Ragdoll audiobook

Ragdoll is a gritty story that draws comparisons to David Fincher’s superb neo-noir thriller, Se7en. Wolf is the broken lead, propelling the tale forward with his hidden link to the killer, but the viewpoint switches between the various unwitting players in the Ragdoll Killer’s sick game – the future victims trying to outrun their demise, and the police struggling to contain the spiralling situation. Through all this horror though, there’s a streak of typical British humour that Cole shrewdly weaves into his characters’ dialogue. Whether it’s Baxter’s blunt sarcasm or Wolf’s blatant disregard for his impending doom, the characters can and do find the light when faced with the darkest of situations. It makes catching the killer as important to the reader as it is to the police in the book, and when the assassin does finally reveal himself in the heart-racing climax, it’s a scene that you won’t forget in a hurry.

I can't stop thinking about this book, I have a severe book hangover, I just loved everything about it. I found it to be very addicting. This book is incredible! It is complex, thrilling, gripping, exciting and horrendous, all at the same time.Ragdoll opens four years prior to the events of the ‘Ragdoll-Killer’ with a prologue surrounding another investigation which should have been a foregone conclusion. We are then thrown in at the deep end with Wolf being called to a crime scene whereby the body parts of six victims have been se wn together and posed into a macabre ragdoll – but who are the victims, what’s the connection behind the stitching together and why is it pointing towards Wolf’s apartment?! – gruesome and completely creepy! If that’s not enough, Andrea, Wolf’s ex-wife and journalist, receives a letter containing a list of the next victims and the dates they are due to die. What ensues is a race against time not only to protect the individuals on the list but to also understand who the parts of the ragdoll belong to and why the killer has chosen these individuals.I thought the character development was done very well. Wolf is the troubled detective with his own sense of justice, one which has had serious consequences in his past. He is the lone wolf, working with others when he must, but believing he must sometime act alone for the greater good. Baxter is taciturn, hiding a secret that controls her and unsure of her relationship with Wolf. The interaction she has with her colleagues is great to read, as is the working relationship that develops between her and Edwards, her trainee. Edwards, keen to do well since his transfer from Fraud, is initially naïve but grows as the story develops. Driven, focussed and impassioned he is a great counter-balance to the others. Finlay and Simmons, both older officers add comedy to the story and balance out the team.I really am looking forward to book 2 to come out. I think this series is going to be very addictive like this one. The plot was very intriguing!I recommend this book to those that like a dark gritty thriller. Not for the faint of heart.

One sentence review: Complex, fast-paced, darkly funny SYNOPSIS Dismembered body parts of six victims are haphazardly sewn together and pointing into the apartment of disgraced Detective "Wolf" Fawkes. As if the plot isn't thicc enough, Fawkes' ex-wife receives a "hit list" containing the names and future date of death for six targets. Buckle in!!! MY OPINION After b2b 1-star stankers and the nail salon doing me INCREDIBLY dirty, I swung by Canadian Barnes & Nobles (Indigo) to drown my sorrows in more books. This was one of my purchases and I started reading as soon as I got home. Oooohhweee I loved this more than the average bear, which doesn't happen often! and I can't wait to watch the series on Amazon Prime. Hopefully it will be just as juicy. Yeetage of disbelief is required. This is a Criminal Minds crazy crime. BUT the logic of solving a criminal case is still in tact, which is why I don't mind tossin my disbelief to the side. As long as the mechanics of detective work are still based in realism and a clear motive exists, idc how OTT the actual crime is. Fight me!!! (pls don't, I'm very prissy) Anyways. For a debut I was very impressed. The writing was on pizzzzoint. Homie can write. Great showing, minimal telling. Dark humor woven throughout that had me chortling. Butt cheeks were clenched in suspense throughout several scenes. On top of the great writing, he wove an intricate web that kept me guessing. Many moving parts come together in the end but there is a huge ass cliffhanger that had me scrambling online for book #2. This is told in third-person narration, BUT there is a lot of "jumping heads" in one scene without scene breaks, which some might be annoyed with. I also felt there was a lot of distance between the reader and Wolf; homeboy was due to die but seemed nonchalant about it. I would've appreciated more exploration of how one feels when they are literally scheduled to die. There could've been some serious emotional wreckage here. Beware for those who are anti-romance, there is an undercurrent of romantic tension throughout the book which is so subtle it's reminiscent of relationships in Nordic Noir. I'm excited to see how their relationship develops throughout the series. I think I'm becoming a romantic suspense fan????? My main rich homie qualm (google "rich homie quan" to understand the plan on words) is several basic leads weren't investigated. ie: the baddie uses a website to hire wannabe actors for a protest, but there is no follow up by cybercrime to track down the account/IP address etc. It seemed like the author had his mind made up of what would lead to cracking the case and wouldn't consider anything else. He said basic forensics?? NAH. CLUES ONLY UNCOVERED BY METICULOUSLY REVIEWING OLD CASE FILES!!!!!!!! Tbh I know Wolf was the head honcho, but Edmunds was the real hero let's be real. I hope he stays around for the rest of the series. PROS AND CONS Pros: well-written, fast paced, tres juicy case, thicc ass plot, big cliffhanger that leaves the reader wanting more!, complex characters Cons: basic leads weren't chased down in favour for a more complex reveal

