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Special X #13
Crucified
A bulldozer on a construction site uncovers the remains of a World War II bomber, and so begins a treacherous international journey that spans the crucifixion of Jesus at Golgotha to modern archaeological discoveries.
336 pages, Paperback
First published July 4, 2008
10 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
About the author
Michael Slade
31 books268 followersSlade on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MountieNoir
Slade on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MountieNoir
Criminal lawyer MICHAEL SLADE has acted in over one hundred murder cases. His specialty is the law of insanity. He argued the last death penalty case in Canada’s highest court.
Backed by his forensic experience, Slade’s Special X and Wyatt Rook thrillers fuse the genres of police and legal procedure, whodunit and impossible crime, suspense, history, and horror.
Slade was guest of honor at both the Bloody Words crime convention and the World Horror Convention. As Time Out puts it, “A thin line separates crime and horror, and in Michael Slade’s thrillers, the demarcation vanishes altogether.”
Slade was guest speaker at the international Police Leadership Conference and several RCMP regimental dinners. As Reader’s Digest puts it, “The Slade books have developed a strong following among police officers because of their strict adherence to proper police procedure.”
For the stories behind his plots, visit Slade’s Morgue at www.specialx.net.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 28, 2021
Michael Slade isn't a household name. I have yet to meet someone who's ever heard of the Canadian writer who's got 14 novels under his belt. Slade isn't for everyone. He's not for anyone with a weak stomach that's for sure. His books all contain villains who are the most horrific, violent psychopaths you could imagine. He also likes to interrupt the main story MULTIPLE times with a history lesson. This to me is what makes Slade unique. I've never read an author who writes this way and yes...sometimes it's irritating as he'll insert these history lessons during some of the most intense and climactic scenes of his novels.
But I love it. I'm learning and entertained at the same time.
Crucified is a departure from the rest of his novels as it doesn't follow the Special X Mounties (despite the fact that goodreads labels this book as special X #13) No this book takes a completely different direction linking a mystery involving a World War II bomber with The New Testament. Oh and throw in a who-dunit mystery in there and a psychotic priest who believes he's possessed by the devil while we're at it. Sound messed up? It is.
Now read it.
But I love it. I'm learning and entertained at the same time.
Crucified is a departure from the rest of his novels as it doesn't follow the Special X Mounties (despite the fact that goodreads labels this book as special X #13) No this book takes a completely different direction linking a mystery involving a World War II bomber with The New Testament. Oh and throw in a who-dunit mystery in there and a psychotic priest who believes he's possessed by the devil while we're at it. Sound messed up? It is.
Now read it.
July 30, 2024
I loved the who done it mystery. Needed a thinking 🤔 cap. Well done
September 13, 2009
Other Slade books take place in Canada with a reoccurring cast of characters. They have never been simple reads because they switch between current day and the long ago past containing historical events. This book takes place in Europe and has biblical and World War II events mixed in with the plot. For some reason this one for me was harder to get involved in.
November 2, 2008
A slog to get through. Slade should stick to his Special X series.
May 7, 2019
Crucified. Book one of the Wyatt Rook series (as always no spoilers).
The book has a slow start but once the action starts it keeps on going to the end.
It is a breakaway book from Michael Slades Special X novels of which i thoroughly enjoyed every one. Wyatt Rook and Liz Hannah are on the hunt for the holy grail with a killer digging their every step.
Highly recommended, i give it 5🌟, i also highly recommend Michael Spades Special X series of novels (14 to date with a 15th coming in 2019)
The book has a slow start but once the action starts it keeps on going to the end.
It is a breakaway book from Michael Slades Special X novels of which i thoroughly enjoyed every one. Wyatt Rook and Liz Hannah are on the hunt for the holy grail with a killer digging their every step.
Highly recommended, i give it 5🌟, i also highly recommend Michael Spades Special X series of novels (14 to date with a 15th coming in 2019)
May 29, 2022
Plot outline and some details seemed to make this more interesting than I found it. But I only managed to get about 1/3rd of the way through it, so maybe it picked up steam at a point where I decided it wasn't going to.
It's one of those books that jumps back and forth in time between WWII and present day, and follows a religious nut bent on killing people to protect the Vatican (how Christian is that?)
Plus it's needlessly gory and unpleasant in some details.
Very disappointing.
It's one of those books that jumps back and forth in time between WWII and present day, and follows a religious nut bent on killing people to protect the Vatican (how Christian is that?)
Plus it's needlessly gory and unpleasant in some details.
Very disappointing.
September 5, 2018
My first Michael Slade book and was immediately a fan. End of book really makes you think. I loved it.
March 1, 2019
Very tiresome to read. Nothing redeeming in them last me some humour to lighten the mood a little. Just lots of misery see so it all gets quite depressing.
October 5, 2010
Lawyer, historian, and amateur sleuth, Wyatt Rook, has been hired by Liz Hannah to investigate the disappearance of her grandfather after his plane was shot down during a mission in WWII. Liz tells Wyatt enough to peak his interest, but his attraction to her is what sends him to Germany to investigate. But a modern Crusader is determined to stop Wyatt from learning the truth about the real purpose of that mission. As the reader is taken through different time periods including the crucifixion of Christ, WWII missions, and modern Germany, we slowly learn the connection between the religious and war scenes and Wyatt’s search.
Crucified is described as a fusion of police procedural, whodunit, suspense, horror, historical, war, and legal thriller. The description is right, but it also identifies part the problem. There’s so much going on in this book, so many long descriptions, so much jumping back and forth from topic to topic and time periods that it disrupted the story’s flow. A lot of information was presented almost in essay form as POV switched between characters to omniscient in some places. I don’t know much about religious history or World War II, so the information was interesting, but it really was too much of a good thing. For example, in the last third of the book, two pages of backstory were inserted into a chase scene. My editor would never let me get away with that. Still, I learned a lot, was entertained for the most part, and the ending was satisfying.
