Book Review: Val McDermid: How The Dead Speak

-
Val McDermid has certainly put her characters, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, through the proverbial wringer.

She brought them close together a few novels ago, but any hint of a happy ending was promptly detonated by the destruction which followed.

Her last Jordan/Hill book came with a plea not to reveal the ending, and that message rather carries over into this novel as they pick up the pieces of their personal and professional lives.

In short, this is a Hill/Jordan novel in which neither character is at the heart of the plot. To find out why, you need to start reading the back catalogue.

So, having set herself that challenge, McDermid has still come up with another multi-layered plot which wraps an on-going investigation - which neither have any significant say in - around the debris of their lives.

Bodies have been found in a convent, and when a second row of unmarked graves is discovered, it sparks a major investigation for the tam now led by the newly promoted Paula McIntyre.

Jordan's links with Hill have all but ended, but his mother uses he friendship to get her involved in a separate investigation, with a touch of out and out blackmail to nudge he along the road.

Fans of McDermid's work will recognise the football team and the locations - they'll know the streets of by heart - and there is much to enjoy here too.

In many ways, this novel is the bridge to the next chapter of Hill and Jordan's entwined lives.

Whether they have that happy ending is another matter entirely ...








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bruce Springsteen, Sunderland: It's raining ...

-
Image
Where this gig rates on Springsteen’s tour is entirely subjective, but it will go down as one of the wettest, if not THE wettest ... A summer’s night in Sunderland saw the heavens open and the poncho sellers make a quick buck as they huddled in bus stops on the road leading to the rather mis-named Stadium Of Light which was shrouded in low cloud. It made Manchester 2016 feel like nothing more than a light shower, so all credit fo Springsteen and the E Street Band - and their tech team - for turning in a superb 28-song, near  three hour show in the most challenging of conditions. Any time you thought the rain had eased, you only had to look to the lights to see it swirling round the stage and the stadium. Instruments were soaked, and the close ups on the giant screens showed just how wet things really were up there. While the band donned jackets and scarves, Springsteen strolled out dressed as if it was just another day; waistcoat, tie and shirt, took one look at the rainfall and op...
Read more

Bruce Springsteen, Wembley (Part One): A perfect set, an utterly magical gig

-
Image
The list of superlatives to describe a Springsteen gig has been used up. We need to invent new words. If Cardiff was a mesmerising UK tour opener, then the first night in London, which marks his departure from these shores, surpassed it in every possible way. A flawless set delivered with such energy and intensity he didn’t actually pause to formally say hello to the crowd. The Boss had business to attend to - a jaw-dropping, highlight reel show of 31 songs over three and a quarter hours. It’s incredible to think this came on the cusp of the 50th anniversary of his first ever UK gigs - modest affairs at the Hammersmith Odeon which entered Springsteen folklore as he bristled against the hype surrounding the release of Born To Run, and famously tore down a poster from the front of the venue declaring “finally London is ready for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band." London was more than ready for this first of two Wembley gigs. Standing on the pitch, I’d forgotten just how vast ...
Read more

From Asbury Park to Boucher Park ...

-
Image
  A near ten-hour flight separates Asbury Park, NJ, and Boucher Park, Belfast, but the difference between them is much, much wider. On one hand you have the mesmerising imagery of boardwalks, carnivals and the Stone Pony, on the other, a park that is basically grass and gravel, next to a generic industrial estate and retail park that could be Anywhere, UK. Belfast’s Boucher Park is as far removed from rock ‘n’ roll as you can imagine - only the moving canvas of Springsteen t-shirts gave away the fact something extraordinary was happening close to the tile warehouses and garden furniture outlets. The stop–start early queue which snaked to the gates led to a wristband which led to the front of the stage with tantalising snippets from the end of the soundcheck carrying over the fencing. I’ve never had the urge to do ‘the pit’ or rollcall - turns out you didn’t really need to do either in Belfast as the wristband got me to within half a dozen rows at the front.I suspect I could have go...
Read more