Traveling Sisters Group Review by NORMA, BRENDA, KACEEY and KENDALL!!Norma’s rating:  4 stars!Our second pick for our Traveling Sisters Group Read was RAGDOLL by DANIEL COLE and we all had varying thoughts on the ending with this one.RAGDOLL (Detective William Fawkes #1) by DANIEL COLE is a clever, gripping, dark, and an action-packed crime thriller novel that was gory, thrilling, and exciting which moved along at a breakneck speed leaving us feeling a little spent after finishing this novel.DANIEL COLE delivers a fast-paced story here revealing shocking and gruesome scenes to drive the plot instead of adding layers to the plot and the characters. This left some of us a bit confused and needing more juice to grasp some of the happenings within the storyline and at times we felt like we missed something.    Daniel Cole does a great job adding some humor within the dialogue here between our team of detectives taking away some of the tension from the story and had us laughing out loud.  We all loved Edmunds and his character quickly became the favorite part of the story for Kaceey and Kendall.This was an extremely challenging read for us and we were conflicted with the ending.  The story falls apart at the ending for Kaceey and Kendall and they found some things just didn’t add up for them. Driving their rating down. However, for Norma and Brenda it did work for them.  The more Norma thought about this one the more brilliant she thought this novel was.  Would recommend! All of our Traveling Sisters Reviews can be found on our sister blog:http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi...

Detective Sergeant William Oliver Layton Fawkes hasn’t long been reinstated in his job with the metropolitan police. After attacking and harming a suspect in the Old Bailey, seconds after a not-guilty verdict, Wolf and most of his friends understandably thought his career was over. Sectioned, losing his home and his wife, Wolf’s life had pretty much ground to a halt. But then the same suspect was caught red-handed, on the scene of another murder and Wolf was largely vindicated. He was allowed back, possibly hoping for a quieter life. Not a bit of it, because just across the street from his new flat, a gruesome stitched-together corpse is discovered hanging from the ceiling. At least one of the body parts, the head, belonged to the very man Wolf nearly served time for. Within hours a message is received by Wolf’s ex wife, a tv journalist, listing the next victims, starting with the mayor of London and culminating with Wolfe himself. The police investigation becomes some sort of bizarre reality TV show, all conducted in the public eye, with the world’s press running a grotesque live count down to the next murder. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it is original, fast paced and full of surprises.

