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Shrike
Shrike: the butcher bird. A creature with a very nasty habit. So says the editor of the local newspaper. But neither he, nor anyone else knows what is behind the spate of brutal killings which sent a shockwave through the town.
They don’t know that a séance was held one dark and stormy night. A séance that went disastrously wrong. Something evil had been summoned from a dark place. For those around the table, the clock is ticking..
And for the whole town, the nightmare is just beginning.
The only clue to its real identity, and its purpose, comes in the terrifying visions of a psychic girl… but who can believe she can see the killings before they actually happen.
It is only when the victims bodies are found impaled in steep, high places that detective Jack Fallon realises the visions are real. And that something evil, and hungry, is stalking the night.
Something that must be stopped and stopped fast. Because Lorna Breck’s latest vision makes it clear that the beast is coming for Jack Fallon, and the people he loves most.
Together, they will have to face it… in the dark.
They don’t know that a séance was held one dark and stormy night. A séance that went disastrously wrong. Something evil had been summoned from a dark place. For those around the table, the clock is ticking..
And for the whole town, the nightmare is just beginning.
The only clue to its real identity, and its purpose, comes in the terrifying visions of a psychic girl… but who can believe she can see the killings before they actually happen.
It is only when the victims bodies are found impaled in steep, high places that detective Jack Fallon realises the visions are real. And that something evil, and hungry, is stalking the night.
Something that must be stopped and stopped fast. Because Lorna Breck’s latest vision makes it clear that the beast is coming for Jack Fallon, and the people he loves most.
Together, they will have to face it… in the dark.
576 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1994
51 people are currently reading
475 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 27, 2016
A Heartbreak Hipster Review
Since Mel Gibson fought for the liberation of Scotland in like ... whenever that movie was set ... England's grumpy upper-tenant has been desperate to prove itself to the rest of the world.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
Some bald guy nobody's ever heard of. Excluding the 60 people that rated this book on ...
Hang on one second. Who the heck's this guy?
"Why, I'm Joe Donnelly. Democratic representative of Indiana".
"Oh, well, I'm sorry, Sir. I was expecting another Joe Donnelly".
"I suppose you want to discuss my thoughts on LGBT rights?"
"Maybe another time, Joe".
"You what?"
"I said, maybe another time".
"Well, what in God's name shall we discuss. Abortions?"
"Now don't be insensitive, Sir. Abortions are a very serious - "
"I'm being serious, goddammit".
"Well, either way, I'm trying to review a book called Shrike".
"What's that?"
"It's a horror novel."
"Just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo weirdy nonsense!!"
"Exactly. Now will you please leave?"
"But I'm an American. I'm from Indiana".
"I'm very pleased for you. I love the Indiana Jones movies".
"Well, thankyou very ... Why, you ignorant son of a - "
"Security!! Remove this man!!"
"But I'm an American!!".
"Yes, you've already said. Now there's the door".
"And I'm a politician!!".
"Good for you. Nice work, by the way, idiot".
"I ... I have a Wikipedia page".
"Good day, Sir!!"
Well, now that that asshole's out of the picture, I can start taking this thing seriously. Enter Joe Donnelly ...
Oh, for goodness sake !!
"You asked for Joe Donnelly?"
"Yes, but you're not him!!"
"According to Google Images, I am!!"
"SECURITY!! SECURITY!!"
"You calling me a liar?"
"Security!! Quickly!! He's fucking enormous!!!"
Good Christ. Sorry to anyone who actually reads this review.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
You might have seen him in that documentary recently. I think it was called Humpty Dumpty: He Fucking Exists!!!.
But when he isn't in the hospital - having his head mended back together - he is also known to write the occasional book.
Shrike never would have appealed to me ... had I not previously read (and liked) one of his previous books, Still Life.
With a title that means shit - and a picture that looks more like Goosebumps - I would have shrugged it off as just some average horror trash.
Absorb this image. This is the Shrike.
Shrike means Butcher Bird means Asshole Who Impales Things On Sharp Stuff Because It's Sickly Amusing.
The basic premise of this book is that some shadowy demon gets out, after a séance goes wrong, and it unleashes its wrath on the quiet town of Levenford.
But don't worry!! Because we've got Mr. Jack Fallon!! The most clichéd detective since every fucking detective that ever existed.
You heard me, idiot. Don't give me that look.
So yeah, if anything fucked this book up, it was the protagonist being that infuriatingly atypical detective.
Let me list some attributes that rank him as this.
1) He is emotionally haunted by the death of his daughter.
2) He is emotionally haunted by the death of his wife.
3) Because of these emotional hauntings, the poor bastard now has alcoholic tendencies.
4) He has a gruff personality, but deep inside, he's just a teddy bear, desperate to be loved.
5) He's lost faith in all humanity. He's an atheist. He rejects all ideas that aren't grounded with fact. At least, he does, until the novel realizes it's a fucking horror story, and thus cannot reach any conclusion if the stubborn asshole doesn't shift his beliefs.
You know what I'd like? Just for a fucking change?
A detective that's actually happy!!!
Meet Detective Summers. Happiness is his middle name.
This jolly chap is so popular than even the rapists he put behind bars have added him on Facebook. He has a retarded son, but it doesn't bother him. He loves his son dearly, and often takes him fishing, teaches him how to chat up all the girls in Special Needs without copping a sharpened pencil in the leg.
He doesn't even mind that his newborn baby has black skin, and he chooses to agree with his oddly-evasive wife ... in that their baby's complexion was due to their recent holiday in Uganda, in which they ate nothing but African food.
Mr. Summers - or Inspector Summers, if you please - is like, so content with his situation in life, that he even volunteers for the local Fire Brigade in the summer.
(Granted, that doesn't mean much in the United Kingdome, but you get my drift).
But no. We get the dark, brooding antihero, who is still blaming himself for the death of his spouse and child.
The clichéd idiot who gets generic flashbacks of them smiling at him on a beach, or in the sunset or some old bullshit. We, as the readers, have to put up with the same tired routine of Fallon not believing in all that "mumbo-jumbo", when obviously the "killer" is not human. We're supposed to feel excitement when he finally puts his haggis aside, decides to take action, and starts listening to the psychic contrivance that is Lorna Breck.
Because every detective story these days needs a psychic. And is she an interesting and original character? Anyone?
Anyone else? I swear to God, this class ...
The answer is no. That's ten points from Gryffindor.
No. Lorna Breck is not an interesting character. And apart from being insufferably annoying, she might as well not exist. And by annoying, I mean she spends most of the time whimpering.
Oh, Jack this, and Oh, Jack that.
Oh, I can feel its pain!! Oh, I can feel its hurt!!
She'll be feeling this if she doesn't shut the fuck up!!
Oh, and we also have Jack's immediate superior, Ronald Cowie. The "handshaker" who does nothing but act like an asshole.
The guy is such a bloody moustache twirler that he literally has a moustache. An ordinary except would go like this:
Jack Fallon shook his head, futilely attempting to rid himself of the gruesome image. His dead daughter staring at him.
"We need to act now, sir!! We're running out of time".
"I make the calls around here, son" Cowie ejaculated, twirling his moustache. "And don't you be forgetting who's in charge of this operation".
Jack couldn't believe his ears. Had to be the whiskey talking.
"With all due respect, sir, innocent people may die!!"
"Too right they will, boy," Cowie drawled with a grin. "Now go and make me a pot of coffee, pronto".
Jack stormed out of the office. Cowie cackled behind him.
He made the man his coffee. But he used Double-Cream milk, instead of Skim.
But what I found the least to my satisfaction was the thing itself. So this monster is basically a shadow, which was summoned up during a disastrous séance.
And this thing goes about snatching children, killing people, and even possessing its victims into doing some terrible things ... like commit suicide, or write an essay on the political significance of the Dixie Chicks, which basically amounts to the same thing.
And to Mr. Donnelly's credit, this rather silly concept is actually made kind of scary - for the fact that he cleverly describes it, by simply not describing it at all.
You never get a clear impression of what it actually is. And while the countless death-scenes do make up an entire three quarters of the book - becoming so commonplace that when they do come about, you could practically skip through the next fifteen pages, and just assume the worst - they are quite effective when looked at individually.
If you are still reading this overblown review, then you might be wondering why in Fuck's name I've given the book three stars, when I only seem to be criticizing it.
Well, smartass, give me a chance and I'll tell you!!
Like I said before, the parts in which people got killed were very disturbingly written. The Shrike itself turned out to be a genuine middle-finger to the audience, but until its stupid appearance is finally revealed, Donnelly's ambiguous execution works well.
I might sound like a nutcase in admitting this. But I appreciated the fact that he didn't shy away from killing not just children ... but cute little babies, as well.
His writing - while overly-descriptive, and often repetitive - was quite good. I must say, it did mark a notable improvement since his last book. (Not that Still Life was badly written, either).
And even though I spat the dummy last night - in having bitched about the climax (or lack there of) - there was one short scene at the very end, set in a mental institution some time after the main story, which was annoyingly awesome, that I now feel compelled to give the damned book back its three-star rating.
Way to make me swallow my resolve, asshole ...
Anyway - before this old bastard gives me the back of his hand - I ought to finish this shit off.
I find myself constantly apologizing for my reviews now - just on the off hope that they will be more popular than my face and my personality allowed me to be in High School - and, in keeping to that tradition, let me apologize once again.
I'm Sorry. Lord knows I'm sorry.
There's much more I could have said about this book.
