Het oudste offer

Straw Men #2

by Michael Marshall, Lia Belt (Translator)

Her en der duiken op afgelegen plekken in heel Amerika lijken in groteske houdingen op. Het werk van een griezelige sekte of van een solitaire moordenaar? Een door schuldgevoel verteerd man die zelfmoord wil plegen, doet in de uitgestrekte wouden van de staat Washington een bizarre ontdekking. Een ontdekking die de hele Amerkiaanse geschiedenis op zijn kop kan zetten. Ward Hopkins zn John Zandt, op het spoor van de sinistere Stromannen, raken betrokken bij een strijd om twee levens te redden én om iets van nog meer belang te beschermen...

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Horror, Crime, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Suspense

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

A pseudonym used by Michael Marshall Smith

Michael Marshall Smith (who dropped the "Smith" to write The Straw Men) lives in north London with his wife Paula, and is currently working on screenplays and his next book, while providing two cats with somewhere warm and comfortable to sit.




Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

(1) Michael Marshall - Religion/Spirituality
(2) Michael Marshall - Acting
(3) Michael Marshall - Fishing/Geography
(4) Michael Marshall - German Children's Books
(5) Michael Marshall - Indonesian Fiction

Reviews

[Rob Twinem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some weeks ago I read The Straw Men by Michael Marshall the first part of a trilogy by an author who has never received the acclaim and recognition that he so richly deserves. I thought The Straw Men was an excellent read and was doubtful if the style, character development, and story could be bettered in a sequel. I need not have worried, The Lonely Dead has exceeded all my expectations, it is quite simply a stunning novel told by an expert author.

Ward Hopkins, ex CIA agent, is a man with a secret past, and he is determined to confront the murderers of his parents and trace the whereabouts is his lost brother Paul “The Upright Man” a deranged serial killer. His parents had been murdered by a group that his father had belonged to 35 years earlier...”the Straw Men, and believed themselves the only portion of humanity uninfected by a virus promoting social conscience above the cold-hearted individualism they believed inherent to our species. Whether they genuinely thought this, or it was just a convenient cover for acts of violence and depravity, was not clear.”

John Zandt, former LA homicide detective has his own special agenda for seeking out The Upright Man, an enforcer under the auspices and protection of The Straw Men. His daughter Karen was brutally murdered by him, and he seeks revenge whatever the cost. Adding to the intrigue is Nina Baynum, FBI agent, and former friend and lover to John Zandt.

What makes for a good thriller is the author’s ability to capture the reader’s attention from the first page and to retain that enthusiasm throughout a multi layered tour de force journey straddling the coasts of America. What on the face of it seems like a complex novel is made eminently readable by a very direct and approachable writing style. I found myself richly involved in the storyline whether that was in the cold mountain forests of Washington State, the Verona logettes of Bill and Patrice Anders, or the corridors of the Seattle Fairfew hotel where “Miss Katelyn” the night manager meets an unexpected intruder with murderous intent. This second book in the trilogy also imparts a little history on The Straw Men and it seems their ancestry reached back many hundreds of years..”The Straw Men were here back in the 1500’s? Get real. They were here long before that. They got here first, Ward. They stole America from the locals four thousand years before anyone else knew it was here”.

This is truly a wonderful read, a thriller with elements of the supernatural, and a storyline that pulses excitement and thrills at every page. The ending when it occurs is perfect and leaves the setting poised for the third and final instalment. If you only read one thriller this year let that story be The Lonely Dead...of course I am presuming you have already enjoyed its predecessor The Straw Men. Highly highly recommended!!

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel to Michael Marshall Smith's 'The Straw Men' proves to be quite a good read. Ex CIA agent Ward and the original victim's father, Landzt, are still off-grid and in search of, or should I say hunting, for the leader of the Straw Men, known only by the moniker, The Upright Man. Meanwhile a string of serial murders stirs the attention of FBI agent Nina, a woman known by both men. 7 out of 12 for this good conspiracy thriller.

[Jon Recluse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Straw Men slip back into the shadows, but their presence is still felt as the hunt for The Upright Man takes center stage in this engaging thriller. Marshall keeps his readers on their mental toes, as they ponder who is a player, who is a pawn and who is being led down the rabbit hole.

[Ctgt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is what happens when you have certain expectations about a book. The book was well written, I thought the pacing was on par with other suspense/thriller type books and since it is the second book in a trilogy the characterization is there. So what's my problem? (Granted, 3 stars isn't a bad rating but I really felt like giving it 2 stars as soon as I finished.)

