The Butcher and the Wren
- Author Alaina Urquhart
- Narrator Joe Knezevich, Sophie Amoss
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date 13 September 2022
- Run Time 6 hours and 23 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction, Psychological thriller, Thriller / suspense fiction.
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Listen to a sample
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
THE CHILLING SERIAL KILLER THRILLER FROM THE CO-HOST OF CHART-TOPPING PODCAST MORBID
WREN WAS NEVER AFRAID OF THE DARK.
UNTIL SHE LEARNT THAT SOME MONSTERS ARE REAL. . .
In deep Louisiana, a serial killer with a taste for medical experimentation is completing his most ambitious project yet. The media call him 'The Butcher' - and, so far, he's proved impossible to catch.
With her encyclopedic knowledge of humanity's darkest minds, and years of experience examining their victims, forensic pathologist Dr Wren Muller is the best there is. The longer the Butcher's killing spree continues, the more determined she is to bring him to justice. And yet, he continues to elude her.
As body after body pile up on Wren's examination table, her obsession grows. Pressure to put an end to the slaughter mounts. And her enemy becomes more brazen.
How far is Wren willing to go to draw the Butcher into the light. . .?
An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.
'Can a medical examiner outsmart a serial killer? The Butcher and the Wren will keep you waiting for an answer until the last bloody page. Prepare to be disturbed. A deliciously dark debut.' - REA FREY, bestselling author for Not Her Daughter and Secrets of Our House
© Alaina Urquhart 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022
Critics Review
Alaina Urquhart’s debut novel is incredibly accomplished. Set deep in Louisiana, you can almost feel the heat and humidity. A grisly serial killer, a tenacious medical examiner, and a few amazing twists make this a searing, unputdownable book
Can a medical examiner outsmart a serial killer? The Butcher and the Wren will keep you waiting for an answer until the last bloody page. Prepare to be disturbed. A deliciously dark debut
Impressively detailed in its analysis . . . Captivating, with lacings of the occult. There may be moments when the reader might want to shut their eyes, but the joust between the killer and the pathologist makes that impossible
A chilling page-turner with a massive twist in the middle that’s sure to give you goosebumps
The Butcher and the Wren is perfect for fans of Dexter. Pitting a brutal serial killer against a determined medical examiner, the story is a pulsepounding race against time. And the details the author weaves in due to her unique background as an autopsy tech heighten the realism and the suspense. Fans of Morbid will love the host’s debut novel
Urquhart paints a tense and dangerous world for us right from the start and delivers it all with a skilled and evocative hand
Dark and twisted, The Butcher And The Wren is a gripping game of cat and mouse in the Louisiana bayou that will leave you wanting for more! Alaina Urquhart is a fresh new voice in crime fiction and I can’t wait to read what she writes next
Not for the faint-hearted
A read-in-one-sitting kind of book
Looking for the perfect way to kick off your spooky season? Well, you can end your search now as the co-host of the wildly popular true-crime podcast Morbid, who is also an autopsy technician, is offering up a twisted tale of a serial killer terrorizing the Louisiana bayou. Told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious murderer and the medical examiner who is desperate to catch him, this cat-and-mouse thriller will give your goosebumps chills
True-crime podcast co-host Alaina Urquhart showcases her propensity for the macabre in chilling cat-and-mouse thriller
Another true crime podcaster brings their flair for the macabre to the page with The Butcher and the Wren. Co-host of the chart-topping Morbid podcast, Alaina Urquhart treats fans of pulse-pounding novels to a thrill ride pitting a notorious serial killer in a battle of wits against the medical examiner determined to bring him down
A psychic thriller that will have readers on edge from the first page to the last . . . Perfect for those who love: watching Silence of the Lambs
Set in the ever-moody and hauntingly beautiful city of New Orleans, The Butcher and the Wren tells the story of a meticulous serial killer and the distinguished forensic pathologist, Dr. Wren Muller, set out to stop him. After researching countless horrific true crime cases over the last several years, we have no doubt Urquhart will knock it out of the park with this one. This is the perfect book to pick up if you want to ‘Keep it weird.’
A serial killer novel like none you have ever read, The Butcher and the Wren takes a cat-and-mouse chase between two instantly memorable antagonists and turns all the conventions of the genre upside down. Dark, twisty, full of authentic detail, it’ll have you listening to the night in an entirely different way
If you’ve ever wanted to actually get inside the mind of a serial killer, look no further
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