But to sum it up in one sentence, I'll just say "It was too long and too clichéd. It had shitty characters for whom I didn't care about in the slightest. But Hey, the writing was decent. And there were some really cool parts as well. Overall I did quite enjoy this book. But my God, I am glad to be done with it".
I guess that was more than one sentence, but -
OH SHIT, HE'S COMING!!!!!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I'm supposed to be making a running joke out of this last nit-picky section now.
Let's get started then.
But being the throbbing tumour of heartache that I am ... there are still a few matters which I can't quite put aside here.
Not without swerving onto the wrong side of the road - at that very last second - when my ex-girlfriend comes cruising down towards me and doesn't wave ...
1) When I said before that Joe Donnelly's writing gets a little bit repetitive, I should have been incriminated for making such an understatement. There were certain lines in this book that just infuriated me. You want examples? Okay, how about the way he always describes the monster's horrible voice as sounding like "stone grinding against stone", "stone grating against stone", "stone scraping against stone", "stone crumbling against stone" - YOU GET MY FUCKING POINT!!!!
2) Whenever someone feels scared in this book, they unfailingly show it in two identical ways. Firstly, their mouths "fall agape", and secondly, their eyes "Grow wide, like narrow diamonds of bottomless terror".
3) I've never liked the use of the word "hurt" - not when it's used in a sentence like, "Oh, Jack, I can sense the hurt!!". It just feels lame to me, and I don't know why. The only time "hurt" sounds appropriate is in a sentence like, "No word in the thesaurus will effectively explain how much I am going to hurt you. Come here, you little bastard!!!"
4) At the beginning of the book, as a means to make Jack more likeable to the discerning horror reader, it is stated that he has no opinion either way as to the existence of ghosts. He keeps an open mind. Except Donnelly obviously forgot about that part, because for the rest of the story, Jack stubbornly refuses all hints of supernaturalism when it's staring him right in the face!!!
5) Aside from being just plain sappy and lame, Jack also has a strangely intimate relationship with his sister. Like, he spanks her and rustles her hair, and knocks hips with her and all that. Fucking, he runs baths for her and strokes her hair. Tell me that isn't creepy!!
More Reviews here:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...
Since Mel Gibson fought for the liberation of Scotland in like ... whenever that movie was set ... England's grumpy upper-tenant has been desperate to prove itself to the rest of the world.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
Some bald guy nobody's ever heard of. Excluding the 60 people that rated this book on ...
Hang on one second. Who the heck's this guy?
"Why, I'm Joe Donnelly. Democratic representative of Indiana".
"Oh, well, I'm sorry, Sir. I was expecting another Joe Donnelly".
"I suppose you want to discuss my thoughts on LGBT rights?"
"Maybe another time, Joe".
"You what?"
"I said, maybe another time".
"Well, what in God's name shall we discuss. Abortions?"
"Now don't be insensitive, Sir. Abortions are a very serious - "
"I'm being serious, goddammit".
"Well, either way, I'm trying to review a book called Shrike".
"What's that?"
"It's a horror novel."
"Just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo weirdy nonsense!!"
"Exactly. Now will you please leave?"
"But I'm an American. I'm from Indiana".
"I'm very pleased for you. I love the Indiana Jones movies".
"Well, thankyou very ... Why, you ignorant son of a - "
"Security!! Remove this man!!"
"But I'm an American!!".
"Yes, you've already said. Now there's the door".
"And I'm a politician!!".
"Good for you. Nice work, by the way, idiot".
"I ... I have a Wikipedia page".
"Good day, Sir!!"
Well, now that that asshole's out of the picture, I can start taking this thing seriously. Enter Joe Donnelly ...
Oh, for goodness sake !!
"You asked for Joe Donnelly?"
"Yes, but you're not him!!"
"According to Google Images, I am!!"
"SECURITY!! SECURITY!!"
"You calling me a liar?"
"Security!! Quickly!! He's fucking enormous!!!"
Good Christ. Sorry to anyone who actually reads this review.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
You might have seen him in that documentary recently. I think it was called Humpty Dumpty: He Fucking Exists!!!.
But when he isn't in the hospital - having his head mended back together - he is also known to write the occasional book.
Shrike never would have appealed to me ... had I not previously read (and liked) one of his previous books, Still Life.
With a title that means shit - and a picture that looks more like Goosebumps - I would have shrugged it off as just some average horror trash.
Absorb this image. This is the Shrike.
Shrike means Butcher Bird means Asshole Who Impales Things On Sharp Stuff Because It's Sickly Amusing.
The basic premise of this book is that some shadowy demon gets out, after a séance goes wrong, and it unleashes its wrath on the quiet town of Levenford.
But don't worry!! Because we've got Mr. Jack Fallon!! The most clichéd detective since every fucking detective that ever existed.
You heard me, idiot. Don't give me that look.
So yeah, if anything fucked this book up, it was the protagonist being that infuriatingly atypical detective.
Let me list some attributes that rank him as this.
