Bloodman by Robert Pobi

TITLE: Bloodman
AUTHOR: Robert Pobi
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Touchstone/2012
GENRE: Thriller
SERIES: No
SOURCE: Goodreads First Reads


Goodreads / Author's Website

First things first, Robert Pobi's Bloodman is definitely a genre read. I don't typically read book in this genre because I just don't find them that appealing. That having been said, there have a been a few thrillers that I've thoroughly enjoyed. When they're well written or if an author takes a new twist on the genre I might find myself pleasantly surprised. Bloodman didn't quite do it for me. 


My overwhelming impressions of Bloodman is violence, violence, and then some more violence. Jake Cole is an FBI agent who's gone back to his hometown, Montauk, to deal with his aging father who suffered severe burns and lost both of his hands in an Alzheimer's related accident. While in Long Island Jake must confront demons from his past, deal with his estranged father and solve a mystery. The day he arrives, a woman and child are skinned alive. Of course, a massive hurricane is also rushing towards the seaside town. 

There are a lot of graphic descriptions in Bloodman. The pain is described, the exact methods the killer used, everything. I found it a little much. I don't need that much gratuitous violence in my reading. I almost put the book down after the first few chapters, but persevered, mainly because I hate giving up on a book. 


I honestly don't have that much to say about this book. How can I accurately review a book when from the outset it wasn't something that appealed to me? The back cover describes it as "twisted" and "gritty." I can like both of those things, but in this case I found that it just amounted to insane levels of violence. Something I figured out within the first few pages. 


There's a twist at the end, as there typically is, but I didn't think this one was as shocking as it could have been. Clues were strewn throughout the book. They weren't super obvious, but they start to add up, maybe about 2/3s of the way in? 


If you like thrillers and like to read the same type of story rewritten, you'll like this book. I just didn't think that it did much new with the genre, relying on familiar tropes and adding in a lot more blood. Gritty city agent takes on serial killer, the story in a nutshell. Not for me, but I'm sure plenty of others will like Pobi's take on the plot.