didn't really buy the whole PTSD/nightmare thing. The author wants us to believe that despite his daredevil actions he’s an oh-so-sensitive soul. Yeah, right. And don’t even get me started on the nightmares-about-crows thing! It’s mentioned early on in the story, and just like the cliffhangers later in the book it’s probably meant to create breathless suspense (“Wow! How incredibly mysterious and intriguing! What on earth could it mean!”). Well, don't expect too much of the "resolution" to this "mystery" (and by 'too much' I mean 'anything at all'), you'll only be disappointed. There's also a twist at the end of the story (apparently a twist at the end is de rigueur for pychological thrillers nowadays), but it's really not worth holding out for. If you listen carefully to the dialogue between Poe and Lang at the beginning of their session, you'll guess what it is (the hint is pretty obvious).
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Bottom line: A waste of time and money (and frankly an insult to readers/listeners). I know M. W. Craven is an established author, but I still wonder how this piece of trash made it past an editor.
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