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Insidious Intent

Val McDermid

Hachette Australia

Little, Brown

ISBN: 9781408709337


In Insidious Intent, Tony and Carol are on the hunt for a serial killer who victimizes women at weddings without a date–and forces the duo to confront their most haunting moral dilemma so far.


This a very, very surprising read! There are the usual main characters that you have come to know and love, the horrendous crimes you expect to find in a Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series but what you won’t expect is the ending. I could not believe my eyes when I read the last few chapters! Incredible! What an impact!!! And then there is a personal note form Val McDermid. Splinter the Silence




ISBN: 9781408706909


To begin perhaps we should have a little look at Hachette Australia’s website https://www.hachette.com.au/books/detail.page?isbn=9781408706909 at the biographical notes for Val McDermid;

“Biographical Notes

After reading the book (the 9th in the Carol Jordon & Tony Hill series) and then reading the Val McDermid’s bio – what is there left to say that hasn’t already been said? This award winning author writes her characters with ease and realism, the plot is complex yet not complicated, the pages turn over almost of their own volition, so keen are they to share their secrets with you. Brilliant.

And did I mention the intro? What a great hook – being privy to the murderous thoughts and plans of the villain of the piece – of course you want to read more, know more! Go ahead- but plan nothing else for the rest of the day – this book will demand your earnest attention. Fan? Me? YEP! Cross and Burn



Atlantic Monthly Press

ISBN: 9780802122049


McDermid is as smooth a practitioner of crime fiction as anyone out there. . . . She’s the best we’ve got.”New York Times Book Review

Internationally best-selling crime writer Val McDermid’s work speaks for itself: her books have sold millions of copies worldwide, won numerous accolades, and attracted a devoted following of readers around the globe. Her latest, Cross and Burn, picks up where The Retribution left off: following the best crime-fighting team in the UKclinical psychologist Tony Hill and police detective Carol Jordanwho when we last saw them were barely speaking, and whose relationship will now be challenged even further.

Guilt and grief have driven a wedge between long time crime-fighting partners psychologist Tony Hill and ex-DCI Carol Jordan. But just because they’re not talking doesn’t mean the killing stops.



Exciting, pulse racing tension packed pages of pure brilliance! This is a wonderful work of crime fiction that continues on from the explosive novel, The Retribution, however any fan of the TV series Wire in the Blood, of Val McDermid or of crime fiction in general will not have any problem reading this as a standalone.

It is a great police procedural, and a classic page turner, and the tension evoked is so real it can be measured – on a scale of 1 to 10 – this is a 10! For me this should have been a quick one night read, the first page was fraught with knowledge that no good was going to be happening, that something evil was about to explode on  the pages, doom was approaching , and fast  and by about page one hundred and twenty my pulse was racing and my imagination was in overdrive. I had to put this down, immediately. I couldn’t read any further. It took me several days to be able to pick up this book again and then only in daylight.

This is a story that will jolt all women, mothers, daughters, and sisters…female friends… into thinking closely about their personal security. How easily did this evil, sadistic villain mange to stalk and capture the objects of his desire; too easily. (I know this is fiction but it could easily be fact) I think, on one level, we are  far too complacent about our personal security and space, I think the majority of us think like McDermid’s character , Tony Hill, that if you are innocent and good  all will be ok, if you do no harm no harm will come to you, in truth the world doesn’t work that way, I doubt it ever did. Not enough people share the path of goodness and good intentions, or as the old missive suggests, share the view that we should treat others how you wish to be treated our self, which allows those with other less desirable intentions to escape our notice.  Take heed and notice what is happening around you. And enjoy this, the scariest read of the year.





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