This was not the direction I wanted the book to head. How egocentric is that?

The two parts of the first book that I really enjoyed were the idea of The Straw Men and John Zandt and neither one played prominent parts in this volume. Zandt was peripheral, popping up here and there throughout the story. There was a moment where The Straw Men were discussed in relation to the lost settlement of Roanoke and the mysterious Croatoan but that was about it. This story was primarily about Ward and Nina and the search for the Upright Man.

So this is really one of those times where I have to take the blame for not enjoying a book. If I start a book with certain ideas but the author goes in a different direction, how can I blame anyone but myself?

[Chana · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't as good as I expected. At times, especially in the beginning, the author has a sly sense of humor that make the book entertaining. But generally I found the book to have these faults: Too many ideas that don't tie together, inconsistency in the characters, action scenes that become cumbersome, and just too much tramping around in the woods. I was quite sick of it by the time I was done. I thought there had been some potential here, but in the end it was murky as mud and about as much fun.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wish authors would make it clearer on the jacket of a book if this is part of a series, and if so, which part. This isn't the first time I've picked up a book only to find I've walked in halfway through the movie.

This is why the first few chapters of this book were so confusing! I hadn't a clue what was going on, and then comes a chapter heavy on exposition and it clicked into place - I was reading a sequel. Still, I persevered and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's because I've heard a lot of good things about this author and I really wanted to like him, but I don't.

The story jumps back and forth between guy investigating a serial murderer and another guy trying to track down Bigfoot (no, I'm not making this up!), which would be OK, but obviously all the character establishing had been done in the previous book, so it took me a long time to figure out just whose story I was reading; who am I supposed to be rooting for? Apart from these disparate storylines, there are also some random chapters that don't seem to have anything to do with either story.

This is what happens when you start with a sequel. Writers don't want to rewrite everything they've already told you about the hero, and those who have read the first one don't want to read it again, so PLEASE, someone tell them to make it clear on the book that this is part of series!!!!

A frustrating trudge through a confusing story.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This carries straight on from the first book in the series The Straw Men and would be best read immediately afterwards. I had a gap of about a year but could remember enough to follow the story after a few reminders. This second book has the feeling of waves washing the shore, waves created bybthe momentum and explosion of the first. Rather than generating any independent story lines of it's own. It also feels a bit disconnected, even with 100 pages or less to go there was no apparent connection between the two main plot lines. And I don't like the ... device, ie 'but if they went up this track they might have seen the... ' Luckily not used often. There were also a few great leaps of plot required. Infodumps of background to the. Straw Men which of course must be true since it comes second hand from an unintroduced character who plays no part in the story. Oddly I felt the more fantastic or fable based elements were handled nicely but I have to say 'rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist'
Overall I do like Michael Marshall style. Quick to read yet rich in detail. Strong characterisations abound, even when the character isn't necessarily going to survive beyond the next page.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first book of this series. But the second two left me feeling rather lukewarm. The language wasn't nearly as clever, and the story didn't feel as compelling.

I still highly recommend the first one, and think it makes a fine stand-alone story. But I wouldn't necessarily push the second two.

Again, I should make it clear that this isn't the genre I normally read in, and my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt because of that.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This thriller was indeed suspenseful, engaging and original. I haven’t read the first volume in the series but I wasn’t lost or confused by this story. The characters were believable, suitably hard-boiled, and the setting was glorious. There were, however, LOTS of plot threads that frayed and dissolved into nothingness without really moving the story along at all. I love the author’s short stories and would absolutely continue with his novels; this was worthwhile but not outstanding.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the Straw Men trilogy - left a bit too long since I read the first one.

[Books Of The Way · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost it's pace a few times unlike the first book, but a solid continuation of the story with some decent twists.

[Nathalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the first chapter or two, I realized that I had already read this book a couple of years ago, but as a stand-alone book, not having read "The Straw Men" yet. At the time I found "The Upright Man" confusing and not very good. I continued on this time, hoping that having read "The Straw Men" last week would shed a different light on the sequel, this time.
But no. What I loved about the Straw Men wasn't present in "The Upright Man". Sure, the great writing style is still there, but I felt no empathy for any of the characters, no real rush to get to the bottom of the story. The whole Neandarthal/Straw Men conspiracy is really too far-fetched to be engrossing at all (even as conspiracy theories go) and everything felt very disjointed and without much of a point. For most of the book, I felt like Tom in the forest... lost and without much of a clue (even though I knew that the bad men where the Straw Men and the Upright Man). It was disappointing read. I'll read "Blood of the Angels", hoping that it will return to a better narrative, like the one of "Straw Men".