1) He is emotionally haunted by the death of his daughter.
2) He is emotionally haunted by the death of his wife.
3) Because of these emotional hauntings, the poor bastard now has alcoholic tendencies.
4) He has a gruff personality, but deep inside, he's just a teddy bear, desperate to be loved.
5) He's lost faith in all humanity. He's an atheist. He rejects all ideas that aren't grounded with fact. At least, he does, until the novel realizes it's a fucking horror story, and thus cannot reach any conclusion if the stubborn asshole doesn't shift his beliefs.
You know what I'd like? Just for a fucking change?
A detective that's actually happy!!!
Meet Detective Summers. Happiness is his middle name.
This jolly chap is so popular than even the rapists he put behind bars have added him on Facebook. He has a retarded son, but it doesn't bother him. He loves his son dearly, and often takes him fishing, teaches him how to chat up all the girls in Special Needs without copping a sharpened pencil in the leg.
He doesn't even mind that his newborn baby has black skin, and he chooses to agree with his oddly-evasive wife ... in that their baby's complexion was due to their recent holiday in Uganda, in which they ate nothing but African food.
Mr. Summers - or Inspector Summers, if you please - is like, so content with his situation in life, that he even volunteers for the local Fire Brigade in the summer.
(Granted, that doesn't mean much in the United Kingdome, but you get my drift).
But no. We get the dark, brooding antihero, who is still blaming himself for the death of his spouse and child.
The clichéd idiot who gets generic flashbacks of them smiling at him on a beach, or in the sunset or some old bullshit. We, as the readers, have to put up with the same tired routine of Fallon not believing in all that "mumbo-jumbo", when obviously the "killer" is not human. We're supposed to feel excitement when he finally puts his haggis aside, decides to take action, and starts listening to the psychic contrivance that is Lorna Breck.
Because every detective story these days needs a psychic. And is she an interesting and original character? Anyone?
Anyone else? I swear to God, this class ...
The answer is no. That's ten points from Gryffindor.
No. Lorna Breck is not an interesting character. And apart from being insufferably annoying, she might as well not exist. And by annoying, I mean she spends most of the time whimpering.
Oh, Jack this, and Oh, Jack that.
Oh, I can feel its pain!! Oh, I can feel its hurt!!
She'll be feeling this if she doesn't shut the fuck up!!
Oh, and we also have Jack's immediate superior, Ronald Cowie. The "handshaker" who does nothing but act like an asshole.
The guy is such a bloody moustache twirler that he literally has a moustache. An ordinary except would go like this:
Jack Fallon shook his head, futilely attempting to rid himself of the gruesome image. His dead daughter staring at him.
"We need to act now, sir!! We're running out of time".
"I make the calls around here, son" Cowie ejaculated, twirling his moustache. "And don't you be forgetting who's in charge of this operation".
Jack couldn't believe his ears. Had to be the whiskey talking.
"With all due respect, sir, innocent people may die!!"
"Too right they will, boy," Cowie drawled with a grin. "Now go and make me a pot of coffee, pronto".
Jack stormed out of the office. Cowie cackled behind him.
He made the man his coffee. But he used Double-Cream milk, instead of Skim.
But what I found the least to my satisfaction was the thing itself. So this monster is basically a shadow, which was summoned up during a disastrous séance.
And this thing goes about snatching children, killing people, and even possessing its victims into doing some terrible things ... like commit suicide, or write an essay on the political significance of the Dixie Chicks, which basically amounts to the same thing.
And to Mr. Donnelly's credit, this rather silly concept is actually made kind of scary - for the fact that he cleverly describes it, by simply not describing it at all.
You never get a clear impression of what it actually is. And while the countless death-scenes do make up an entire three quarters of the book - becoming so commonplace that when they do come about, you could practically skip through the next fifteen pages, and just assume the worst - they are quite effective when looked at individually.
If you are still reading this overblown review, then you might be wondering why in Fuck's name I've given the book three stars, when I only seem to be criticizing it.
Well, smartass, give me a chance and I'll tell you!!
Like I said before, the parts in which people got killed were very disturbingly written. The Shrike itself turned out to be a genuine middle-finger to the audience, but until its stupid appearance is finally revealed, Donnelly's ambiguous execution works well.
I might sound like a nutcase in admitting this. But I appreciated the fact that he didn't shy away from killing not just children ... but cute little babies, as well.
His writing - while overly-descriptive, and often repetitive - was quite good. I must say, it did mark a notable improvement since his last book. (Not that Still Life was badly written, either).
And even though I spat the dummy last night - in having bitched about the climax (or lack there of) - there was one short scene at the very end, set in a mental institution some time after the main story, which was annoyingly awesome, that I now feel compelled to give the damned book back its three-star rating.
Way to make me swallow my resolve, asshole ...
Anyway - before this old bastard gives me the back of his hand - I ought to finish this shit off.
