The
Harvest Man by Alex Grecian portrays Scotland Yard Murder
Squad detectives pursuing a violent serial killer. The main
plot has the detectives targeting The Harvest Man, while a
secondary plot has detective Walter Day trying to find Jack
the Ripper. These series of books includes a mystery, some
historical facts, and explores the new techniques of evidence
gathering.
The plot begins where the previous book, The Devil’s
Workshop, ends. Readers new to this series might want
to start with the previous book to gain a better understanding
of the characters and their motivations. Regarding the sub-plot
Grecian fully explained in The Devil’s Workshop
how Jack the Ripper was out for revenge against a group of
vigilantes who had captured and tortured him.
Grecian noted, “It is a tight rope walk with every book.
I don’t spell everything out, but try to put in refreshers,
especially since there is a year between books. It is like
watching a TV show where in the first minute they recap what
went on and then start the new show.”
The main plot has the antagonist, The Harvest Man, killing
and mutilating couples by slicing their faces off. This sadistic
killer is named after the spider that hides in attics and
eats the pests. He enters homes during the day and hides out
in the attics until the family retires for the night. In this
installment he has killed the parents of two children, leaving
them orphans whom Inspector Day finds and takes home.
One of the most interesting parts of the book is how the author
explores the transition to modern day crime solving. Introduced
are finger printing techniques, roping off of the crime scenes,
profiling, and drawing sketches of the culprit. Grecian incorporates
his characters doing these duties: Walter Day is the profiler,
Dr. Kingsley is the CSI, Fiona is the sketch artist, while
Nevil Hammersmith is the action hero. These characters compliment
each other with Day (the brains,) Hammersmith (the brawn,)
and Kingsley (the conscious.)
But Grecian is of the mindset that no character is safe except
Claire. He explained, “Partly because I am stubborn
and want those who told me to kill her off to know that is
not going to happen. They will have to put up with her. I
will also give a heads up that at least one of the main character’s
lives will be ended. By the way, those that had the intriguing
theory that Walter Day was Jack are wrong. Regarding Jack
there will be a resolution, but done in my fictional universe,
not the real world theories.”
The author also gave a heads up about his next project due
out in the summer. It is a collection of the first five issues
of his Rasputin comics put into a book. It takes place during
and just after WWI. It will be a fictional version of Rasputin’s
life and times that will include the conspiracy theories.
As with
all his books Grecian likes to take a real-life antagonist
and place him in different fictional settings. He places his
own mindset on what will happen to the criminal, deciding
on a more original version. These books are thrillers set
in the early 20th century, late 19th century. Readers will
be scared and thrilled as they read these gruesome, violent,
dark, and graphic stories.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Reviews
of other titles in this series
The
Devil's Workshop #3
The
Harvest Man #4
Lost
And Gone Forever #5
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