Synopses & Reviews
Val McDermid is a world-class crime writer whose books have sold millions worldwide. Now joining the Atlantic Monthly Press list for the first time, she is back with a chilling, high-velocity thriller featuring her immensely popular creations, clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and detective Carol Jordan.
Tony Hill has had a good run. He and detective Carol Jordan have put away scores of dangerous criminals at a rate that colleagues envy. But there is one serial killer who has shaped and defined their careers, and whose evil surpasses all others: Jacko Vance, ex-celebrity and sociopath whose brilliance and utter lack of remorse have never left Tonys mind in the ten years since his imprisonment. Now Jacko has escaped from prisoneven more twisted and cunning than before, he is focused on wreaking revenge on Tony and Carol for his years spent in prison.
Tony and Carol dont know when Jacko will strike, or where. All they know is that Jacko will cause them to feel fear like theyve never known. A chilling, utterly gripping tour de force, The Retribution is the ideal introduction or re-introduction to the world of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. It is an unforgettable read.
Review
Praise for Val McDermid
I love every word Val McDermid writes. If you havent discovered her genius yet, you are in for a rare treat.”Harlan Coben
McDermid is as smooth a practitioner of crime fiction as anyone out there. [
] Shes the best weve got.”New York Times Book Review
[McDermids] work is taut, psychologically complex and so gripping that it puts your life on hold” The Times (UK)
McDermid has become a whiz at generating breathless, crosscutting suspense.” GQ
Smooth. Confident. Deeply satisfying. What else can you say about McDermids writing...The Jordan-Hill relationship remains the star of the show... its a match made in heaven amid hell on earth.” Entertainment Weekly (editor's choice)
Val McDermid is one of the bright lights of the mystery field.” The Washington Post
One of my favorite authors, Val McDermid is an important writerwitty, never sentimental, taking us through mean streets with the dexterity of a Chandler
McDermid continues to dazzle us with the range and depth of her creative imagination.”Sara Paretsky
McDermid brilliantly explores the dark side of the human heart.”Joseph Finder
Irresistible.”Tess Gerritsen
Peerless...one of the world's finest crime writers, McDermid is currently at the top of her game.” Glasgow Herald (UK)
McDermid, as usual, plots and writes with commanding elegance” The Times (UK)
Val McDermid is a roaring Ferrari amid the crowded traffic on the crime-writing road.” Independent (UK)
McDermid is both a fiendish plot strategist and a highly skilled writer, deftly delivering shocks, sometimes with no more than an out-of-place word.”Connie Fletcher, Booklist
McDermids a skillful writercomparisons with such American novelists as Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton are appropriate.” Chicago Tribune
[T]he most imaginative creator of serial killers we have” Daily Mail (UK)
Val McDermid has conquered the box and sold 10 million books and her latest proves that shes worth every sale” The Independent (UK)
Its not easy to write a good thriller. You have to come up with characters that are clever but not so smart they are insufferable. You need a twisting, turning plot that doesnt seem implausible but gets the readers heart pumping. You need a villain who has a good reason for embarking on their killing spree and you need to have a handle on up-to-date police procedure. And, finally, you need a really, really good idea. Val McDermid has all these in abundance.” - Sunday Express (UK)
It takes great skill to handle so many narrative strands with clarity without sacrificing the suspense but McDermid does so with apparent ease” London Evening Standard (UK)
McDermid remains unrivalled at yoking chilling scenarios to a pulsing narrative.” The Observer (UK)
McDermids mastery of this genre is evident” TLS (UK)
The novel reminds us just how finely plotted and intelligently written McDermids crime novels are. More, please and soon. The Irish Independent (UK) on Fever of the Bone
McDermid is especially good at serving up a mix of hi-tech and old-fashioned coppering, as well as showing how proximity to extreme brutality can take its toll on even the toughest police officer.” -- The Guardian (UK)
Val McDermid is Britain's leading female crime writer. She's also one of the world's leading mystery writers, combining acuity of perception about the pathological mind with a rare talent for blindsiding the reader and graphic descriptive powers. Thomas Harris crossed with Agatha Christie, if you will. [
] a great read.” The Observer (UK)
Reminiscent of one of Ruth Rendell's Barbara Vine thrillers a few more sly, old-fashioned whodunits like this and she'll join the sturdy ranks of the queens of crime, on course to become Dame Val or Baroness McDermid.” The Sunday Times (UK) on A Darker Domain
[McDermid is] one of crime fiction's most consistent performers.” The Times (UK)
McDermid is at the peak of her murderous craft.” Daily Mirror (UK)
No one compares to McDermid.” -- Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian (UK)
One of our most accomplished crime writers
compellingGlasgiow Herald (UK)
McDermid is unusual in her ability to keep the suspense high while constructing social mysteries that are far-ranging in their implications. [
] McDermid brings to her mysteries an unusual capacity for compassion, both for victims and for the detectives whose lives are shattered tracking down the killers.” -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Val McDermid has become our leading pathologist of everyday evil
The subtle orchestration of terror is masterful” Guardian (UK)
McDermid, whose reputation and popularity are growing incrementally with each new book, is very like P.D. James in her masterful mixing of forensic science with brisk plots and in-depth characterization.” Booklist (starred review)
