Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Scottish mystery writers McDermid and Ian Rankin form the craggy peak of Scots noir. Both seem to effortlessly churn out bloody good mysteries (both very good and very bloody, in the American sense) that illuminate the labyrinths of their characters' psyches. McDermid returns here to an especially intriguing series character, Dr. Tony Hill, a criminal profiler and police consultant, who uses his own dark side, his constant feeling that he is merely passing for human, to figure out the motivations of the kinds of people who commit repeat murders. In this, the fifth Tony Hill mystery, a patient escapes a mental hospital, encounters Dr. Hill, there on a consult, and kneecaps him with an ax. His ensuing hospital stays gives the profiler ample time to consider the complexities of a case Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan brings him the slow death by poisoning of the city of Bradfield's star footballer. McDermid shakes up the slow pace of Hill's musings with an explosion in Bradfield's soccer stadium. As usual, the repressed love interest between Hill and Jordan adds a little sizzle to the police procedural. Hill's psychological comments are astute, and McDermid's plotting is exquisite. This is the kind of book that's so suspenseful you have to race ahead, just to quell some of the tension.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McDermid's exhilarating fifth novel to feature Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan and Dr. Tony Hill (after The Torment of Others) finds Tony in the hospital after being attacked by an ax-wielding patient. Tony's eager to distract himself with Carol's latest case-the death of popular football star Robbie Bishop from ricin poisoning. Carol and her team frantically sift through Bishop's life, trying to find a link between the sports hero and the obscure poison. When an explosion rocks Bradfield's football stadium, Carol and Tony must consider whether Bishop's murder was an act of terrorism. As Carol butts heads with Britain's anti-terrorism unit, Tony works to unravel the motives behind the attacks, and his conclusions put him at odds with Carol like never before. McDermid nimbly weaves current events-the stadium bombing is eerily similar to the 2005 London tube attacks-with the ever-evolving personal and professional relationship between Tony and Carol. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
McDermid's fifth novel featuring psychologist Tony Hill (after The Torment of Others) has Tony solving crimes from a hospital bed after an encounter with an axe-wielding inmate of the mental hospital where he works. Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan, with whom Tony has a complicated personal relationship but an excellent working one as a profiler consulting with her Major Incident Team, is investigating the poisoning of Bradfield's star soccer player. Shortly after, Tony finds a tenuous link to another murder, an explosion is set off during a soccer match at Bradfield's stadium, and Carol's team races to find the bomber's trail. As Carol and her team struggle to make sense of the crimes, Tony also follows the tenuous connections that should help find both the poisoner and the bomber. Verdict McDermid keeps the tension high with a riveting plot and the complicated relationships among her characters. An excellent novel with one caveat to new readers-this series is best read in the order it was written.-Lisa Hanson O'Hara, Univ. of Manitoba Libs., Winnepeg (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
As if the usual round of serial murder (The Torment of Others, 2005, etc.) weren't challenge enough, DCI Carol Jordan and her staff at Bradfield's Major Incident Team have to deal with a bombing at the local soccer stadiumor, even worse, they don't. Someone must have it in for Bradfield Victoria. First it's the mysterious illness of their star midfielder, Robbie Bishop, which turns out to be ricin poisoning, diagnosed too late by a medical staff that can only watch helplessly as he slips into an agonizing death. Then, as the team takes the field again, their stadium is bombed in the middle of the game, killing 35 fans and injuring more than 100. Nor does it help that the Bradfield force is virtually certain that the bomber was inoffensive Yousef Aziz, a driver for First Fabrics, his family's company, because the Counter Terrorism Command Team, a bunch of bullies if ever there was one, instantly swoops down and grabs the case, leaving them on the sidelines. The only target left Carol and her team is the poisonerwho's been busy dispatching other victims as well, one of them an ex-copper who survived the stadium bomb only to keel over hours later. After hundreds of pages, both cases are wrapped up with a speed as gratifying as it is unlikely. Long and grueling, but high-octane catnip for procedural fans, especially since a violent prologue allows McDermid (The Grave Tattoo, 2007, etc.) to sideline the ongoing salt-and-pepper romance of Carol and profiler Tony Hill so that they can concentrate on business. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
