Primal Scream

Ted Thring is a book reviewer for the Queen’s University radio
station.

Do not read this book unless you have a strong stomach. The scenes of
murder and mayhem are graphic and lurid; so is the sex, both normal and
deviant. Primal Scream is a “copshop” book with the standard cast of
characters: the grizzled senior investigator who lusts after the young
consulting psychiatrist; the bright, capable female cop who is harassed
and thwarted by her macho male colleagues; and, of course, the
hard-working, hard-drinking bunch of ordinary plodders. The shop in
question is the RCMP in British Columbia. The action ranges from
downtown Vancouver to the far northern interior. In the north, a mad
trapper is hunting humans and leaving headless corpses strewn about. The
demands of an armed band of Natives result in the employment of two
armored scout cars borrowed from the army. When the headless corpses
start turning up in Vancouver, the action intensifies, leading to a
dénouement involving a rogue cop. Along the way, there is an encounter
with a grizzly bear.

Michael Slade is a pseudonym for two Canadian criminal lawyers whose
specialty is the insanity defence. An unusual feature of this thriller
is a three-page appendix listing reference books relating to the events
described.