WHAT DRIVES GOOD MEN TO MURDER? 'If you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid 'William Shaw is an outstanding storyteller' Peter May 'Grips the reader by the throat and never lets go' Independent Sergeant William South has always avoided investigating murder. A passionate birdwatcher and quiet man, he has few relationships and prefers it that way. But when his only friend is found brutally beaten, South's detachment is tested. Not only is he bereft - it seems that there's a connection between the suspect and himself. For South has a secret. He knows the kind of rage that killed his friend. He knows the kind of man who could do it. He knows, because Sergeant William South himself is a murderer. Moving from the storm-lashed, bird-wheeling skies of the Kent Coast to the wordless war of the Troubles, The Birdwatcher is a crime novel of suspense, intelligence and powerful humanity about fathers and sons, grief and guilt and facing the darkness within.

ウィリアム・ショウの『The Birdwatcher』は、静謐な自然と人間の深淵な闇を対比させた、魂を震わせる傑作です。鳥を愛でる警官が、実は殺人者であるという衝撃的な構図。この設定が、単なるミステリーを超えて、罪と罰、そして父子の絆という重厚なテーマを鮮烈に描き出します。 ケント海岸の荒涼とした美しさと、内面に潜む狂気の境界線。過去に縛られた人間の悲哀を、著者は圧倒的な筆致で紡いでいます。暴力の連鎖の中で救いを求める主人公の孤独な戦いは、読者の倫理観を激しく揺さぶるはずです。これほどまでに残酷で、かつ美しい人間ドラマを、私は他に知りません。