I find myself constantly apologizing for my reviews now - just on the off hope that they will be more popular than my face and my personality allowed me to be in High School - and, in keeping to that tradition, let me apologize once again.
I'm Sorry. Lord knows I'm sorry.
There's much more I could have said about this book.
But to sum it up in one sentence, I'll just say "It was too long and too clichéd. It had shitty characters for whom I didn't care about in the slightest. But Hey, the writing was decent. And there were some really cool parts as well. Overall I did quite enjoy this book. But my God, I am glad to be done with it".
I guess that was more than one sentence, but -
OH SHIT, HE'S COMING!!!!!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I'm supposed to be making a running joke out of this last nit-picky section now.
Let's get started then.
But being the throbbing tumour of heartache that I am ... there are still a few matters which I can't quite put aside here.
Not without swerving onto the wrong side of the road - at that very last second - when my ex-girlfriend comes cruising down towards me and doesn't wave ...
1) When I said before that Joe Donnelly's writing gets a little bit repetitive, I should have been incriminated for making such an understatement. There were certain lines in this book that just infuriated me. You want examples? Okay, how about the way he always describes the monster's horrible voice as sounding like "stone grinding against stone", "stone grating against stone", "stone scraping against stone", "stone crumbling against stone" - YOU GET MY FUCKING POINT!!!!
2) Whenever someone feels scared in this book, they unfailingly show it in two identical ways. Firstly, their mouths "fall agape", and secondly, their eyes "Grow wide, like narrow diamonds of bottomless terror".
3) I've never liked the use of the word "hurt" - not when it's used in a sentence like, "Oh, Jack, I can sense the hurt!!". It just feels lame to me, and I don't know why. The only time "hurt" sounds appropriate is in a sentence like, "No word in the thesaurus will effectively explain how much I am going to hurt you. Come here, you little bastard!!!"
4) At the beginning of the book, as a means to make Jack more likeable to the discerning horror reader, it is stated that he has no opinion either way as to the existence of ghosts. He keeps an open mind. Except Donnelly obviously forgot about that part, because for the rest of the story, Jack stubbornly refuses all hints of supernaturalism when it's staring him right in the face!!!
5) Aside from being just plain sappy and lame, Jack also has a strangely intimate relationship with his sister. Like, he spanks her and rustles her hair, and knocks hips with her and all that. Fucking, he runs baths for her and strokes her hair. Tell me that isn't creepy!!
More Reviews here:
https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...
November 10, 2025
3.5/4 stars.
Really enjoyed this. It was great to read a horror novel set in a small Scottish town on the west coast during a harsh winter and get properly sucked into the atmosphere of it. The only thing holding it back is that the author can be a bit of a yapper. I feel like this could easily have been 150 pages shorter and it would’ve packed a much bigger punch.
Really enjoyed this. It was great to read a horror novel set in a small Scottish town on the west coast during a harsh winter and get properly sucked into the atmosphere of it. The only thing holding it back is that the author can be a bit of a yapper. I feel like this could easily have been 150 pages shorter and it would’ve packed a much bigger punch.
February 1, 2025
A horror written in the 90s with that true 90s feel. Sign me up! A creature feature. Sign me up again! This book is the type of horror I loved reading in my teens and twenties. It makes no apologies for celebrating scenes of dismemberment and death. It has a creature that's creepy. And it's set in a small town that's dark and atmospheric. And it has a hero that has no clue as to what's happening. All ingredients for a great creature feature.
The two things that let this down are many of the attacks are relayed to the reader in more than one section. We have the real time attack. Then we have a character who experiences it. We're give both scenes, and we only need one. It felt like filler. It was repetitive. The second thing is where Jack Fallon, our hero and a police detective, constantly battles with his superior. It didn't need to occur so often. We understood their tensions. It needed a line drawn in the sand to complete that arc and be done with it. It was distracting from the horror.
Other than those two things, this was horror entertainment. It was a great read. I do like 90s horror. I need more from this author.
The two things that let this down are many of the attacks are relayed to the reader in more than one section. We have the real time attack. Then we have a character who experiences it. We're give both scenes, and we only need one. It felt like filler. It was repetitive. The second thing is where Jack Fallon, our hero and a police detective, constantly battles with his superior. It didn't need to occur so often. We understood their tensions. It needed a line drawn in the sand to complete that arc and be done with it. It was distracting from the horror.
Other than those two things, this was horror entertainment. It was a great read. I do like 90s horror. I need more from this author.
May 30, 2022
First off, now that's a horror novel cover!
I sadly only have more of Donnelly's novels from the 90s to go. What can I say that I haven't said about all the others? Dark and thrilling, and always nice to go back to the Scottish settings he does so well. Here, instead of the villages and sprawling countryside, we see a different side of Scotland; an old industrial town with aging, rusted warehouses, empty shipyards, and brick towers.
