A thoroughly enjoyable read. Another fantastic book from Tony Parsons.
I would highly recommend to family and friends.

Written by Tony Parsons — London copper Max Wolfe first appeared last year in The Murder Bag. Now he returns to track a sadistic killer who has butchered four members of a wealthy family, and kidnapped their youngest child. The family thought themselves secure in their upmarket gated estate, but their sense of wellbeing is proved bloodily misplaced.

The killer has chosen an unusual but effective method to despatch the victims – a slaughterman’s bolt gun. This particular MO has a macabre precedent. Many years earlier, a young gypsy-traveller was courting a farmer’s daughter, but her father and brothers did not approve, and threatened to cool the suitor’s ardour by castrating him. The young man escaped, and exacted his revenge by killing the men one by one with a bolt gun. He was not, as they say, the sharpest knife in the drawer, and was soon arrested and sentenced. Now the years have rolled by and Peter Nawkins is much older and has served his time. Can he have struck again, and if so with what motive? Or has a copycat killer targeted the family and taken their boy?

The investigation leads Wolfe to the anarchic travellers’ site where Nawkins and his family live, but also into a world which couldn’t be more different – the bars and bedrooms of expensive London hotels where a high class prostitution racket caters for those who never have to ask the price of anything. As Wolfe begins to peel back the layers of pretence surrounding the lives of the dead adults in the luxury house, he is sickened to discover a story of child abuse, both historical and very current. Just when the police – and the relatives of the victims – have begun to accept that the abducted boy must be dead, a chance discovery in a Gloucestershire service station sets the game afoot once more.

Parsons made his name with his semi-autobiographical novel, Man and Boy (1999), and the theme of a male parent bringing up a child is never far away in this book. Here, Wolfe’s relationship with his young daughter Scout is at the heart of the narrative. It would be unfair to say that this theme gets in the way, but at the same time you will need to be a passionate dog lover not to be mildly irritated by the constant references to the other significant being in Wolfe’s life – his pet dog.

The action is certainly relentless, explosive and violent. Wolfe himself is improbably resilient to beatings, bottlings and stabbings. No matter how dramatic his punishment, with one bound he is usually free. He even survives burial in a Victorian coffin, complete with its original occupant. Despite the occasional bouts of lurid melodrama, the procedural detail seems accurate and convincing, and there are some excellent descriptions of both Highgate and the atmospheric mileu of Smithfield, complete with Dickensian quotations. The Essex travellers’ site, and the sense of mutual alienation – felt by both the travellers and the local residents – for a suitably bleak backdrop to an all-too-realistic conflict. The ultimate test of a book for a reviewer is this: in a few months time, when the next in the series is made available, will I be badgering the editor for first dibs? My answer is yes, in spite of The Slaughterman’s flaws.

An engaging plot that kept me wanting to read on, but the characters I felt spoilt it for me. The vibe was very “laddish” and I’m sure ‘boys will be boys’ but when you’re investigating a whole family that has been wiped out, I feel like there should be a more serious tone.
A promising read but unfortunately one I didn’t enjoy as much as I hoped.

In the second book in the Max Wolfe series, DC Max Wolf is searching for a killer, a killer who killed an entire family except the youngest son who was taken. The manner of death, was the same as another family annihilation years earlier by a killer dubbed "The Slaughter Man." Max is not only looking for the killer, but trying to find Bradley, the young boy who was taken. Tony Parsons has written an excellent crime novel, although it is somewhat brutal, with some graphic descriptions.

Max, his five year old daughter Scout along with Stan, their dog, are back. Max is an amazing father. With all the evil and darkness he deals with, he still makes sure to spend time happy time with his daughter and Stan. He has a support group who also love Scout and take care of her when he can't. Because of this, the plight of a missing four year old, makes this case very personal, and he does not give up. Max and his team are sometimes a bit rogue. They get tips and head off without backup, without warrants and without all the facts. They get hurt, often, but keep going.

This book deals with abducted children, paedophile parties, riots, treatment of the Romany, police being injured, killed and maimed for life. It pulls no punches. It is a gripping and exciting crime novel, with a fast paced plot and great characters. It is not one of those stories that takes place in a week, it takes months to solve this crime but it doesn't seem that way, the writing is fast paced and keeps the reader involved. Another great addition to the Max Wolfe series.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

On New Year’s Day, a wealthy family is found slaughtered inside their exclusive gated community in north London, their youngest child stolen away.
The murder weapon – a gun for stunning cattle before they are butchered – leads Detective Max Wolfe to a dusty corner of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum devoted to a killer who thirty years ago was known as the Slaughter Man.
But the Slaughter Man has done his time, and is now old and dying. Can he really be back in the game?
And was the murder of a happy family a mindless killing spree, a grotesque homage by a copycat killer – or a contract hit designed to frame a dying man?
All Max knows is that he needs to find the missing child and stop the killer before he destroys another innocent family – or finds his way to his own front door...

On the face of it, this looks like your average serial killer / suspense novel. "Modern day crime has links to a killer from the past." You know, or copycat killer. Nothing wrong with those novels - but we have all read them a million times, right?

The difference, however (and the reason it is 4 stars and not 3), are the brilliant characters that Parsons has created. Max is a brilliant MC in both the crime aspect of it, but also as a father. Sure, he looks a little confused sometimes with the demands of young girls, but he does pretty well!

Certainly a great follow-up to The Murder Bag. Look forward to keeping up with Max and Scout throughout this series.


Paul
ARH

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange my honest review.
Another book by this very talented author. Another enjoyable read. Book 2 in the DC Max Wolfe.
A character that i'm slowly getting to know and I really believe we have a lot more to learn. I'm looking forward to reading the other books.
There is always that advantage of being behind in a series, It means you can binge and play catch up.
Brilliantly paced and brilliantly written. I would have no problems recommending this series so far to anyone.

This is the second outing for DC Max Wolfe following his introduction in The Murder Bag back in 2015.  I think that if you enjoyed the first novel then you are bound to feel the same way about the second as it's much of the same thing.  A wealthy family are found murdered in their home on New Year's Day and it is up to Wolfe to find out who did it.  The only curious thing is that the family's youngest son appears to be missing from the crime scene.  As you can probably guess, this killing is only the first in the book and soon Max Wolfe is on the hunt for a serial killer. 

Coupled with too many acronyms for my liking again, the book weaves its way through the underbelly of the crime gangs of London as well as with Wolfe's relationship with his ex-wife and daughter Scout.  I think it is this side of the story that actually endears me to the books and stops them being solely focussed on gang-crime.  It's a crime thriller that will take up a few hours of your time and what's the harm in that?

Really enjoyable read,loved it

A gripping novel, that kept shocking me. Just as I was building a connection with a character something terrible happened to them. Excellently paced I could not resist reading the next chapter time and time again.