Crucified is described as a fusion of police procedural, whodunit, suspense, horror, historical, war, and legal thriller. The description is right, but it also identifies part the problem. There’s so much going on in this book, so many long descriptions, so much jumping back and forth from topic to topic and time periods that it disrupted the story’s flow. A lot of information was presented almost in essay form as POV switched between characters to omniscient in some places. I don’t know much about religious history or World War II, so the information was interesting, but it really was too much of a good thing. For example, in the last third of the book, two pages of backstory were inserted into a chase scene. My editor would never let me get away with that. Still, I learned a lot, was entertained for the most part, and the ending was satisfying.
June 29, 2014
This is something of a disappointment, albeit an educational one.
Very much in the Dan Brown mode - in fact references are made to De Vinci Code - with a religious artefact needing to be tracked down, and the Vatican trying to stop that happening, via a somewhat demented special agent. However, that's only about a third of the book's length. The rest is filled out with historical flashbacks with every character seeming to get their own set, often multiple sets, sometimes while they are already having one.
The problem is that these flashbacks/historical details are often far more interesting, than the main plot, which largely limps along, jumping from one gruesome murder to another with little actual development of the characters as they are now.
Add to this that the relic being sought turns out to be a disappointment in itself and that it is hard to care about the lead character, due to their lack of development.
All that aside the book is well executed, as you would expect from a well published author, who just seems a little out of their comfort zone here.
Very much in the Dan Brown mode - in fact references are made to De Vinci Code - with a religious artefact needing to be tracked down, and the Vatican trying to stop that happening, via a somewhat demented special agent. However, that's only about a third of the book's length. The rest is filled out with historical flashbacks with every character seeming to get their own set, often multiple sets, sometimes while they are already having one.
The problem is that these flashbacks/historical details are often far more interesting, than the main plot, which largely limps along, jumping from one gruesome murder to another with little actual development of the characters as they are now.
Add to this that the relic being sought turns out to be a disappointment in itself and that it is hard to care about the lead character, due to their lack of development.
All that aside the book is well executed, as you would expect from a well published author, who just seems a little out of their comfort zone here.
September 17, 2008
Folks,
Well...an an avowed "Sladist" since the mid-eighties, I was curious as to what the first non-Special X novel would bring.
As usual, chock full of historical asides and information which in themselves make for compelling reading, I couldn't help but feel this book is pretty much an entertaining land grab for the Dan Brown market, one designed to bring the Slade name to a much larger reading audience. It that sense, the book succeeded. Tightly-wound plotting and compelling beach-reading friendly characters slipping down a familiar plotline make this more of a quick dinner than a satisifying meal.
I enjoyed the book while I was reading it, but I have to say, it hardly resonates even a week later with this reader, which is a shame because I'm still thinking about HEADHUNTER and GHOUL two decades later.
Slade's first novel to be read sporadically in the bathroom.
Well...an an avowed "Sladist" since the mid-eighties, I was curious as to what the first non-Special X novel would bring.
As usual, chock full of historical asides and information which in themselves make for compelling reading, I couldn't help but feel this book is pretty much an entertaining land grab for the Dan Brown market, one designed to bring the Slade name to a much larger reading audience. It that sense, the book succeeded. Tightly-wound plotting and compelling beach-reading friendly characters slipping down a familiar plotline make this more of a quick dinner than a satisifying meal.
I enjoyed the book while I was reading it, but I have to say, it hardly resonates even a week later with this reader, which is a shame because I'm still thinking about HEADHUNTER and GHOUL two decades later.
Slade's first novel to be read sporadically in the bathroom.
July 16, 2010
Rob......................
I did not read all the book as I found some of the scenes hard to stomach and struggle with the book vision of the church trying to keep us in a false promise even though I know enough miracles exist to defeat this notion.
The author does lead us on a twisted path and only at the end to hear the pathologist realizing only one DNA stand exists vs two , saying ;my God"
So be it,.,
I did not read all the book as I found some of the scenes hard to stomach and struggle with the book vision of the church trying to keep us in a false promise even though I know enough miracles exist to defeat this notion.
The author does lead us on a twisted path and only at the end to hear the pathologist realizing only one DNA stand exists vs two , saying ;my God"
So be it,.,
April 27, 2015
A great read all round. Not recommended if you're a little squeamish or weak in the stomach because it does get pretty gory in places, but then Michael Slade's work has always had one foot in horror. If you can get past that it's quite a ride, keeping you at the edge of your seat, and brace yourself, your IQ will probably go up too.
September 17, 2023
Grew up on Slade as a teenager, read Ghoul over & over again. Where did it all go wrong? This is not the Slade I loved to read. Story, what story? Loved the historical parts, very informative, forgot the rest. Holy grail, the antidote to writers block?
February 4, 2009
I was okay that it wasn't SpecialX, but was irritated that whenever I pictured Wyatt in my head, it was Tom Hank's face I saw....
February 23, 2011
A new cast for the author, and yet one of the best books I've read yet this year. The mix of history and horror is amazing.
March 9, 2013
Garbage
September 15, 2013
If you loved "The DaVinci Code", you will like this book a lot.
December 6, 2016
Quite a lot of World War 2 history and religious information, but quite a good read. Not my usual choice!
April 23, 2017
Couldn't stop reading
This one was just incredible. Next to Ghoul, my favorite Slade book. I look forward to more Wyatt Rook novels.
This one was just incredible. Next to Ghoul, my favorite Slade book. I look forward to more Wyatt Rook novels.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews