Que Sofram as Crianças

D.I. Staffe #1

by Adam Creed, Paulo Reis (Translator), Sergio Moraes Rego (Translator)

Na véspera de sua partida para uma viagem de férias, o inspetor Staffe é convocado à cena de um horrendo crime: um conhecido pedófilo foi cruelmente assassinado na própria casa. E isso é apenas o início de uma onda de violência que se espalha pela cidade.

Com a suspeita de que vítimas de molestadores ou seus parentes possam ter começado a se vingar por conta própria, ele se vê obrigado a proteger os potenciais alvos: pedófilos que os tribunais falharam em condenar.

A situação divide opiniões — não só na equipe do inspetor como em todo o país —, colocando em xeque toda a noção de justiça. No entanto, determinado a fazer o que sua consciência julga ser o correto, Staffe tenta pôr um fim à violência que assombra a cidade.

• “Mordaz, provocativo e visceral. Um expoente do novo romance policial inglês.” – The Independent

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook

350 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Adam Creed was born in Salford and read PPE at Balliol College Oxford before working for Flemings in the City. He abandoned his career to study writing at Sheffield Hallam University, following which he wrote in Andalucia then returned to England to work with writers in prison. He is now Head of Writing at Liverpool John Moores University and Project Leader of Free To Write. He has a wife and two beautiful daughters.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

SUFFER THE CHILDREN is the first book introducing DI Will Wagstaffe. A confession early on - I try not to read blurbs on books so the first few chapters referring alternatively to Wagstaffe and Staffe left me mildly confused, a feeling that came back to visit me on a few occasions throughout the book.

Staffe is a workaholic, that or he doesn't trust the team he works with. Either way, as one of his past cases resolves leaving him threatened by the perpetrator and his gang of thugs, Staffe is planning a holiday. Which he cancels, or avoids, when somebody starts killing known sex offenders. Paedophiles keep dying, bizarrely, violently and Staffe and his colleagues find themselves in the invidious position of trying to find the killer of people that, well, does anybody really care. Guy Montefiore has a young teenage daughter of his own and he's not impressed with the bad habits her mother is handing onto her, but then he's also busy stalking teenager Tanya. Meanwhile Staffe mourns for his broken marriage, tries to help an old friend, and support a sister who is the victim of domestic violence (and who has moved into his house).

SUFFER THE CHILDREN has a very complicated plot line. It's overly complicated to be frank, which is a pity, as lurking within the complication, and slightly over dramatic goings on, there's a character set that had some promise. Mind you, yet another paedophile / vigilante / should anyone care because the victim's not a nice person - well it seemed very much like it had been done before and, even with all the ancillary goings on, there was nothing particularly startling or surprising. I think that's probably my biggest problem with SUFFER THE CHILDREN, predictable and a little boring and I wasn't all that shocked, or surprised, or disturbed or even particularly interested by the end.

[Eva Müller · Rating 1 out of 5]

The beginning was actually quite amusing...mainly because it was so full of clichees: workaholic DI with traumatic past, serious relationship-issues, lots of flashbacks to his traumatic past, trouble with his boss, a traumatic past, trouble with his family his boss his colleagues...eh did I mention the traumatic past?
But then it got confusing: dozends of people, many of them Wagstaffe's colleagues with similar-sounding names and all quite dull and one-dimensional, which doesn't really help.
Besides the author seems a bit too ambitious and in the end most of the plotlines just get don't get a satisfactory conclusion.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was helped by having seen the tv series based on this book (Dark Heart) to keep track of all the characters but enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Guido Kühntopp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geht so

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Staffe își înalță capul cât de mult poate și trage în piept aerul din stația de metrou. Se simte împins din spate, atingând cu pieptul capul unei femei brunete, în timp ce sunt târâți de mulțime spre scările rulante. Femeia înjură într-o limbă estică, iar el vrea să-i ceară scuze, deși știe că nu e necesar și nici nu ar rezolva nimic cu asta.

