The Killing Circle: A Novel

by Andrew Pyper (Goodreads Author)

book data

136 ratings, 3.50 average rating, 51 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		18%
4		30%
3		36%
2		11%
1		2%

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published

September 16th 2008 by St. Martin's Minotaur

details

Hardcover, 320 pages

isbn

0312384769 (isbn13: 9780312384760)

description

From acclaimed, bestselling author Andrew Pyper, a suspenseful page-turner that explores the repercussions of that most dishonest of thefts: stealing …more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 282)

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Dec 02, 2008

Bonnie rated it:

bookshelves: canadian-author, fiction, reviewed-books

Read in February, 2009

Feb. 28 update:

I have come to the conclusion (late, in this case), that one should begin a review by making a positive, or at least, a nuetral statement! And I would like to add that I actually rated this 4 1/2 stars. (The following is the intact version of my original review.)

I want to say at the outset, that I wasn’t sure whether or not I liked the ending of this book. At first, I was disappointed. Not with the-who-dun-it part -- which was a bit of a surprise --...more Feb. 28 update:

I have come to the conclusion (late, in this case), that one should begin a review by making a positive, or at least, a nuetral statement! And I would like to add that I actually rated this 4 1/2 stars. (The following is the intact version of my original review.)

I want to say at the outset, that I wasn’t sure whether or not I liked the ending of this book. At first, I was disappointed. Not with the-who-dun-it part -- which was a bit of a surprise -- but the after-we-find-out part. So I thought about it for a while, and I have come to the conclusion that the ending is not as ambiguous as I first believed; but to say anything more would spoil the story.

Told in two chunks, the book opens in July 2007 introducing the reader to single Dad, Patrick Rush, and his precocious eight-year-old son Sam. In the first nine pages, Andrew Pyper hooks his reader; then he takes the story back 4 ½ years in time.

Grieving for his wife, Rush slowly spirals down in his journalistic career from literary columnist to that of the lowly TV critic. Even at his height, though, he believed: None start out wanting to review books, but to write them. To propose otherwise would be like trying to convince someone that as a child you dreamed of weighing jockeys instead of riding racehorses.

When he comes across an ad for a writers’ workshop, he answers it: I want to write a book. The problem: he is the only one in the circle who doesn’t have a story to tell. But Angela clearly does, although it isn’t clear whether her story is based on reality or fiction.
Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, close to home in Toronto, and the events seem uncannily close to Angela’s story. After the writing circle ends, the killings stop.

Then Angela is suddenly out of the picture, and Rush, who had secretly been recording her readings, goes on to steal Angela’s story. By 2007, he has achieved his dream, to write a best-seller – and obviously, someone isn’t happy about this, because Sam is kidnapped.

Throughout this well-crafted story, Pyper keeps us guessing at who might be real, who might be the killer, whether or not the protagonist is going crazy, and is therefore suspect – even Patrick wonders if it’s all in his grief-stricken mind. And when is a story truly one’s own? By putting the narrator into the line of suspicion, along with all the other members of the writing circle, Pyper adds another dimension of suspense, and brings us full circle to a well-plotted conclusion.

Told in four parts, the Killing Circle is a gripping, complex, literary thriller.

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Jul 20, 2008

Corey rated it:

Read in June, 2008

Ah, the life of the lowly author who realizes that his output is not one that reaches the subjective level of high art, but rather belongs quite snugly under that dreaded (and equally subjective) label of popular fiction. What a crushing blow to the psyche it must be to aspire to join the esteemed ranks of Bellow, Roth, and Findley, and instead find oneself lumped in with the likes of Grisham, Koontz, and Patterson.

Canadian author Andrew Pyper has been battling with this conundrum f...more Ah, the life of the lowly author who realizes that his output is not one that reaches the subjective level of high art, but rather belongs quite snugly under that dreaded (and equally subjective) label of popular fiction. What a crushing blow to the psyche it must be to aspire to join the esteemed ranks of Bellow, Roth, and Findley, and instead find oneself lumped in with the likes of Grisham, Koontz, and Patterson.

