10/16/2017
At the start of Diamond Dagger Award– winner McDermid’s stirring 10th novel featuring Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan and profiler Tony Hill (after 2015’s Splinter the Silence), office manager Kathryn McCormick meets an attractive man at a friend’s wedding in the north of England. Less than three weeks later, Kathryn’s body turns up in a burning car. Jordan, who now heads a newly formed regional major incident team, has little evidence to go on. Kathryn didn’t seem like the type to make enemies, but she turns out to be the first in a string of single women who are all killed and set alight in their cars. Jordan and her team members eventually learn that each victim was a guest at a recent wedding where she met a new man. Jordan wants to solve the case not only to get justice for the victims but also to prove to herself, and the world, that she’s able to lead despite her struggle with alcoholism. Even her friend Hill has trouble traversing the complicated emotional space she’s in. The finale will shake readers to their core. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.). (Dec.)
Praise for Insidious Intent
“Here McDermid is at her finest . . . Insidious Intent is a bold gamble that has the potential to shake long-cherished characters from their emotional complacency and advance the series into uncharted territory.”—Los Angeles Times
“One of crime fiction’s most eminent writers returns with another intricately plotted thriller.”—Entertainment Weekly
“A highlight of novels written by Val McDermid is the tight control she maintains over her complex plots that are enhanced by believable and complicated characters . . . McDermid brings something special to the table as she shows in her latest novel . . . The intense plot moves briskly. McDermid keeps each twist believable . . . The author’s expert exploration of the human experience has never been better.”—Washington Post
“The finale will shake readers to their core.”—Publishers Weekly
“The narcissistic, controlled killer is engaging quarry and McDermid’s procedural details are as on point as ever . . . The final twist is both shocking and fitting, a must-read for series fans.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Reading one of Val McDermid’s novels is like taking a Master Class . . . With the passing of P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, McDermid reigns unchallenged as simply the finest crime writer of our age.”—Reviewing the Evidence
“The 424 pages just flew by to a very shocking conclusion . . . You mustn’t skip this one. When you read it, you’ll understand.”—Deadly Pleasures
★ 10/01/2017
Psychologist Tony Hill and former detective Carol Jordan discover that misdirected anger can be fatal in this latest installment (after Splinter the Silence) of McDermid's engrossing crime series. After leaving the police and renovating her brother's barn, Carol has returned to the force to lead the Regional Major Incident Team (ReMIT). Carol and Tony are soon investigating several murders that they suspect are linked. In the north of England, a pattern emerges: female wedding guests are later found murdered in their burned-out cars. The killer's meticulous attention to detail ensures that no identifying material remains. The case quickly grinds to a halt, delighting the top brass who want ReMIT, and especially Carol, to fail. In addition, Carol struggles with how she was reinstated. DS Paula McIntyre's teenage ward discovers that the Internet can be an unforgiving place, and DC Stacey Chen continues to wield her electronic wizardry. The killer is wily, but ReMIT is tenacious. Using careful police work, the team eventually unearths the culprit, leading to a shocking denouement. VERDICT McDermid's fully developed characters, superior plotting, and excellent writing result in a police procedural that will please all mystery and thriller fans. [See Prepub Alert, 6/26/17; library marketing.]—Penelope J.M. Klein, Fayetteville, NY
2017-08-31
Back on the job as head of the newly formed regional Major Incident Team, DCI Carol Jordan (Splinter the Silence, 2015, etc.) is tested to the max by the Wedding Killer.The motive for inoffensive office manager Kathryn McCormick's murder couldn't be more prosaic. The killer, who posed as a wedding guest to engage her in conversation before he dated her, drugged her, strangled her, left her car on an isolated road, and set it afire with her inside, was just using her as a placeholder for the amatory and business partner who'd left him after meeting a more suitable mate at a wedding she'd attended alone. The lack of an obvious connection between the murderer and his victim, coupled with his skill in avoiding any forensic evidence, makes it impossible for DCI Carol Jordan, clinical psychologist Tony Hill, and the rest of the ReMIT to come up with any suspects. It also makes it easy for the killer to keep on crashing weddings, cultivating pitiably vulnerable new acquaintances, and taking secondhand revenge on them. Things get even worse for Carol, already tormented by guilt over the unexpectedly far-reaching legal corner-cutting that made it possible for her return to work after she failed a Breathalyzer test, when crime correspondent Penny Burgess makes it her mission to get the evidence that will end Carol's career. Nor are things going much better for DS Paula McIntyre, whom Carol urges to sign up for the inspector's exam so she can take over when Carol steps down, as she may have to do any minute: Torin McAndrew, whom she and her partner, Dr. Elinor Blessing, took in as their ward after his mother was murdered, is suddenly acting a lot more skittish and secretive than other teenagers, and there's a depressingly good reason why. McDermid keeps all three of these pots simmering, raising the heat in agonizingly tiny increments, until she's ready for a finale guaranteed to leave you reeling.