[Tim Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lonely Dead. Michael Marshall
Also, somewhat confusingly, called The Upright Man, this is the second installment in Marshall's Straw Men trilogy, which is a weird but compelling mix of Cobenesque mystery/thriller and Kingish horror and adds a pinch of deep-level conspiracy theory to the stew for extra flavour. It's hard to say too much about this one without spoilers for the first, so I'll just say the standard is  pretty much maintained. Maybe a bit too much tramping around in snowy woods for my personal taste, and a couple of detectives were surplus to requirements if we're being picky but hey. It's losing a star for not being self-contained and leaving the reader with little choice but to press on with Book 3. 3 stars.

[Rachel B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lonely Dead picks up a few months after the end of The Straw Men. Ward is looking for answers while trying to stay off the radar, Nina's back at the FBI, and John Zandt - well, he may have lost his mind. The Upright Man is still out there, somewhere, and a new plot line takes us to the Pacific Northwest, where a lost man sees something incredible. The Lonely Dead features the same strengths that pulled me into the first book: well-developed characters, good dialogue, and mysteries that never seem to get fully unraveled. Though I didn't love it as much as The Straw Men, the second book in this series is still excellent, and it's an enjoyable chapter in the Straw Men series.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, entertaining read.

[Pickleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part 2 of the "Straw Men" trilogy is a real humdinger! If you have read Straw Men, you really need to read this! On to the third.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

16 jaar geleden las ik Stromannen, het eerste deel in deel in deze serie, en beleefde er veel plezier aan.
Vol goede moed begon ik aan deel 2 - Het oudste offer, maar deze keer was de ervaring heel wat minder. Of het nu lag aan de lange tijdspanne tussen beide boeken, of dat de verwachtingen te hooggespannen waren, kan ik jammer genoeg niet bevestigen, maar Het oudste offer geeft de eerst honderden bladzijden veelal losse gebeurtenissen, die niet spannend genoeg zijn om de lezer geïnteresseerd te houden. Vergelijk het met een puzzel die je opent uit over tafel uitstrooit: veel fragmentjes; weinig samenhang. In tegenstelling tot die puzzel waarbij je er snel in slaagt opvallende delen samen te brengen en zo het gevoel krijgt progressie te maken, kan je bij het lezen enkel maar ondergaan - jezelf afvragend waar dit naartoe gaat - en wachten tot de auteur de eerste links vrijgeeft. Dit gebeurt pas rond blz 275 of voorbij de 75% van het boek. Vermoedelijk zullen veel lezers dit niet meemaken omdat ze al eerder afhaken.
Wat volgt in het laatste kwart is dan weer niet speciaal of groots genoeg om de doorzettende lezer met een voldaan gevoel achter te laten.
Misschien dat deel 3 - Engelenbloed- dit goedmaakt, maar ik vrees dat het nog eens 16 jaar zal kunnen duren vooraleer ik dit te weten kom. Of zelfs nog langer gezien deze ontgoochelende ervaring.

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

First I haven't read book 1 or 3 in this triology so my opinion is based on this book alone. I found it in a curbside library so I decided to read it and see if it could stand on it's own feet as an independent story, which would be the sign of a well written book.

IMHO it stood up just fine. Sure there were one or two small ref's to The Straw Men of the other books but it didnt take away from the story at all. I was interested enough by the ongoing plot of this book that it didn't matter. Much like reading a book in an ongoing 'detective series', I knew the info was out there if I wanted to seek it out, but I felt no desire to do so. It was just a larger background that the story was set in, and just like in real life, we don't always know what is going on out there in the bigger world.

I thought it was well written, (certainly light years better than the last couple of dogs I just read, I'm looking at you Dean Koontz), and it kept me engaged the whole time. I had a few quibbles about TMI being given about Patrice, the old lady who owned the cabins but I put that down to the book being part of a series. She might come back to haunt the third book.

Best of all the book had a climatic ending, and(spoilers) after the killing of Tom, and not having read the first book, I couldn't be sure everyone would live to see the end.

So, not a bad book. Fun to read if your stuck in a cottage all weekend. If I stumble over part 1 I'll read it, I'm not going to hunt it down, so many other books to read.