Canadian author Andrew Pyper has been battling with this conundrum for quite some time now. A writer with a poet’s eye for atmosphere and an entertainer’s skill at building crackerjack entertainments, Pyper has found himself more often than not consigned to the shelves of popular fiction. But a) why should that be considered a bad thing, and b) who ever said an author couldn’t be both? It’s a hoary old chestnut (but true nonetheless) that Charles Dickens wrote his stories to entertain the masses, and his artistry was only truly understood and appreciated through the passage of time.

Take Pyper’s debut novel Lost Girls, a story initially marketed as a John Grishamesque legal thriller. Using the well-worn plot device of a lawyer, Pyper wove a story far more thrilling than anything Grisham ever produced, layering on the themes of death, loss, grief, and memory with an artist’s touch. Lost Girls was an ‘entertainment’ in the sense that it followed a linear plot, had exciting characters and plot twists, and was in every sense a ‘page-turner’. But it was ‘literary’ in its complexity of character, its crafting of mood, its evocation of dread. Lost Girls was to a John Grisham construction as a microbrewed lager is to a can of Busch Lite; the ingredients are more or less the same, but only one shows care, craft, and character. Only one, in other words, is really any good.

Pyper belongs to the rarified sphere of thriller authors who bring far more to the table than a performer’s understanding of how to draw an audience in. Like Walter Mosley and George Pelecanos, Pyper writes novels that exhilarate first and foremost, yet explore themes that would cripple lesser writers. No one of any sense would write that Mosley’s Easy Rawling novels were simply mysteries that, once solved, were to be tossed aside. They aren’t confections filled with empty calories. They stick with you; big juicy three-course meals.

But maybe I’m reading too much into it. Or maybe I’m overcome with gratitude that finally, someone has written a novel with a book reviewer as the main protagonist. Either way, The Killing Circle, Pyper’s fourth novel, is his best to date.

The hero is Patrick Rush, a former National Star book reviewer who has slowly descended the hierarchy of the newspaper to become what is surely the nadir of journalistic identity, the television reviewer. Stuck watching taped programs with titles such as Falling from Buildings! and Animals that Kill!, Patrick longs for what every book reviewer secretly wants; “I longed to be an embossed name on a spine, to belong to the knighthood of those selected to stand alongside their alphabetical neighbours on bookshop and library shelves. The great and nearly so, the famous and wrongly overlooked. The living and the dead.” Patrick suffers from a malady common to the frustrated author; “I could no longer open the Book Review of the Sunday Times without causing physical pain to myself. The publishers. The authors’ names. The titles. All belonging to books that weren’t mine.” No self-respecting book reviewer (or wanna-be author) will be able to resist Pyper’s accurate and caustically funny depictions of the deep-seated cravings for fame common to every person who has attempted to pen a story of their own.

The problem for Patrick is not the drive to write, but rather the fact that he has nothing to say − although if you consider that he is now writing his story (or is he?), you must then assume that something interesting must have happened. Patrick joins a writing circle to help jumpstart his writing, but instead of finding an avenue into his own stories, he finds himself entranced by the disturbed writings of Angela, a member who tells stories of a childhood tragedy and a “terrible man who does terrible things.” While Patrick worries that assuming that Angela’s tales were based on fact would reveal himself as “that most lowly drooler of the true-crime racks, the literal-minded rube who demands the promise of Based on a True Story! from his paperbacks and popcorn flicks,” there are eerie parallels in the story to certain news items making headlines.

It spoils nothing to reveal that the terrible man does show up and begin committing terrible things, as Pyper expertly turns the screws on the suspense, and takes a few unexpected turns along the way. The Killing Circle offers some sick and twisted fun, especially when Patrick realizes that he is living “[not] the life of one who writes or even writes about books, but a malingering lowbrow who wrongly thinks he deserves better. No wonder, when his life decides to assume the shape of literature, it isn’t a novel of ideas, but a chronicle of murder and suspicion… A bloody page-turner.”

An author becoming a part of his own personal horror story is not exactly a new literary theme − Stephen King (talk about a thriller writer with talent!) has created an entire cottage industry around the conceit − but Pyper layers his serial killer tale with a meta-layer on the importance of stories themselves to the individual. Are the stories we live important to others? When is a story truly our own? Are we even the main characters in our own lives? As Patrick muses, “Nobody lives their life as though they’ve only been cast in a grisly cameo.” Pyper takes full delight in keeping the reader guessing as to the true identity of the killer, so much so that Patrick himself cannot guarantee that he’s not making the whole thing up. He might not even be telling the story, if it’s his to tell at all.