We also have a more traditional cop on the search of a serial killer that may or not be human. Reminded me of Relic by Preston and Child. All manner of typical Donnelly nastiness ensues.
As always, recommend everything by this guy. Shame I only have one more to go! I might have to savour it.
I sadly only have more of Donnelly's novels from the 90s to go. What can I say that I haven't said about all the others? Dark and thrilling, and always nice to go back to the Scottish settings he does so well. Here, instead of the villages and sprawling countryside, we see a different side of Scotland; an old industrial town with aging, rusted warehouses, empty shipyards, and brick towers.
We also have a more traditional cop on the search of a serial killer that may or not be human. Reminded me of Relic by Preston and Child. All manner of typical Donnelly nastiness ensues.
As always, recommend everything by this guy. Shame I only have one more to go! I might have to savour it.
February 22, 2023
A horror book with a decent premise and the makings of a creature that is truly terrifying. I enjoyed the characters and the general atmosphere of Shrike however I felt the pacing and sheer length of the story did it no favours and really dragged out what I felt should have been a snappy pulp horror. Decent points for originality but definitely a bit of a slog to get through.
June 14, 2013
My favourite book of all time by Mr Donnelly, loved it from the moment I picked it up. A definite re-read over and over again (about 6 times now I've read it). If you like to be chilled a definite book to read, and I bet you don't put the lights out to go to sleep aftewards!
July 5, 2023
One of the more enjoyable re-reads of late. An epic creature-feature with a truly scary monster and some great set-pieces. Some really intense stuff in here too, given many of the victims are children. I'd forgotten a lot of what happened but I can see the influence it's had on much of what I write myself.
Read
February 9, 2014Since Mel Gibson fought for the liberation of Scotland in like ... whenever that movie was set ... England's grumpy upper-tenant has been desperate to prove itself to the rest of the world.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
Some bald guy nobody's ever heard of. Excluding the 60 people that rated this book on ...
Hang on one second. Who the heck's this guy?
"Why, I'm Joe Donnelly. Democratic representative of Indiana".
"Oh, well, I'm sorry, Sir. I was expecting another Joe Donnelly".
"I suppose you want to discuss my thoughts on LGBT rights?"
"Maybe another time, Joe".
"You what?"
"I said, maybe another time".
"Well, what in God's name shall we discuss. Abortions?"
"Now don't be insensitive, Sir. Abortions are a very serious - "
"I'm being serious, goddammit".
"Well, either way, I'm trying to review a book called Shrike".
"What's that?"
"It's a horror novel - "
"Just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo weirdy nonsense!!"
"Exactly. Now will you please leave?"
"But I'm an American. I'm from Indiana".
"I'm very pleased for you. I love the Indiana Jones movies".
"Well, thankyou very ... Why, you ignorant son of a - "
"Security!! Remove this man!!"
"But I'm an American!!".
"Yes, you've already said. Now there's the door".
"And I'm a politician!!".
"Good for you. Nice work, by the way, idiot".
"I ... I have a Wikipedia page".
"Good day, Sir!!"
Well, now that that asshole's out of the picture, I can start taking this thing seriously.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
Oh, for goodness sake!!
"You asked for Joe Donnelly?"
"Yes, but you're not him!!"
"According to Google Images, I am!!"
"SECURITY!! SECURITY!!"
"You calling me a liar?"
"Security!! Quickly!! He's fucking enormous!!!"
Good Christ. Sorry to anyone who actually reads this review.
Enter Joe Donnelly ...
You might have seen him in that recent documentary. I think it was called Humpty Dumpty: He Fucking Exists!!.
But he also writes books from time to time.
Shrike never would have appealed to me ... had I not previously read (and liked) one of his previous books, Still Life.
With a title that means shit - and a picture that looks more like Goosebumps - I would have shrugged it off as just some average horror trash.
Absorb this image. This is the Shrike.
Shrike means Butcher Bird means Asshole Who Impales Things On Sharp Stuff Because It's Sickly Amusing.
The basic premise of this book is that some shadowy demon gets out, after a séance goes wrong, and it unleashes its evil wrath on the quiet town of Levenford.
But don't worry!! Because we've got Mr. Jack Fallon!! The most clichéd detective since every fucking detective that ever existed.
You heard me, idiot. Don't give me that look
So yeah, if anything fucked this book up, it was the protagonist being that infuriatingly atypical detective.
Let me list some attributes that rank him as this.
1) He is emotionally haunted by the death of his daughter.
2) He is emotionally haunted by the death of his wife.
3) Because of these emotional hauntings, the poor bastard now has alcoholic tendencies.
4) He has a gruff personality, but deep inside, he's just a teddy bear, desperate to be loved.
5) He's lost faith in all humanity. He's an atheist. He rejects all ideas that aren't grounded with fact. At least, he does until the novel realizes it's a fucking horror story and thus cannot reach any conclusion if the stubborn asshole doesn't shift his beliefs.
