If You Want Blood, You Got It, with Robert Pobi and BloodmanAccording to Canuck crime writer Robert Pobi, his genre defying debut, Bloodman is actually his second book, whereas his new read, the monstrous Mannaheim Rex, is actually his first. And if that wasn’t enough, Pobi has a third thriller River of the Dead on the way from those nice people at Random House. Glad we cleared that up.That’s right Crimeziners, rapacious Robbo is already an “Internationally best selling author,” and here’s why—Montauk, Long Island—a category 5 hurricane is about to crash ashore, promising death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. Cut to Special Agent Jake Cole, returning to his childhood home for the first time in a quarter-century, in order to deal with his artist father's advancing Alzheimer's. Jake’s whiskey-guzzling pops is in quite a state, after horribly maiming himself in a mysterious and gruesome act of self-immolation. Not only that, he has turned the family abode into the kind of wreck that makes the Texas Chainsaw Massacre homestead look like something out of House and Garden magazine.As if dealing with family troubles wasn’t enough, Jake is drafted in to assist local law enforcement, catch a depraved killer who’s modus operandi involves skinning and torturing victims in the most gruesome way imaginable—the Bloodman. Jake Cole, we soon discover, is battling his own demons, he is a former drug addict and alcoholic, who in the lost years before he teamed up with the Feds, lived a squalid life of addiction in New York City. Quite how a geezer with such a comprehensive list of personal problems got into the FBI we never learn, but Jake is paying the price for his lost years—he has a heart-pacemaker and his body is covered with tattooed script from Dante’s inferno… and he can’t remember how that happened—will there be trouble ahead? You betcha.Meanwhile, Jake struggles to make sense of the crazed paintings his father has been stockpiling obsessively in the super creepy family pile. Can he interpret his father’s madness to find the clues he needs to stop Bloodman from killing again? As Jake’s investigations progresses, we meet a veritable Cluedo pantry of potential murderers, and as Jake puzzles over the killer’s identity, the monster hurricane draws ever nearer—Bloodman is a dark, intense, psychological thriller. Pobi is a ghoulish monster freak who just can’t help himself—and that is a goooood thing, because we get a broiling gumbo of awesome influences: Stephen King, Brett Easton Ellis, and John D MacDonald bounce crisply to mind but there are others too.We also get mention of art legends Picasso, & Andy Warhol thrown into the visual mix. But it is when Pobi name-checks the likes of Rob Zombie and the MC5, that readers are finally in no doubt where this author is coming from—that’s right, you are in for a drug-addled monster splatter fest—and you are going to love it Crimeziners.Pobi is going to be big and Crimezine knows that Jake’s granddaddy Sam Taylor Cole(ridge) will be chortling in his casket with unadulterated delight. Pobi can write to be sure-he has a way with metaphor and a gift for characterization. Plot, however, not so much. At least in this book. Grafting a serial killer novel to "The Sixth Sense" seems like a good premise but one that requires skill with planting the clues all along. That's how a good believable twist works. If you look back and can't see them, it's not well done. And, sadly, Bloodman is not well done.
What do You think about L'Invisible (2012)?
Excellent thriller. Well written, but characters did not impress me. Story is ok.
—chay
Phenomenal story that will keep you captivated right to the last page........
—sravya
Twisty and creepy. It particularly resonates in light of Hurricane Sandy!
—hyuki91