Pyper does a splendid job of lampooning the literary types who dismiss popular fictions while at the same time straddling both worlds. The Killing Circle is a terrific thriller for those who want it simple, and an intricate exploration into personal myths and stories for those who demand a little more meat on their bones. Scary, original, and unsettling, The Killing Circle is a treat.
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Dec 02, 2008

Jess rated it:

bookshelves: mystery

Read in December, 2008

Wow. This book took me a day to finish. Once I started it, I could not put it down. The main character of this story is a man who wishes that he could write a novel, so he joins a writing group. This group contains a variety of people whom all have their own stories and secrets. One woman in the group reads a story she has written about a stranger who does bad things, and he is called the sandman. As the story continues, it seems the Sandman is real; and begins to kill again.

This boo...more

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Aug 05, 2008

Kelly rated it:

bookshelves: reviewed

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Kelly by: received from LibraryThing Early Reviewers

The Killing Circle by Andrew Pyper is an ambiguous novel. The novel opens with Patrick Rush, a widowed father and successful novelist going to a drive-in movie with his eight year old son. When his son disappears, we learn of Patrick’s past, when he was still an aspiring author and joined a writer’s workshop called the Kensington Circle. After a woman goes missing in his neighborhood, he and the other attendees believe there is a connection between a story being written by one of the would-b...more The Killing Circle by Andrew Pyper is an ambiguous novel. The novel opens with Patrick Rush, a widowed father and successful novelist going to a drive-in movie with his eight year old son. When his son disappears, we learn of Patrick’s past, when he was still an aspiring author and joined a writer’s workshop called the Kensington Circle. After a woman goes missing in his neighborhood, he and the other attendees believe there is a connection between a story being written by one of the would-be authors and these crimes. Patrick struggles with his roles as widower, father, failing journalist and would be author. He must examine the darker workings of his own mind and his past in order to understand who has taken his son and why.

I really had a hard time getting into this novel. However, I don’t think it was the books fault, I think the failing was all mine. It is very well written, the narrative flows very well, the story is paced so to not give away anything and really keep the reader guessing. I think the problem was that I just couldn’t connect at all with the main character. I really didn’t like him very much. In fact I didn’t actually like anyone in the book, with the exception of Sam, Patrick’s son. I had a bit of trouble with Sam, I found him immensely likeable, but way too precocious for a kid his age. But I also understand that a boy raised from infancy by a single man, a reader, may just be that well spoken. I think I was supposed to like and empathize with Patrick, however, and I just couldn’t. Its hard to feel involved in a novel like this when there is a disconnect of sorts between the character and the reader.

I would like to find fault with the ending of the novel, it is quite ambiguous and could be taken two ways. But I actually thought that was the best part. It appeals to the Pollyanna nature of readers such as myself, we can assume a happy Hollywood ending, and yet it would also appeal to readers who prefer darker and more realistic endings.

I think I just wasn’t in the mood for this type of novel. This might have been a perfect read for a dreary stormy week, when after a long, cold, wet day, I could have curled up by the fireplace and read for hours. I can see how this book could have the ability to almost cast a spell over the reader at such times. Unfortunately, I was reading in the bright, hot and sunny dog days of summer, with lots of distractions. The atmosphere and mood just wasn’t right, and my enjoyment of the novel suffered because of it.

The Killing Circle will be released on Sept. 16, 2008

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Oct 31, 2009

Gabrielle rated it:

(review of isbn 0312429037)

bookshelves: first-reads

Read in November, 2009

I got completely absorbed in this book, it was extremely clever I kept trying to figure out what would happen next and no matter what, I was always surprised. I think it was the way you learned more and more about each character I kept changing my perception of each person, it definitely kept me guessing! The obscure way that the sandman and Patrick interacted was really interesting, especially early on, the story was very complex but not overwhelmingly so, which made it extremely enjoyable.

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Aug 27, 2009

Josie Kramer rated it:

Every Labor Day, father (Patrick) and son (Sam) would go to the drive in to watch the last movie of the summer. Before they can settle down with their food and enjoy the movie however, Sam goes missing. It’s the Sandman.

This beginning to the book ties you in as you have a name of the person you are looking for. Who is this “Sandman”? Why does he want Sam? How does Patrick know it’s the “Sandman”?

We then get taken back to 4 years before and how it a...more

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Nov 11, 2009

Lois rated it:

(review of isbn 0007165080)

Read in November, 2009

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of "The Killing Circle" by Andrew Pyper, thru my entry on the Goodreads website. Thank you!

The premise of the book sounded very interesting, and the first few pages were sweet, about the father and son bond. Then it threw me a little when they are at the drive-in, because as soon as he sees his son is not in the exact spot he expected, the father drops their tray of food and totally panics. I thought "Take it easy, maybe he's j...more I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of "The Killing Circle" by Andrew Pyper, thru my entry on the Goodreads website. Thank you!

The premise of the book sounded very interesting, and the first few pages were sweet, about the father and son bond. Then it threw me a little when they are at the drive-in, because as soon as he sees his son is not in the exact spot he expected, the father drops their tray of food and totally panics. I thought "Take it easy, maybe he's just on the other side of the car or something!" It seemed a little too paranoid, and I admit that even when it went back in time immediately after this part and would probably have an explanation eventually, the first 30 or so pages of the book didn't really make me want to keep reading.

I was tempted to give up, figuring since the book was free I really wasn't losing anything. But I hate to give up so easily. I always try to give a book at least a good 50 pages before I decide its just not for me.

Luckily, in this case, I did that. Once he gets into the writing circle, and especially once the Angela character reads her story aloud, things changed, and it got interesting. Interesting enough that I was telling my husband the story in between reading a few chapters. Also, spooky enough to make me figure there was a reason that the dad dropped the tray of food at the drive-in when his son wasn't where he was supposed to be, and wondering how it gets around to that event, which would still be coming up in the actual story.

When the chapter where he steals Angela's story as his own and is at a book signing begins, I had to just laugh out loud at being caught off guard by this surprising twist. And then again when the supposedly dead Angela shows up at one of his signings.

I'm not a huge fan of horror stories, but I enjoy a mystery like this one, with a slight touch of horror added in, very much. I recently read 5 books by Dennis Lehane in a row, and was afraid that I would be disappointed by most other books I read for awhile, since those were just so well written and kept me wanting to stop doing anything but keep reading.

I thought this book had good characters, a good plot that kept you guessing until the very end, and a good back story to explain why these things were happening. The ending, tying into the son's ability to tell directions by the stars in the beginning of the book, yet maybe just a little too late now, was great! I read the book in about 3 days, around the other things I had to do. I even read in bed for a little while one night, which I only do these days if a book is really holding my attention and I'm tired, but want to know a little more of the story before I go to sleep.

So...I liked it! (less)

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Jul 25, 2009

Toni Osborne rated it:

Read in August, 2009

In "The Killing Circle", we are plunged into the complicated world of ones inner self, facing all kinds of voices and fantasies. We are particularly invited into the mind of Patrick Rush, an aspiring novelist.

Patrick wishing to unleash his own creativity joins Conrad White's writing workshop, a dark and mysterious group that meet each week to share their secret tales. Suffering from a mental block and a lack of fertile imagination he becomes frustrated and envious of Angela...more

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Sep 22, 2009

Louise rated it:

Read in September, 2009

Creepy, spooky goodness from Andrew Pyper. Part thriller, part ghost story, part mystery it's all good. I couldn't put it down, desperate to get to the end.
The story of a widowed father, a failure at most things he's tried lately, joins a writing circle hoping to find inspiration. After the circle ends he learns that some of the others in it have died; one of them was writing a thriller/ghost story in the circle. He steals her story and publishes it under his name....and then the fun reall...more

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Nov 10, 2009

Crowinator rated it:

(review of isbn 0312429037)

bookshelves: 2009-reads, dark, fiction, first-reads, ghosts-and-hauntings, horror, writing

Read in November, 2009

I won this through the Goodreads giveaways and I'm so glad. I stayed up all night to finish it, which I haven't felt compelled to do for a book in a long time, and I found it unnerving enough that I had to check the lock on the door and look in the closets about halfway through. I naturally have an overactive imagination anyway, but I haven't been this creeped out by a book in years. The story is intricate and nonlinear, and even though the narrator Patrick is kind of distant (which is appropria...more