4.5★Loved this one, and enjoyed the backstory from the author, who was inspired by the TV series 24 with the intrepid, indomitable, seemingly indestructible Jack Bauer, who dies, is resuscitated, etc. If you’ve seen it, you know.Cole wrote this originally as a screenplay (and it would make a GREAT one) and finally turned it into a novel. What a good idea that was! I still think it would make the first of many movies about Detective William Oliver Layton-Fawkes, known by his initials/nickname, Wolf.He’s a big, bloke, apparently attractive to women (some, anyway), and an impulsive, angry man who is driven to mete out violent punishment himself when the justice system fails. Andrea is his beautiful ex-wife, a well-known TV presenter with a new, rich partner, although she still considers Wolf her best friend and most trusted confidante. Their split is no surprise. As DS Baxter warns newcomer Edmunds, who has transferred from Fraud to this high-pressure squad:“‘Marriage. Detective. Divorce. Ask anyone in this room. Marriage. Detective. Divorce . . . Oh hello, this is Detective Sergeant Baxter with the . . .’”See? She didn’t even have time to finish talking to him before she was interrupted, and he discovers the reality of 24/7 policing when hunting a serial killer.I liked both Baxter and Edmunds. She’s got a longstanding police partnership with Wolf, which his wife always suspected was more, and in many ways it was. Edmunds comes across as a clean-cut straight-arrow with a perfectly nice fiancée who’s not happy about his transfer, so he ends up on the sofa a fair bit, no doubt thinking marriage, detective, divorce until he falls asleep, exhausted. They are all always exhausted.There are flashbacks to a few years earlier with a case where the killer went free, Wolf went a bit mad, and life took a turn for the worse for him. Now, several people have been murdered and stitched together to the killer’s head. ACK! When the killer gives the media a list of the next victims and the dates they will die, we meet Andrea. Everything she does seems to escalate the danger and the damage, and Wolf is the last name on the list. The hunt, the chase, the characters are engaging, and the repartee is fun. I’m quoting from my pre-publication copy, so quotes may have changed in the final version. Early in the piece, the cops tackle a man carrying a plain bag.“The DPG officer kept the gun trained on the man and backed towards the bag. He cautiously knelt down beside it and then very, very slowly peered inside. ‘We’ve got some sort of hot wrap,’ he told Wolf, as if identifying a suspicious-looking device. ‘What flavour?’ Wolf called back. ‘What flavour?’ the officer barked. ‘Ham and cheese!’ cried the man on the floor. Wolf grinned: ‘Confiscate it.’”Wolf is old-school, hard-core police, and sensitive, clever new Edmunds has given him a USB stick.“He was growing increasingly frustrated, stubbornly refusing to admit that he had no idea how to play the CCTV footage, trapped inside the stupid little USB stick, through the television. ‘There’s a hole on the side of the telly,’ said Finlay, over fifteen years his senior, as he entered the room. ‘No, on the, down – oh, let me do it.’ Finlay removed the USB drive from an air vent on the back of the television and plugged it in. A blue menu screen materialised containing a single file.But not all modern technology is what it’s cracked up to be when looking over CCTV footage (name omitted to prevent possible spoiler).“‘What about facial recognition?’ ‘You’re joking right?’ laughed Baxter. ‘So far, it’s flagged XX up three times. One was an old Chinese woman, the second was a puddle, and the third was a poster of Justin Bieber!’”Some black humour about a person in protection whom they don’t really like anyway, (name omitted again):“‘Sorry,’ said Edmunds. ‘I’ve got a Constable Castagna on the phone for you about XX.’ ‘I’ll call them back,’ said Wolf. ‘Apparently he’s threatening to jump out of the window.’ ‘Constable Castagna or XX?’ ‘XX.’ ‘To escape or kill himself?’ ‘Fourth floor, so fifty-fifty.’ Wolf smiled at this, and Baxter watched his transformation back into his normal, irreverent self.”But we never lose sight of what a serious business it really is, especially as the detectives rummage through old files in archives, trying to find links, with “the distressing realisation that each and every one of the uniform boxes represented a life lost, lives ruined, all lined up in a tidy row and enjoying the respectful silence like graves in a catacomb.”The plot is complicated, the murders are complex, and I admit I got a bit confused here and there, but I think that was my fault, not the author’s. It was terrific and the half-star missing is only because of some occasional lapses of style that probably won’t bother anybody else (and may even have changed in final editing), so I’m rounding it up. 😊And it would be remiss of me in the extreme not to say you really won't see this twist coming!Many thanks to NetGalley and Trapeze/Hachette Australia for the copy for review. The quotes I’ve used may have changed in the final version.