You know what I'd like? Just for a fucking change?
A detective that's actually happy!!!
Meet Detective Summers. Happiness is his middle name.
This jolly chap is so popular than even the rapists he put behind bars have added him on Facebook. He has a retarded son, but it doesn't matter to him. He loves his son dearly, and takes him out fishing, teaches him how to chat up all the girls in special needs, without copping a sharpened pencil in the leg.
He's so freaking happy that he isn't bothered by the fact that his newborn baby is black. He chooses to believe his oddly evasive wife, in that the baby's complexion was due to their recent stay in Uganda, where they ate nothing but African food.
Mr. Summers - or Inspector Summers, if you please - is like, so content with his situation in life, that he even volunteers for the local Fire Brigade in the summer.
(Granted, that doesn't mean much in the United Kingdome, but you get my drift).
But no. We get the dark, brooding antihero, who is still blaming himself for the death of his spouse and child.
The clichéd idiot who sees generic flashbacks of them smiling at him on a beach, or in the sunset or some old bullshit. We, as the readers, have to put up with the same tired routine of Fallon not believing in all that "mumbo-jumbo", when obviously the "killer" is not human. We're supposed to feel excitement when he finally shoves his haggis aside, decides to start taking action, and starts believing the psychic contrivance that is Lorna Breck.
Because every detective story these days needs a psychic. And is she an interesting and original character? Anyone?
Anyone else? I swear to God, this class ...
The answer is no. That's ten points from Gryffindor.
No. Lorna Breck is not an interesting character. And apart from being insufferably annoying, she might as well not exist. And by annoying, I mean she spends most of the time whimpering.
Oh, Jack this, and Oh, Jack that.
Oh, I can feel its pain!! Oh, I can feel its hurt!!
She'll be feeling THIS if she doesn't shut the fuck up.
Oh, and we also have Jack's immediate superior, Ronald Cowie. The "handshaker" who does nothing but act like an asshole.
The guy is such a bloody moustache twirler that he literally has a moustache. An ordinary excerpt would go like this:
Jack Fallon shook his head, futilely attempting to rid himself of the gruesome image. His daughter lay dead staring at him.
"We need to act now, sir!! We're running out of time".
"I make the calls around here, son" Cowie ejaculated, twirling his moustache. "And don't you be forgetting who's in charge of this operation".
Jack couldn't believe his ears. Must be the whiskey talking.
"With all due respect, sir, innocent people may die!!"
"Too right they will, boy," Cowie drawled with a grin. "Now go and make me a pot of coffee, pronto".
Jack stormed out of the office. Cowie cackled behind him.
He made the man his coffee. But he used Double-Cream milk instead of Skim.
But what I found the least to my satisfaction ... was the Shrike itself. So this monster is basically a shadow that was summoned up during a disastrous séance. Okay ... I can buy that.
Shit happens, I guess.
And this thing goes about snatching babies, murdering people, and even possessing its victims into doing terrible things ... like commit suicide, and write essays on the political importance of the Dixie Chicks, which basically amounts to the same thing.
And to Mr. Donnelly's credit, this rather silly concept is actually made kind of scary, simply for the fact that he cleverly describes it without really describing it at all.
You never get a clear sense of what it actually is. And though the countless death-scenes do make up a staggering three-quarters of the book - becoming so predictable, that whenever they come about, you could feasibly skip the next ten pages and just assume the worst - they are quite effective when looked at individually.
If you are still reading this overblown review, then you might be wondering why in Fuck's name I've given the book three stars, when I only seem to be criticizing it.
Well, smartass, let me finish and I'll fucking tell you.
Like I said before, the parts in which people got killed were quite disturbingly written. The Shrike itself turned out to be a genuine middle-finger to the audience, but until it's stupid appearance is revealed, Donnelly's ambiguous execution works very well.
I might sound a bit like a nutcase in admitting this, but I actually appreciated the fact that he didn't shy away from killing not just children, but babies, as well.
His writing - while overly-descriptive, and often repetitive - was good nonetheless. I must say, it marked a notable improvement since his last book. (Not that Still Life was badly written, either).
And even though I spat the dummy last night - in having bitched about the climax - there was also a very quick chapter at the very end - set in a mental institution, some time after the main story - which was annoyingly awesome that I now feel compelled to give the damned book back its three-star rating.
Way to make me swallow my resolve, asshole.
Anyway - before this old bastard gives me the back of his hand - I really ought to finish this shit off.
I find myself constantly apologizing for my reviews now - just on the off hope that they will be more popular than my face enabled me to be in high school - and in keeping to that tradition, I'll give an apology once more. I'm Sorry. Lord knows I'm sorry.
There's much more I could said about this book.
