by ValMcDermid (Author)
Stunning psychological thriller featuring Tony Hill, hero of The Wire in the Blood, from one of Britain's bestselling novelists For some, there is nothing so sweet, so thrilling, as the torment of others ! A dead girl lies on a blood-soaked mattress, her limbs spread in a parody of ecstasy. The scene matches a series of murders which ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of one Derek Tyler. But Tyler's been locked up in a mental institution for two years, barely speaking a word -- except to say that 'the Voice' told him to do it. Top criminal psychologist Dr Tony Hill is prepared to think the unthinkable -- this is not a copycat murder but something much stranger. While DCI Carol Jordan and her team mount a desperate and dangerous undercover police operation to trap the murderer, Hill heads towards a terrifying face-off with one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered!
Format: Paperback
Pages: 576
Edition: Film tie-in e.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 07 Mar 2005
ISBN 10: 0007142900
ISBN 13: 9780007142903
Prizes: Winner of Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2006.
`One of McDermid's finest, which is saying a lot' The Times
`An especially taut and inventive thriller. This is McDermid on top form' Daily Mail
'Serial killers are thankfully rare. It is a tribute to the power of Val McDermid's imagination that she made this one seem so believable' Daily Telegraph
'Complex, combative and nuanced' Express
`No one compares to McDermid' Guardian
'Val McDermid is an intelligent, supremely talented novelist and with this latest tale, she is writing at the height of her power. Utterly compelling' Glasgow Herald
Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years, spending the last three as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. She divides her time between Northumberland and Cheshire.