“A psychologically chilling and multifaceted thriller…With consummate skill and pacing, [McDermid] braids together the complex story lines through surprising revelations, heart-stopping suspense and cruel double-crosses…creating even more tension. McDermid’s writing and her understanding of the criminal mind get better with each novel. With its European locales, depiction of Nazi-mind experiments, and hints at another Jordan/Hill novel, this may well be her breakout book. She certainly deserves it.”
—Publishers Weekly
“McDermid’s Dr. Tony Hill is so tortured he makes Thomas Harris’s troubled heroes seem like lighthearted game-show hosts. McDermid has become a whiz at generating breathless, crosscutting suspense.”
—GQ
“This well-executed novel has it all: a complex, suspenseful plot, a full cast of interesting characters, and two budding romances.”
—Library Journal
“Exciting and compassionate.”
—Salon.com
“White-knuckle suspense, hot action, and graphic chills. Sure to be a hit with thriller fans.”
—Booklist
“Irresistible…McDermid skillfully controls her cast…This is a hugely ambitious novel, involving three police forces, [and] the settings in Berlin are vividly evoked.”
—The Daily Express (UK)
“More than just a serial killer novel, [The Last Temptation is] a masterful examination of evil.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“Val McDermid is one of the few crime authors who can be convincing when it comes to writing tough, yet retain a powerful emotional insight.”
—Scotland on Sunday (UK)
“A scary, disturbing, exciting, and atmospheric white-knuckle read.”
—The London Times (UK)
“Vivid and adept…mounts in tension while at the same time making readers aware of their complicity in craving the grisly shocks the genre provides…[A]s Stephen King did in Bag of Bones, McDermid is trying to address the inhumanity that’s all too easy for popular writers to lapse into as they seek to titillate an increasingly jaded readership…McDermid is a whiz at combining narrative threads…and ending chapters with cliffhangers that propel you to keep reading. In terms of hooking her readers and carrying them along out of sheer desire to find out what happens next, McDermid is as smooth a practitioner of crime fiction as anyone out there…Killing the Shadows is further proof that she’s the best we’ve got.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A pleasure…a smart concept skillfully executed…[McDermid] tells this wicked tale with style, intelligence, and the blackest of humor.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“Memorable…[Killing the Shadows] is fraught with close, careful plotting and jangling surprises.”
—Newsday
“Excellent…beautifully crafted…fast-paced with an exciting denouement, this is one of the best mysteries of the year.”
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Powerful…spooky and effective…this complex tale will leave you satisfied and hungry for more.”
—Chattanooga Times Free Press
“McDermid skillfully alternates points of view and creates memorable scenes and complex characters.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A compelling, intricately plotted page-turner.”
—Library Journal
“Terrific…McDermid’s deft mix of the whodunnit, the psychological thriller, some sparkling action and plenty of tension results in a hugely entertaining, gripping read.”
—The Times (UK)
“As compelling as A Place of Execution…puts the much-overrated Patricia Cornwell to shame.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“[McDermid] is still head and shoulders above…the competition.”
—The Observer (UK)
“[Killing the Shadows] could rank as McDermid’s finest yet crime novel.”
—Publishing News (UK)
“Compelling and shocking.”
—Minette Walters
“A dark tale…Complex, carefully crafted, and disturbing…powerful…psychologically terrifying…impossible to put down.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Exciting, rapid-fire…A satisfying descent into the territory of a twisted mind.”
—Booklist
“[A] terrific chiller from Manchester’s answer to Thomas Harris.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“Truly, horribly good.”
—Mail on Sunday (UK)
“This book [has] a sense of gravitas and intelligence utterly beyond lesser writers in the field…This is a wholly satisfying read which cleverly subverts tradition and expectation.”
—Ian Rankin
“This is a shocking book, stunningly exciting, horrifyingly good. It is so convincing that one fears reality may be like this and these events the awful truth.”
—Ruth Rendell
“Ye Gods, she’s Good”
—Colin Dexter
“A superb psychological thriller.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Truly frightening. McDermid’s capacity to enter the warped mind of a deviant criminal is shiveringly convincing.”
—The Times (UK)
“The story, handled with verve, wit, and style, never flags.”
—Mail on Sunday (UK)
“Clever and exciting.”
—Sunday Telegraph (UK)
“Horripulation guaranteed.”
—Literary Review (UK)
Edgar Award Nominee and A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
“One of my favorite authors, Val McDermid is an important writer—witty, never sentimental, taking us through Manchester’s mean streets with the dexterity of a Chandler.”
—Sara Paretsky
“Compelling and atmospheric…A tour de force.”
—Minette Walters
“From the first page of McDermid’s A Place of Execution, we know we’re in the hands of a master.”
—Jeffery Deaver, author of The Empty Chair and The Bone Collector
“One of the most ingenious mystery novels ever.”
—Newsday
“A novel about a murder in which the police find the culprit but not the body—a circumstance rich in the stuff of which page-turners are made…McDermid generates curiosity and, finally, whiplash surprise.”
—The Atlantic Monthly
“One jaw-dropping suspense after another.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“A modern masterpiece…a book that will haunt us forever.”
—The Denver Post
“A stunning and cunning novel.”
—The Orlando Sentinel
“An extraordinary story [told] with extraordinary skill.”
—San Antonio Express-News
“If you only have time to read one mystery this or any other season, make it A Place of Execution.”
—Associated Press
“Val McDermid is one of the bright new lights of the mystery field…[She] proves herself a lively storyteller.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“McDermid can’t write an uninteresting sentence.”
—Women’s Review of Books
“McDermid’s a skillful writer—comparisons with such American novelists as Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton are appropriate. Clever, absorbing and lots of fun.”
—Chicago Tribune
“A cleanly written, fast-paced escapade. This tale jumps out of the gate at top speed.”
—Publishers Weekly