But to sum it up in one sentence, I'll just say "It was too long and too clichéd. It had shitty characters for whom I didn't care about in the slightest. But Hey, the writing was decent, and there were some really cool parts as well. Overall I did quite enjoy this book. But my God, I am glad to be done with it".
I guess that was more than one sentence, but -
OH SHIT, HE'S COMING!!!!!
May 12, 2025
A little too slow and lots of typos
I read this book on recommendation from a TikTok review that I saw that said it was one of the scariest books they had ever read. It was too slow for me. Lots of stories all interwoven but after reading 60% of the book it was no further into def mint the characters or the trajectory of the story than it was when I was 10% of the way through. In addition, the Kindle version of the book is full of typos, far more than I have ever seen in any book (paper or digital). It seemed as if the book had not undergone any editing at all. In a few places, the typos made it difficult to read. At 70% of the way through, I quit reading. It just wasn’t interesting enough to keep me engaged and life is too short and there are way too many amazing books for me to spend any more of my time on this one.
I read this book on recommendation from a TikTok review that I saw that said it was one of the scariest books they had ever read. It was too slow for me. Lots of stories all interwoven but after reading 60% of the book it was no further into def mint the characters or the trajectory of the story than it was when I was 10% of the way through. In addition, the Kindle version of the book is full of typos, far more than I have ever seen in any book (paper or digital). It seemed as if the book had not undergone any editing at all. In a few places, the typos made it difficult to read. At 70% of the way through, I quit reading. It just wasn’t interesting enough to keep me engaged and life is too short and there are way too many amazing books for me to spend any more of my time on this one.
September 26, 2025
OMG, this was epic. I loved it, and hated it. Hated it because it took me forever to finish. This is over 550 pages long. For a horror novel that is considered very long.
Joe Donnelly really sets the tone here. Lots of descriptions of a small Scottish town and its people. Joe Donnelly is an excellent author but he is not American , so some words or sayings were unfamiliar to me. What you get here is a very graphic and tense and at times disturbing creature story. A evil force is released during a seance, and the local authorities are scratching their heads trying to figure out who or what is doing the killings. This was a great story but it just went on way too long. Worth checking out if you have read his other books and are familiar with his writing style. This book requires patience to get thru, but the payoff is great.
Joe Donnelly really sets the tone here. Lots of descriptions of a small Scottish town and its people. Joe Donnelly is an excellent author but he is not American , so some words or sayings were unfamiliar to me. What you get here is a very graphic and tense and at times disturbing creature story. A evil force is released during a seance, and the local authorities are scratching their heads trying to figure out who or what is doing the killings. This was a great story but it just went on way too long. Worth checking out if you have read his other books and are familiar with his writing style. This book requires patience to get thru, but the payoff is great.
October 11, 2024
I first read this book about 20 years ago and I’ve never forgotten it and always wanted to read it again and there are not that many books I can honestly say that about. The resultant nightmare let loose by a failed seance is really the stuff of nightmares, well written some gory set pieces and interesting characters make this a fantastic read and I look forward to more by Mr Donnelly s as soon as I can.
November 12, 2019
One of the greatest horror books I’ve ever read and such a beautiful and classic writing style. How have more people not read this book?! I’m perplexed.
November 28, 2020
Enjoyed it thoroughly mostly due to his writing style.
Read
June 24, 2021A good horror story to read. Well written and entertaining
June 30, 2022
My first Joe Donnelly book and a great read. Definite page turner and a great mix of suspense and horror. Will certainly be looking for more by this author!
January 18, 2023
I verily enjoyed book it kept my interest from cover to cover I would to know if there is a follow to this book
November 14, 2025
Loved the set up and it's unrelenting misery and panic. Ending was a little cut and dried. a little too much and then this happened. but overall a thrilling book.
July 23, 2022
I don't read a lot of horror but when I do read it I really enjoy it.
I enjoyed this book a lot right up until the end where it kind of lost me a bit. I found the ending a bit unconvincing and wrapped up really quickly.
I enjoyed this book a lot right up until the end where it kind of lost me a bit. I found the ending a bit unconvincing and wrapped up really quickly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2015
This would have received a higher rating if the writing had been more terse and less repetitive. Most of the abductions/murders are told from at least two viewpoints - the narrator's as it unfolds, and the medium/psychic's as she see it a few pages later. In some cases there's even a third telling as she recounts what she saw to the detective. This is disappointing because otherwise I enjoyed the plot.
July 6, 2024
Cosy Scottish horror with that unmistakable nineties vibe.
Read
June 7, 2011i was not fond of this book, it dragged on a bit
March 19, 2013
my first ever donnelly read thats had me hooked on this author for yrs. was totally drawn into this story and as with others read several times.
January 5, 2017
A creepy horror story and very gory
November 11, 2020
One of the best books I’ve ever read and a horror that for me will be hard to be beaten. So original and very creepy if you like horror you will love this
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