A Place of Execution - Val McDermid

Advantages: Chilling, gripping, compelling tale
Disadvantages: All the characters smoke excessively!

~~~INTRODUCTION~~~ I buy a lot of books from charity shops - after all they're cheap, accessible, tend to have an impressive range of genres available and at the same time you're supporting a good cause in a way that offers a benefit to you as well as the organisation concerned. I found myself in the local Oxfam shop a couple of months ago. Recently refurbished, it holds a remarkable collection of books, organised by author making it easy to see ...
...and sometimes when you've read a few books by an individual author in quick succession there's a danger of becoming bored with their style, tone or formulaic approach to writing. Nothing could be further from the truth in this case! ~~~THE AUTHOR~~~ McDermid became the first woman from a Scottish state school to be accepted at St Hilda's in Oxford to read English and went on to become a young and enthusiastic journalist. She always wanted to be ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping, interesting and very readable
Disadvantages: Mentioning the moors murders

Author Val McDermid begins A Place Of Execution with a short introduction from fictitious writer Catherine Heathcote. We are told that London based journalist Catherine is researching and planning to write a book about Detective Inspector George Bennett’s first murder case that took place 35 years earlier. Catherine plans to speak to everybody possible involved and revisit the Derbyshire moorland area close to where she grew up and where she ...
...a girl her age had disappeared. Following the introduction the larger part of the novel details the 1963 murder investigation, the conclusion to the case and the murder trial. The second part is set in 1998 and Catherine comes into the novel for the first time living in the area for 6 months while researching. We follow her visits to meet George and some of the others involved and the book ends with an interesting twist. THE CASE On a bitterly ... Read review

Advantages: It's reminiscent of Agatha Christie
Disadvantages: It deals with the disappearance of children, disturbing subject matter for some

...have vanished in Manchester, England. A third child vanishes in December, in a small and isolated village in Derbyshire. George Bennett is a young and newly promoted police inspector is plunged into the most difficult case of his life. It is decades before he tells his story to a journalist for a new book. Just as it is about to be published, Bennett cancels it, having new information which threatens his existence and that he refuses to divulge. ...
...ago. This is quite a long novel but it is excellent. The story starts in the past and ends in the present, spanning the years well. The plot is superb and McDermid develops her characters well and manages to sustain them through to the end. The ending itself seems reminiscent of Agatha Christie to me, as it packs a great wallop and is a surprise, but when you think of it, all McDermid is doing is using a well-known literary trick. Val McDermid ... Read review

Advantages: Beautifully written
Disadvantages: None

This book is a slight deviation from the usual formula that this author employs, but it is a welcome and refreshing deviation. Anyone who is familar with the ‘Moors Murders’ commited by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley will find similarities in this book which echo with the same horror and fascination as the ‘Moors Murders’ elicite. Book One of this book tells the story of a young girl’s disappearance, and the subsequent police investigation from the ...
...It is written as a factual account of the investigation, warts and all. Book Two of this book tells the story of how the ‘author’ of Book One, journalist Catherine Heathcote, persuades George Bennett to tell his side of the story after keeping quiet for all these years. However, once the book is written, George suddenly changes his mind about it’s publication and begs Catherine not to go ahead with publishing this book, saying that it ‘could have ... Read review

Advantages: You don't want to put it down till you find out what happens
Disadvantages: You probably have to at some point to go to work or something.

...thought her writing was at a peak, Val McDermid rises head and shoulders above her previous work. This again is a different scene, tale, style of writing from her earlier work. What a book - from telling a tale of sixties police work regarding a missing child, the investigation techniques - so different from today - the twists and turns of the plot - totally believable characters and and a wicked outcome - or is it so wicked - you decide! Two thirds ...
...third is the introduction of a family friend who manages to pursuade the detective leading the investigation to help her write the definitive book on the case. Then in the last pages ....... no I cannot spoil it for you. This is a book everyone should read at least once, although you will probably want to read it over and over (beware lending it to anyone - buy it them for Christmas!). To read it is to live it. ... Read review

Advantages: Very well written
Disadvantages: A weak ending

...Professor Fiona Cameron is a psychologist who uses computer technology to help the police track serial offenders. After the police screwed up one of her cases, she is working in Toledo when her lover Kit Martin, a novelist, tells her a fellow novelist has been murdered. Before long, the killer has struck repeatedly and Fiona finds herself caught up in a race to stop him and to bring both personal and professional redemption for herself. Val McDermid’s previous novel, ‘A Place Of Execution’ was superb. I am pleased to say that this is no exception. It is an intricate, tightly plotted and fast-paced novel, with a good deal of interesting characters and some accurate police procedural work. It mixes the world of serial killers with an insight into the publishing world and the writing of thrillers, giving... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Hard back and paper back. Very good read.
Disadvantages: the need to ensure that the books in a series are read in chronological order.

...'friends'. Reading a new instalment is enguaging with a lost lost pal. She also writes stand alone books such as 'A Suitable Job For A Woman', a non fiction, which focus is on female Private Investigators; 'Killing the Shadows', a tale of a murderer on the hunt for crime writers; 'The Distant Echo', a story of murder, rape and revenge; and 'The Grave Tattoo', an exciting story that links a present day murder to the mutiny on the Bounty. One of my favorite books written by McDermid, is 'A Place of Execution'. A book that explores the hidious murders performed by the infamous Hindly/Brady, while juxtaposing a totally different murder that has an unexpected outcome. Val McDermid's writing is contempory, enguaging and suprising until the end. Any of her stories that you choose to read will make you stay up late just tofinish the next... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful