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The Butcher’s Theatre
Jonathan Kellerman
Time Warner paperback, 673 pages
Review by David Clark (1990)

The Butcher’s Theatre is a massive great brick of a psychological thriller, by a writer and psychologist with a highly individual approach and a talent for detail.

Daniel Shalom Sharavi, an Israeli police detective, and his odd team are assigned a case that draws them into a violent, complicated web of religious and political intrigue. A killer haunts Jerusalem (the ‘Butcher’s Theatre’ of the title), stalking, abducting and murdering young women. There are detailed descriptions of the war with the Arabs, of Jewish life, of Jerusalem and Israel. Kellerman takes us everywhere; The Butcher’s Theatre doesn’t lack atmosphere or a sense of place.

Unfortunately some of those passages slow things down. Kellerman’s story, while fascinating, is overdone in its telling. It’s as if he wants to demonstrate his ability to research. Job done if so; I haven’t been to Israel, and he makes it interesting, though perhaps not in the way their tourist board might recommend.

However, if one skims the excess passages, The Butcher’s Theatre becomes one of the most compelling novels I’ve read this year; the final 100 pages or so move much faster than the rest. Overall, approximately 200 pages could have been cut. What The Butcher’s Theatre isn’t, however – despite its cover – is an Alex Delaware novel! •

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