The Butcher and the Wren: A chilling debut thriller from the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast MORBID

Product Information

I want to preface this by saying a HUGE thank you to Zando for this #gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review! I practically cried when I received this beautiful book mail last week. I have wanted a copy of The Butcher and the Wren ever since hearing about it on Morbid a few months prior. I never said it was his sole intention. I just don’t like my abilities being tested by some gutless asshole who thinks he’s Hannibal Lecter or something.” The ending is incredibly abrupt but still manages to set things up for more books with The Butcher and The Wren. I can only hope that the publishers don’t allow more of this juvenile writing to be published. And indeed, The Butcher isn’t some D&D-playing, heavy-metal-listening social outcast skulking around in the shadows. He looks like an ordinary guy, and is even perhaps a little more charismatic than the average Joe. He has an ordinary job and skillfully hides his heart of darkness from most of the people he interacts with. In this, he’s like many of the other real-life serial killers that Wren and her colleagues discuss over the course of the novel, as they seek to stop him from killing again. Let's introduce you to Dr. Wren Muller, an over-worked forensic pathologist in the New Orleans area. Every time the sliding doors echo within the examination room, Wren scrunches her shoulders. Maybe a new wing to the Medical Examiner's office will be necessary if they don't catch "this guy"....."this guy" being the latest serial killer who's left his mark for some time now. The detectives have no leads except for the aftermath. No physical evidence or DNA. Just victims. Feisty and well-planned each time.

As an autopsy technician by trade, the author offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue with expertise. THE BUTCHER AND THE WREN is the perfect addition to the author's portfolio with her Morbid Podcast — an author to watch. I cannot wait to see what comes next, and my fingers are crossed for a series. #CoverCrush As a kid, he took out books at the library on lobotomies. He became entranced with medical procedures of Dr. Freeman. We hear about his earlier time in a lab and his lab partners. If you like Patricia Cornwell and have watched Dexter with undisguised glee (and a sped up heart rate), this one is for you.” - Belfast Telegraph

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. The Butcher and the Wren comes from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following his trail of victims, leveraging her encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes to try to stop him as he gets more brazen by the day. True-crime podcast co-host Alaina Urquhart showcases her propensity for the macabre in chilling cat-and-mouse thriller Sabienna Bowman, Popsugar

CAPTIVATING. T he reader might want to shut their eyes, but the joust between the killer and the pathologist makes that impossible' DAILY MAIL

Member Reviews

MO: Your protagonist shares your career. What are some differences between you and your main character? Lobotomies were mentioned so many times as Jeremy's interest but the potential to build up on this was lost. IMO if his whole MO was attempting a successful lobotomy, this whole book would make much more sense. That would be why he was going to medical school, why he tried to paralyze Emily and other victim and why there was a body with a botched lobotomy in his freezer. Try and tell me that isn't a stronger plot?!