I'd say read it if you got it.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s unfortunate that this wonderful writer isn’t more widely known. I read The Intruders some years ago, and loved it, was very sorry when the TV series originating from the book was discontinued after one season. I’ve read the first two books in the trilogy and they’re as good as Intruders, although quite different. The characters are so very human, so complete and three dimensional, and the powerful bad guys operating from the shadows are convincingly evil. These books have complex plot strands that don’t immediately fit together, and so the structure can be challenging at first, but if the reader sticks with it, the payoff is huge. Great storytelling, good pacing, and compelling ideas. When I finish the last book in the trilogy I may circle back to the beginning, just to enjoy the unfolding story with more knowledge.

[David Sheridan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I very much enjoy Michael Marshall’s writing style, the way one little observation can take a character down the rabbit hole of memory, thought, or speculation. In this book, follow-up to The Straw Men, it’s the plot that I feel doesn’t quite live up. The book takes some strange turns and ends up with a jaunt through the Washington State woods in pursuit of a killer that, to me, felt like folly and not the kind of thing that a seasoned group of law enforcement folks would undertake. I’m still going to hunt down the next book in the series and read it, though. For writing style, Marshall always gets a 5 from me.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ward, Nat and John survived their brush with the Straw Men, but they did not survive unscathed. John, the ex-cop who lost his daughter to the Upright Man, is the most seriously spiralling down into something dark, but Ward is adrift, penniless and aimless while Nat is struggling to tolerate the conventions of ordinary Federal investigations. Some very odd deaths and a very odd encounter deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest seem unconnected, but set things in motion again for our damaged protagonists.

[Сибин Майналовски · Rating 2 out of 5]

Господи, сколько же здесь высосанной из пальца философии... :( Ужас прям какой-то. Задолбался читать еще на середине книги, но из упрямства дочитал. Хотел умереть и переродиться в человека, который сжигает книги (451°, Equilibrium, то да се...), чтобы начать с этого подобия детектива. Все же пойду навстречу автору и попробую прочитать и третью книгу. Должно же где-то произойти что-то, в конце концов... :(

[Mark Woolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a case of a British author trying to be more American than the Americans. Rather than a novel, I found this to be almost a series of chapter-long episodes which simply did not hang together as a convincing story. It was confusing and, although some of the writing was atmospheric and gripping enough, it severely tried my patience. I am a lover of thrillers but this was more of a borer than a thriller.

[Robyn Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lonely Dead kept me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the way Marshall draws together all the differing story lines, in a way that is understandable. If I had a complaint about the novel, it is that it has a very depressing outlook on aging and life. Don't read this if you are emotionally affected by what you read.. LOL. Overall, very good story progressing from the first novel. I am interested to see how it all winds up in the last novel.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read only because it got better at the end otherwise it was a just 2 star rating.
It was boring unlike the straw Men. It was difficult not to drop it and forget about it.
It was hard but I persevered. The good parts were just slightly better than the bad ones, dull and boring.
Is he a good writer? Yes. Does he write well? Yes.
But doesn't mean shit if the book makes you want to forget about it and move to the next one.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 que j’arrondis a 3. Si au deuxième volet on comprend un peu mieux le premier livre, il reste qu’il y a toujours des lose ends au deuxième et ça agace. C’est quoi le rapport de la cabane dans le bois au début du roman. C’est quoi le rapport entre la veuve et le shérif et les herbes dans le sac et le big foot et les hommes de pailles. All over the place. Grosse commande pour le dernier volet pour démêler tout ça…

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing follow-up to The Straw Men, which I enjoyed immensely. It seemed to wander all over the place like a plot in search of a good story, but I kept reading in the hope that it would surprise me. Unfortunately, it only got worse and by the last few chapters, I felt it had become so fantastical and unbelievable that it was all I could do to bother finishing it.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A round about, creepy story with a secondary plot which doesn't seem to matter to the hunt for the mad killer twin. Except then it really has meaning and a strange bit of speculative fiction. I never thought I'd have given the Big Foot myth a place in murder horror! Strangely it works in a serious way and I came to believe the psychopath may not be completely delusional.

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven’t read the first or third of this trilogy, and I don’t plan to. There are times where I found Marshall’s writing interesting and descriptive, and other times where I’m begging him to get to the point. The author wrote his vicarious witty detective drama which included many eye-rolling tropes and plot that felt cumbersome to follow.

[Houlahan houlahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was...ok.

Would help to read the Straw Men first. I read that many years ago and this one made more sense with that as the background.

Kind of serial killer, vast conspiracy with a hint of mystical Neanderthal man stuff thrown in.