Procesul este programat pentru ora 14:00. Încearcă să-și facă loc, pentru a înainta, prin partea stângă a rândului de oameni care așteptau să ajungă la scările rulante, însă nu descoperă niciun locșor prin care să se poată strecura. Un grup de adolescenți obraznici înaintează, contra curentului, înghiontind oamenii care își așteptau rândul, lăsând în urma lor un miros dulceag de dizolvant. Staffe își ține respirația, în timp ce pășește pe scările rulante, rămâne din nou pe loc, apoi inspiră adânc și gândul îi zboară spre judecătorul Burns și evenimentele petrecute în sala de judecată de-a lungul ultimelor două zile. Cu nervii încordați la maxim, bărbatul încearcă să se calmeze. Se asigură că mai are încă, bine strâns sub braț, dosarul cu actele cazului și trage de gulerul cămășii pe care o poartă. Nasturele de sus îi apasă mărul lui Adam în timp ce înghite în sec. Își strânge mai bine nodul cravatei.

Staffe recită, în gând, o mantra, spunându-și că asta este meseria pe care și-a ales-o. „Asta este viața mea. Trebuie să fac totul cât de bine pot. Asta este viața mea. Trebuie să fac totul cât de bine pot”. Apoi trece repede în revistă răspunsurile pe care le-a dat în acea dimineață la interogatoriul încrucișat și încearcă să-și dea seama, din rezumatul făcut de judecătorul Burns, dacă dovezile prezentate de el și colegii săi ar putea fi convingătoare. Își duce mâna în dreptul inimii și pipăie în buzunarul de la piept exemplarul în original al declarației unui martor secret.

[Mary Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The TV episodes of this book were too short and it could have been a whole series in its own right. However, I found the book overly long and the ‘hero’ a little too dark and a little bit dodgy.

The folk in the TV version bear little resemblance to those in the book and I’m not sorry I read it. A dark tale about dark deeds that challenge one’s morality and personal philosophy. Did I side with the good guys or the bad guys? Could I tell them from each other? Ahhh, that’s the question!

I will read the next book then decide on the series.

[Lisa Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all to my taste. The detective is annoying and the reader does not develop a relationship with him at all (unless you count distaste) This book is just all over the place with no clear clues to follow and it does not seem to develop in any way. Basically a support group for victims has decided to take revenge on the perpetrators who have never been punished for the crime. In between police corruption, a dying officer who wants to make things right and some very grizzly crimes. D grade thriller.

[Miki Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I picked it up after watching "Dark Heart" on TV, which was based on it last year.
I liked the characters and thought that this tale of a vilgilante killing paedophiles who have escaped justice had plenty of twists and turns.
It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was definitely in my zone. I can't wait to read the next one - which I happen to have lined up already :)

[Gerda Bruhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Efterforskningsleder Will Wagstaffe, kaldet Staffe, efterforsker forbrydelser i Londons barske gader. En af sagerne drejer sig om usædvanligt bestialske mord på pædofile. Er der en blodtørstig hævner på spil? Imens Staffe gør alt, der står i hans magt for at finde morderen, er der andre, der mener, at morderen har gjort samfundet en tjeneste og snarere burde have en medalje.
Læseværdig krimi, men ikke nogen pageturner.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Descriptios of heavy violence not unlike the early Jo Nesbo books probably written around the same time. Pretty good story and I liked the policeman in charge. Will read the next one and just hope it's not as graphic.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book, following DI Will 'Staffe' Wagstaffe as he tries to identify the vigilante that is murdering paedophiles in highly disturbing ways. I did find it a little hard to keep track of all of the characters at times, but it was generally ok.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro tem um tema muito forte sobre os limites do certo e errado e senso de justiça . Achei a leitura difícil, não me prendeu do início ao meio. Mas vale a pena ler, o final é surpreendente.

[Joanne Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into it. But good read in the end.

[MariaGrazia Bacilieri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una fatica tremenda per le prime 198 pagine, poi l'ho scritto è diventato più chiaro.
Nell'insieme da scartare

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This - judging by the 75p sticker on the front - was picked up as an interesting-looking punt from a charity shop, on the strength of a brief scan of the blurb on the back. I tend not to read book covers with great depth when choosing cheap punts, just get an idea whether it sounds like my kind of thing, so by the time I got round to reading this some months after I'd bought it, I was coming to it fairly unprepared and open-minded.

I was very impressed, and enjoyed the read very much. Creed's writing is intelligent yet not too wordy, his characters (including the central protagonist here) are realistic and pique the reader's interest, and I found the plotting well-balanced. This is a police procedural focussing on the murder and torture of paedophiles in London, not always comfortable reading, but I thought the concentration on police work and processes all very realistic - no plucking of the solution from thin air here!

I will read others in the series - I thought the style readable and the content involving, a gritty and strong effort akin to the likes of Stuart MacBride and Mark Billingham.

[derwoineinembuchwasliest · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Niemand kennt den Tod' ist das erste Buch von Adam Creed und er hat sich eines Themas angenommen welches nicht gerade ein sehr einfaches ist. Es geht um darum das ein Täter vom Gesetz her denselben Schutz bekommen kann wie seine Opfer ihn bekommen können, insofern sie in der Lage sind ihn in Anspruch zu nehmen. Nun stellt Adam Creed die Frage in den Raum, ohne sie wirklich auszusprechen, ob den Tätern wirklich derselbe "Opferschutz" zusteht wie eben deren echten Opfern. Und da wird der Leser in diesem Buch auf eine harte Probe gestellt, ob Selbstjustiz nicht doch manchmal geduldet werden sollte oder nicht!
Meiner Meinung nach ist Selbstjustiz in keinem Fall das richtige Werkzeug um sich Gerechtigkeit zu verschaffen. Egal ob im Vereinigten Königreich oder in Deutschland, wir leben in einem Rechtsstaat und sollten froh sein das wir diesen haben! Den was passiert wen man vollends das Vertrauen in den Rechtsstaat verliert und Willkür sich mit Unwissenheit vermischt das zeigt dieses Buch auf eindrucksvolle Art und Weise!
Niemand ist perfekt und das "System" schon gar nicht, aber Gesetze werden von Menschen gemacht und so sollte es auch bleiben!

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book which had a good, gritty storyline. The characters were interesting although I got a bit confused with the main character to begin with as he was referred to by two different names.

Back Cover Blurb:
D.I. Will Wagstaffe - Staffe to friends and enemies alike - is a burdened man. When a known paedophile is butchered in his own home, Staffe finds himself at the centre of a horrific case which threatens to spread violence throughout London.
The deeper Staffe digs into London's dirtiest seams, the more his past comes back to haunt him. And to mete out justice, Staffe must hurt the ones he loves. Can he track down the killers before the line between right and wrong becomes fatally blurred.

[Ceri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmmmm .... not sure. It wasn't bad .... it was one of those where the "goodies" do quite bad stuff & I'm not sure if it rang true or not. If they really had the stomach to do what they did ... & the planning ability ... they can't really have been very good people I don't think. Plus another "maverick" cop ... slight yawn. Why do they all have a drink problem & break the rules??? But I'm being overly negative ... I've read a lot worse.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tight-packed with Janus-like red herrings, each of which apparently keep changing their tune from good to evil and back again, which, given the subtitle "no-one is innocent", ought not be a surprise. I'm far from sure I followed all the ins and out but that not a problem since I was royally entertained, despite astonishment at Staffe's powers of recovery.

[Rose Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recommended this Author from a friend of mine, who lives in Spain, l certainly wasn't disappointed. Suffer the children (Di Staffed Book 1 ) was a great read, the Author kept you in suspense all through the book, trying to guess who did it. brilliant story, l shall definitely be reading more of Adam Greed's,

[Bryngel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting and good enough for me to continue with book two Willing Flesh and hope for the best. All in all, a very common book of the genre.

(Please forgive my poor English, my excuse is I’m Swedish).

[Precious Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

intrigued by the piss-poor reviews this book has received. It surely can't be THAT bad. I look forward to reading it.

[Sharron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad first book, think I will read the second one. Very dark and very Rankin-esque

[Liz Hannant]

fantastic

[Chelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really bad. Awful. It felt like a computer could have written it. here's the formula, fill in the names.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

New author to me and how I enjoyed this book.

[Els · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, page turner with an unexpected twist. Will read more from this author.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

lots of characters to keep track of but a good well plotted storyline shall look for more of his .

[Martin Waight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't finish this book. Started off alright but couldn't continue. May be it was me.