McDermid is a whiz at combining narrative threads, shifting to the viewpoints of her various characters (including excerpts from the diary of the killer, whose identity is as unknown to us as to her characters) and ending chapters with cliffhangers that propel you to keep reading.” New York Times Book Review
If you havent discovered this award-winning trailblazer in lesbian detective fiction youre missing out on a good one.” Katherine V. Forrest
Review
Praise for The RetributionBe very afraid as you meet a truly inventive serial killer. Val McDermids 25th novel is stunningly good, but it comes with a health warning. It is truly disturbing. Not in the sense of too many detailed descriptions of violence or post mortem examinations, but in what she does in entering the mind of a wholly evil, exceptionally inventive serial killer of teenage girls.”The Times (UK)
[McDermids] writing
remains taut and unflinching. In The Retribution, criminal psychologist Hill and DCI Jordan are back on the trail of Jacko Vance, the charismatic sports and TV star and serial killer of The Wire in the Blood. He has escaped from prison with a head full of vengeance and heart full of malice. As in all her novels, McDermid creates a brooding tension that allows readers to get close to characters whose lives are about to be ripped apart.”Danuta Kean, The Independent (UK)
Val McDermid
has done more to establish the British variant of the serial killer than anyone elseso successfully, indeed, that everyone elses serial killers seem pale imitations
McDermid handles the multiple viewpoints of this complex narrative with assurance. She flicks from crisis to crisis, constantly misdirecting her readers. She is brilliant at sensational set-pieces
and Hill and Jordan have a psychological depth that's rare in crime fiction
She also has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it.”Andrew Taylor, The Guardian (UK)
Its perhaps fitting that for McDermids 25th novel shes revisited her most thrillingly murderous creation, Jacko Vance...Put away by McDermids crime-cracking dream teampsychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill and DCI Carol JordanVance never stopped plotting his escape. Finally, and brilliantly, in The Retribution he achieves his aim, then sets about exacting revenge on Hill and Jordan.”Henry Sutton, The Daily Mirror (UK) (four-star review)
McDermid is such a central figure in British crime fiction that it is hard to imagine a time when she was not.”David Robinson, The Scotsman (UK)
McDermid has made the transition from enfant terrible to grande dame.”Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian (UK)
Review
Praise for The RetributionVal McDermids 25th novel is stunningly good, but it comes with a health warning. Not in the sense of too many detailed descriptions of violence or post mortem examinations, but in what she does in entering the mind of a wholly evil, exceptionally inventive serial killer of teenage girls. . . . Vance is a character in the exaggerated mould of the likes of Hannibal Lector and Lisbeth Salander, and his tussle with Hill and Jordan achieves grotesque, frightening proportions.”The Times (UK)
A gripping and well-written crime thriller. If you've been following McDermid's Hill/Jordon series, this new addition won't disappoint you. And if, like me, you're new to Val McDermid's work, The Retribution is a good introduction.”Paul Davis, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The novels deft prose, sprinkled with psychological insight and sparks of wit, makes it hard to turn away.”Shelf-Awareness (online)
[McDermids] writing
remains taut and unflinching. . . . As in all her novels, McDermid creates a brooding tension that allows readers to get close to characters whose lives are about to be ripped apart.”Danuta Kean, The Independent (UK)
Superb. . . . The emotional wedge that the sadistic Jacko is able to drive between Tony and Carol makes this one of McDermids strongest efforts.”Publishers Weekly
Val McDermid . . . has done more to establish the British variant of the serial killer than anyone elseso successfully, indeed, that everyone elses serial killers seem pale imitations . . . . McDermid handles the multiple viewpoints of this complex narrative with assurance. She flicks from crisis to crisis, constantly misdirecting her readers. She is brilliant at sensational set-pieces . . . and Hill and Jordan have a psychological depth that's rare in crime fiction. . . . She also has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it.”Andrew Taylor, The Guardian (UK)
The villain in the seventh thriller in the Tony Hill series . . . is like a slowly growing tsunami that finally spends its fury on the inhabitants of the shore. . . . As usual, McDermid shifts point-of-view deftly, moving from Jackos plans for escape and then retribution to Hills and Carols thoughts on how to outwit and outrun him. . . . For those who like script-like prose with shock after shock . . . McDermid is perfect.”Connie Fletcher, Booklist
Its perhaps fitting that for McDermids 25th novel shes revisited her most thrillingly murderous creation, Jacko Vance. . . . Put away by McDermids crime-cracking dream teampsychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill and DCI Carol JordanVance never stopped plotting his escape. Finally, and brilliantly, in The Retribution he achieves his aim, then sets about exacting revenge on Hill and Jordan.”Henry Sutton, The Daily Mirror (UK) (four-star review)
McDermid is such a central figure in British crime fiction that it is hard to imagine a time when she was not.”David Robinson, The Scotsman (UK)
British author Val McDermids psychological thrillers are richly layered with palpable suspense and intense emotion. . . . In the strongly plotted The Retribution, McDermid returns to the partnership of crime profiler Tony Hill and detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan. . . . The Retribution moves at a brisk pace as McDermid keeps the taut plot frighteningly believable.”Oline H. Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel
McDermid has made the transition from enfant terrible to grande dame.”Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian (UK)