Brother Grimm

By: Craig Russell

Narrated by: Anton Lesser

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

A girl's body lies, posed, on the pale sand of a Hamburg beach, a message concealed in her hand. "I have been underground, and now it is time for me to return home..."

Jan Fabel, of the Hamburg murder squad, struggles to interpret the twisted imagery of a dark and brutal mind. Four days later, a man and a woman are found deep in woodland, their throats slashed deep and wide, the names "Hansel" and "Gretel", in the same, tiny, obsessively neat writing, rolled tight and pressed into their hands. It becomes clear that each new crime is a grisly reference to folk stories collected almost two hundred years ago by the Brothers Grimm.

The hunt is on for a serial killer who is exploring the darkest, most fundamental fears hidden in ancient fairy tales. A predator who kills and then disappears into the shadows.

A monster we all learned to fear in childhood.

©2006 Craig Russell (P)2006 Random House Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"In a blood-curdlingly clever plot, a serial killer uses fairytale motifs to act out a long delayed revenge on the wicked stepmother who made his childhood a misery. Anton Lesser rises superbly to an unusual challenge: hissingly sinister as the murderer crooning to his helpless, stroke-ridden old Mutter, thoughtful and imaginative as Fabel, and speeding to breakneck pace for a thrilling motorcycle chase across the city." Christina Hardyment The Times

Good to find a new series to read

Although this is the second book in the series, it is the first I've read and I found it intriguing. I liked the plotting and the characters and will read more of the series. As for Anton Lesser, what a brilliant narrator. He could read the phone book and I'd be happy.