I waited until I had listened to all three of the 4MK Killer trilogy before writing a review. What started off in book one, The Four Monkey Killer, as a more-than-average serial killer story morphed into a surreal, fairly muddled storm of death and destruction in book two, The Fifth to Die, before settling into The Sixth Wicked Child, a bonkers, over-the-top explosion of the most unlikely plot I have ever read.
These books have been described, at various times, as the Sam Porter trilogy. They’re not. They’re the Anson Bishop trilogy. Anson, the deranged mastermind behind not one series of murders but several, dominates the books, especially the first and third. Whole sections are given over to his diaries, which reveal his past and lead us to believe we know what shaped this monster. But, do we? The diaries are part truth, part lies, as Sam Porter, ageing Bishop-obsessed detective, believes.
Over the three books, the bodies pile up in ever more bizarre circumstances and nearly every chapter has a twist, some of which pique the interest to drive the reader (listener) on in a quest to find out more. Others are apparently plucked out of mid-air as J D Barker’s fertile mind shoots off in another direction.
There are more than a few plotholes and loose ends that are never tied up as we gallop towards the conclusion. I enjoyed every single minute of this ridiculously over extravagant story with one exception. The ending. To paraphrase, we leave Anson and Sam with a muted whimper, not the expected bang.
Nevertheless, I am a committed J D Barker fan and will continue to listen my way through his books, even those I have read before. {As with the 4MK books). I just need a little rest in between.
JJ Grafton 