One body. Six victims. A body part from each sewn together making one complete body. It's a twisted crime, but there is more to it than Detective William Fawkes, also known as Wolf, initially thinks.Wolf was the arresting officer at the center of a controversy. This is his first case back after recently being reinstated. He was suspended and spent time in a mental hospital following his assault of the Cremation Killer (killed 27 girls in 27 days between the ages of 14 & 16) when the verdict was announced not guilty despite him knowing the guy was in fact guilty. Seems they don't take it too kindly when the arresting officer assaults a just recently announced as innocent man in court. He lost everything that day including his marriage and reputation.Now, the crime in question has odd ties to Wolf. The body publicly referred to as "ragdoll" was pointing in Wolf's apartment. And his reporter ex-wife was sent photos anonymously by the killer along with a hit list of six names with dates. The last name on the list is Wolf's. This case is more personal than anyone knows.This being the first in the series is exciting because the characters are fantastically flawed and complex. I enjoyed reading both Wolf and Baxter's perspectives, as well as Andrea and Edmunds. The writing is clever managing to blend the dark mystery with this nice layer of humor. It was all quite brilliant. Sometimes the POV changes within the chapter several times and can get confusing. The voices all felt pretty distinct which helps. I am excited that the sequel is supposed to focus on Baxter as I'd love to learn more about her. If you like engaging, unpredictable thrillers, you might really like this one.

A body has been found with the dismembered parts of 6 victims stitched together like a puppet. Detective William "Wolf" Fawkes is assigned to the case with his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.The killer taunts the police by releasing a list of names and dates that he intends to murder them to the media. Can the police catch the killer before they strike again?Wow. What a wonderful, fast paced, gory filled, well thought out plot. There is a lot of curve balls in this debut novel. Once I started reading, I knew I was not putting this one down until the end. And oh what an end it was. Can't wait to read more from this author.I would like to thank NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and the author Daniel Cole for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first review I read after getting this book was a negative one, and I started it with very low expectations, which is probably why i enjoyed it so much.William Fawkes, or Wolf, has had a rough time of it. In the last four years, he's caught a serial killer, seen him found not-guilty at trial, attempted to kill him, got fired, went to an asylum, got divorced, got released when the killer was caught again and reinstated in the police force.Just another well-balanced individual with an interesting back story...The book begins with the discovery of a body (or bodies), consisting of six individuals sewn together to make "The Ragdoll". And, the way it is posed, it is pointing a finger at Wolf's apartment.With the help of his former partner, Emily Baxter - who also happens to be a close personal friend, and her trainee Alex Edmunds, Wolf sets about identifying the six victims.And then things start getting interesting when his ex-wife, Andrea, who happens to be an ambitious reporter, gets pictures of the crime scene and a hit list from an anonymous source. The hit list contains six names with future dates when they will be killed. The final name on the list is Fawkes himself.Will they be able to piece this puzzle together and figure things out before it is too late? And what personal connection does this killer have with Fawkes?Okay, here are some thoughts on my side:I enjoyed the writing style, even though I had to get used to some of the character names, but managed to get through it without being lost. It read quicker than I thought it would.The characters all had their unique quirks and faults, which made them believable and human, but there were - very few, I admit - times when I couldn't quite buy the reactions.It was around the 42% mark where the movie LAW ABIDING CITIZEN popped in my head. Don't worry, this is not a spoiler, the book is nothing like that. It just reminded me of the seemingly impossible way in which the killer gets to the victims. And therein lies my biggest complaint about this story - the author doesn't explain the HOW at the end, at least not to the point where I could accept it. There were so many variables with the murders, I still can't think of a logical way in which he could have pulled it off.So, I gave this story 4 stars, but it was purely for entertainment value. If I had not been so ready to accept a bad novel, I don't think I would have rated it any higher than 3 stars.

Ha! Ragdoll is Fast, funny, brilliantly unpredictable and scarily horrific.Loved it.One of those books that a lot of people are talking about and you go hmm. Can it really be that good? Well if you like your crime novels to be indecently clever, terribly addictive, with a twist of horror and a huge