A Place of Execution

A Place of Execution

by ValMcDermid (Author)

Synopsis

Riveting psycholgical thriller from Gold Dagger Award Winning author: 'Compelling and atmospheric!a tour de force' -- MINETTE WALTERS Winter 1963: two children have disappeared off the streets of Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from the isolated Derbyshire hamlet of Scardale, a small-inward-looking community which has little contact with the outside world. For the young George Bennett, a newly promoted inspector, it is the beginning of his most difficult and harrowing case: a murder with no body, an investigation with more dead ends and closed faces than he'd have found in the anonymity of the inner city, an outcome which reverberates down the years. Decades later he finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, Bennett unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information which he refuses to divulge, new information that threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to reinvestigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down. A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological suspense thriller that uniquely explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know. A monstrous tale of deception, the technique of the telling is the greatest deception of all.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 624
Edition: New edition
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 06 Feb 2006

ISBN 10: 0007217145
ISBN 13: 9780007217144

Media Reviews
Praise for A Place of Execution: 'A terrific and original novel, brilliantly executed' Paul Davies, Daily Mirror 'Compelling and atmospheric! a tour de force' Minette Walters 'Beautifully written! it may be that McDermid will write better novels than this in the future, but I do not see how' Gerald Kaufman, Daily Telegraph 'A gut-wrenching tale that spans two decades and brings the resonance of Greek tragedies to England. A terrific achievement' Maxim Jakubowski, Time Out 'Val McDermid is a roaring Ferrari amid the crowded traffic on the crime writing road! a crime writer capable of holding her own in any company! she is a strong enough writer to create her own distinctive world' Jane Jakeman, Independent
Author Bio
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.