If this title of this crime thriller seems familiar, it’s probably because I wrote a review about the show a short while ago! While watching that six-part saga, I learned that it was based off a book series and knew I had to get my hands on Daniel Cole’s work ASAP. Thus, here is my review of the novel, Ragdoll.
Lots of similarities exist in the novel and the show, although chronologically there are some differences and some character differences. First and foremost, our lead character in the show, Nathan Rose, is named William “Wolf” Fawkes in the novel. I thought that was a really strange choice on the shows part, but whatever. Character-wise they are essentially identical. The book starts with the detailing of the trial against the Cremation Killer, who upon being pronounced innocent is almost beat to death by Fawkes. He then spends some time in an institution while the Cremation Killer strikes again. How’s that for horrible?!
I think in order to make up for the wrongs against Fawkes, they let him rejoin the police, and he almost immediately gets involved in the titular case when they find this manufactured corpse pointing into his new apartment across the street. His best friend (maybe more) Emily Baxter, is also on the case, and she’s keeping a close eye on Fawkes in case he starts losing it again. She’s also got a new trainee from fraud, Alex Edmunds. I admire the series for making Edmunds character female in the show. That’s a fun change that reminds me of what Hannibal did with several characters in its series. Anyways, Edmunds spends most of the time getting shit on by his collogues, but is really the one able to make the most sense of these seemingly random killings.
Of course, the main objective is to stop the Ragdoll killer before he gets to the end of his list, which touts Fawkes name. I felt the tie-in to Fawkes involvement on the list was more spelled out here than in the series, which I appreciated. While the chapters referencing his stay in the institution were brief and far and few in between, they did a whole lot more revealing. I felt that the scenes dedicated to them in the show were good because of how exceptionally creepy they were, but I always felt slightly lost after they were over. Anyways, all of protectors here have about as much luck, and almost all of the people on the hit list end up dead, as promised.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were enough differences from the series to keep it fresh, and it also ended in a slightly different way where a sequel makes much more sense. The show left too many loose ends for the risk of maybe not getting picked up again, where this book ended in such a way that you could stop here and feel satisfied. It’s likely I’ll be picking up the sequels at some point in the future, so be on the lookout. Again, a pretty decent thrill if you’ve got the stomach for it. I’d say the book was more gruesome than the show.