The Butcher and the Wren

The writing is incredible, getting almost 1/3 of the way through the book and realizing certain connections are different. There's certainly the horror elements too, with some graphic deaths.

I definitely appreciated the protagonist working cohesively and openly with her team. 

I wish I appreciated the ending as much. 

I really like that Urquhart brought her insider knowledge to the story. Being an autopsy tech probably helped quite a bit. Beyond that, I wasn't too impressed. Having that knowledge, I would have hoped she'd maybe described certain situations better. Honestly, I'm OK with the clinical writing that some did not enjoy, but maybe setting up scenes could have been done better.

I could write a laundry list of complaints, but the only thing I really want to touch on is how badly Urquhart relied on cliches and tropes. For someone who runs a true crime podcast, I had hoped she hadn't used so many as a crutch. For instance, the myth of the genius serial killer is used here. He's smarter than everyone, he always has a plan (until he doesn't), he somehow kills dozens of people in a short amount of time without being caught, etc. Everyone else is one-dimensional and, honestly, pretty bad at their jobs. And that culminates into a poorly done sequel hook for no reason. I'm not tagging that as a spoiler because the book is already titled as “The Butcher and the Wren, #1) on Goodreads. I won't give away details, but another one of the most-used tropes of all time here.

This sort of book reflects poorly on the true crime fandom to be perfectly honest. It turns fascination of the human mind and a wish for victims to be brought to justice into cheap torture porn and exploitation.