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Dec 30, 2008

Julie Failla Earhart rated it:

Read in January, 2009

I first came across Canadian author Andrew Pyper in the remainder bin at a local bookstore. I got The Trade Mission for a bargain. It is probably the scariest book I have ever read. Now Pyper has a new book, The Killing Circle.
Patrick Rush is having a tough time. His wife recently died, he is trying to care for their young son, and his job as a TV critic is less than fulfilling. He joins a writing circle in hopes of writing a novel. The problem is that Patrick has no ideas for plot o...more

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Nov 02, 2009

Heather (bnlchic03) rated it:

(review of isbn 0312429037)

bookshelves: first-reads

Read in December, 2009

This book took me a little while to get through, not because it wasn't well-written or entertaining, but because it was so heavy and creepy that I sometimes felt like I couldn't read it when I was home alone, and the suspenseful, terror-driven plot made me forget about the spirit of Christmas (the season I was reading it during) and want to hide under the covers instead.

Pyper is an excellent writer. I was hooked from the beginning. He opens the book in a drive-in movie theater, and ...more

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Feb 20, 2010

Sarah Frey rated it:

Read in November, 2009

Great Read. Fun, frightening, exciting and had the reader constantly thinking about who was responsible for the murders of a book club circle that me in the Kensington Market in Toronto Canada. Being from Toronto it was also very fun to read a thriller about my backyard. This only added to the intensity of the story line. I also enjoyed the themes that Pyper raised concerning a lack of passion for reading in a modern setting. Not a challenging read but recommended.

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Nov 23, 2009

Colleen Wright rated it:

(review of isbn 0312429037)

bookshelves: first-reads-winning-books

Read in November, 2009

I was lucky enough to have won this book from GoodReads. What a win! I was a little skeptical when I first picked it up and started to read, but WOW, what a great book. It had a unique, engaging and entertaining plot with an ending that I didn’t come close to guessing. There was a sense of creepiness throughout the story, which had me checking all the locks on my doors and windows of my house. It was a suspenseful, page-turner and kept me reading well past when I should have gone to bed. ...more

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Nov 08, 2008

Laren rated it:

bookshelves: mysteries

Read in October, 2008

After his wife dies, the main character joins a writing circle. One of the writers has a tale of murder which captivates them so much that our main character ultimately steals it and publishes a successful novel based on it. But when members of the writing circle start dying one by one, the remaining writers try to determine if the story was true or if someone is copying the novel while a shadowy figure follows them everywhere. It's a interesting premise, but the main problem is that I never ...more

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Jan 30, 2010

Melanie Garrett rated it:

bookshelves: just-not-for-me

Read in January, 2010

The writing itself kept me really engaged, and there are a LOT of exquisitely rendered and thought provoking moments in this novel. But for me, the plot just became too ludicrous and by the end it had stretched my willingness to suspend belief way beyond breaking. But I would definitely keep an eye out for other titles by this author.

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Feb 10, 2010

Lynn rated it:

bookshelves: canadian, read-in-2008

Owns a copy

Lots of energy and suspense with all of the elements that make thrillers so much fun to read. More depth than a typical thriller, too. Read the full review.

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Mar 28, 2009

Daphne Atkeson rated it:

Read in March, 2009

It's been a long time since I couldn't wait to get back to a book. I couldn't put this one down. Remarkably taut, nice twists and turns, scary as hell. A suspense/ghost story.

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Dec 16, 2009

Cindy rated it:

(review of isbn 0312429037)

Read in January, 2010

recommended to Cindy by: Jamie

This was a very interesting, well written book. I am normally not into thrillers because I don't want to have bad dreams.. ha but this one was really good. I agree with Jamie you didn't know if the guy was going crazy or if the Sandman really existed. Maybe he does? Anyway, I couldn't put it down. The end totally suprised me. Would recommend to my fellow readers.

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Jun 26, 2009

Lana Luke rated it:

Read in January, 2009

The mystery and the killer revolve around a writing group. Since I am currently writing and starting a group, this appealed to me. It was worth the read!

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