by ValMcDermid (Author)
The superb new psychological thriller from bestselling author Val McDermid mixes fiction with one of the most symbolic and exceptional moments in recent history -- the national miners' strike 1984, Fife: Heiress Catriona Maclennan Grant and her baby son are kidnapped. The ransom payoff goes horribly wrong. She is killed while her son disappears without trace. 2008, Tuscany: A jogger stumbles upon dramatic new evidence that re-opens the cold case. For Detective Sergeant Karen Pirie, it's an opportunity to make her mark. But it's an opportunity that comes with a high risk price tag. 1984, Fife: At the height of the politically charged national miners' strike, Mick Prentice abandons his family to join the strike-breakers down south. Labelled a blackleg scab, he might as well be dead as far as his friends and relatives are concerned. 2008, Fife: A young woman walks into a police station to report Mick Prentice missing. And since Karen Pirie's already immersed in 1984, another inquiry with a cold trail ends up on her desk. Past and present intertwine in a dark novel of psychological suspense that explores the intersection of desire and greed.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 01 Sep 2008
ISBN 10: 0007243308
ISBN 13: 9780007243303
`An absorbing novel, one of her best' The Times
`Val McDermid is a born storyteller... absorbing reading' Sunday Telegraph
`A searing piece ... McDermid orchestrates the tension with authority... After reading McDermid's novel, readers may wish that more crime fiction would have the guts to take on serious issues' Express
`Torture, warped psyches, unspeakable cellars: Val McDermid sends you to bed with lights blazing' Sunday Times
`One of the best modern writers of crime fiction ... Excellent' Scotland on Sunday
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 years as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. Now a full-time writer, she divides her time between Cheshire and Northumberland. Her novels have won international acclaim and a number of prestigious awards, including the Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year, the Anthony Award for best novel, and the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award. Her thriller series featuring criminal profiler Tony Hill has been adapted into the much-loved TV series Wire in the Blood.