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samirakatherine's review against another edition
3.0
Val McDermid is very good, and I am attached to some of the characters, but this one was a bit violent for me....
roshnara's review against another edition
3.0
It's been a while since I've read Val McDermid, and reading this, I wonder why I stopped. She creates an intense mystery here, with Tony Hill and Carol Jordan returning to their element, with more tension thrown in due to their estrangement.
When women in the area are found murdered, and the evidence points to Tony, Carol has no choice but to pitch in and solve the puzzle, pitting her formidable intellect against a thoroughly cruel killer. The race is against time, as Tony is closer to getting incarcerated with every passing minute.
Though not as strong as Mermaids Singing, this book has all the elements that make a classic noir thriller work - psychologically damaged killer, disturbing crimes and a frantic race to the finish line. The book is gripping and the writing is so engaging that you cannot put the book down without getting to the end.
When women in the area are found murdered, and the evidence points to Tony, Carol has no choice but to pitch in and solve the puzzle, pitting her formidable intellect against a thoroughly cruel killer. The race is against time, as Tony is closer to getting incarcerated with every passing minute.
Though not as strong as Mermaids Singing, this book has all the elements that make a classic noir thriller work - psychologically damaged killer, disturbing crimes and a frantic race to the finish line. The book is gripping and the writing is so engaging that you cannot put the book down without getting to the end.
paulshepherd888's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant, enjoyed every step of the way and looked forward to picking it up everytime, also an excellent follow up to the previous one
janpd24's review against another edition
2.0
I’ve long lost patience with the unappealing and unconvincing drama that is the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan relationship. However, I quite enjoy the crime-solving part of the books and McDermid remains one of my favourite authors. However, I found this to be the weakest of her Hill/Jordan series -- the plot seemed like something dusted out from before, the killer was easy to guess, the characters uninteresting (apart from Paula)... My full review is here: http://writeside.net/books/crime/val-mcdermid/cross-and-burn
devrose's review against another edition
2.0
This book is a bridge between The Retribution and whatever's next in the series. It's one of those necessary evils when the characters have to work out their problems before they can work together again. I'm ready for what's coming next.
amothersmusings1's review against another edition
5.0
My favourite series of all time are the Carol Jordan, Tony Hill books. If you love this series too then this book is a must. We pick up from where The Retribution left off, with Carol and Tony not talking and more killings taking place. It's a fast page turner that keeps you gripped from the start hoping and hoping that Carol and Tony sort things out between them. Would recommend.
relish_books's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
lirael's review against another edition
4.0
This one was more satisfying because of the relationship progression, how people are responding to trauma and learning to forgive each other and themselves. The crimes of the serial killer are as twisted as previous ones in the series but the best part of the book is seeing the characters continue on their respective journeys of brokenness and hope.
raven88's review against another edition
4.0
Well it is with great delight that I can report that in this humble reviewer's opinion, Val McDermid is back on form with her new outing for Carol Jordan and Tony Hill- hallelujah and saints be praised! After the relative disappointments of McDermid's stand alone The Vanishing Point and the last Jordan/Hill The Retribution, I was feeling a little deflated as I've always held McDermid in some regard and very much enjoyed her books previous to these two, so I did approach Cross and Burn with a slight sense of trepidation but my fears were quickly dispelled...
What I particularly enjoyed about Cross and Burn was the sense of readjustment that ran through the book for all the protagonists, as after the horrific events of The Retribution, both mentally and physically for the main players, they are all in a state of flux in their personal and professional lives. Carol Jordan, now no longer a police officer, is still coming to terms with her familial loss and on a mission to erase these events, now firmly rooted in a rural idyll and her relationship with her former colleagues, and more importantly, Tony Hill completely severed. Our favourite bumbling but brilliant psychological profiler, Tony Hill is, well, bumbling along, pining for the loss of his relationship with Jordan, the drying up of his police consultancy work and his new life on the waves- okay- a canal. Newly promoted DS Paula McIntyre takes a larger part in the story, now part of a new investigation team under the steely leadership of another female boss- DCI Fielding- and finds her personal and professional life intermingling when a friend disappears. As a series of abductions unfold McIntyre and Hill join forces providing a different dimension to the plot, but Hill soon finds himself in the accusatory glare of the indominitable Fielding and Carol Jordan cannot help but be drawn back into the world she has left behind, despite the fragility of her relationship with him. This is the real strength of the book for me, as the abduction storyline was a little laboured (although I appreciate the need to draw McIntyre's personal life into the mix for the sake of the plot) but where McDermid excels is in her observation of the very human need for connection and reconciliation. I loved the tentative and thorny reactions between Jordan and Hill, the pressures on McIntyre to connect with a new team of detectives and her narrow minded boss, and the ruminations of Hill on his disconnection with a world that largely tolerated his own peculiar quirks of character and way of working. I enjoyed the depictions of the solitary lives led by Jordan and Hill- consumed in their own particular miseries- set against the sudden change in McIntyre's domestic set-up with the introduction of her own newly arrived waif and stray and how this impacts on her relationship with her partner Eleanor, and of course the very marked differences made in the characters and professional attitudes of Jordan and Fielding in their former and current roles of overseeing murder investigations.
No question then in my mind that McDermid is back with style, not necessarily in the depiction of the central investigation, but in her capturing in the real frailties and strengths in her established cast of characters. It's no mean feat to reveal new aspects to such stalwart characters over the length of a series, but to me this worked beautifully throughout, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ebb and flow of them reconnecting them in the face of emotional and professional difficulties. Nicely done.
What I particularly enjoyed about Cross and Burn was the sense of readjustment that ran through the book for all the protagonists, as after the horrific events of The Retribution, both mentally and physically for the main players, they are all in a state of flux in their personal and professional lives. Carol Jordan, now no longer a police officer, is still coming to terms with her familial loss and on a mission to erase these events, now firmly rooted in a rural idyll and her relationship with her former colleagues, and more importantly, Tony Hill completely severed. Our favourite bumbling but brilliant psychological profiler, Tony Hill is, well, bumbling along, pining for the loss of his relationship with Jordan, the drying up of his police consultancy work and his new life on the waves- okay- a canal. Newly promoted DS Paula McIntyre takes a larger part in the story, now part of a new investigation team under the steely leadership of another female boss- DCI Fielding- and finds her personal and professional life intermingling when a friend disappears. As a series of abductions unfold McIntyre and Hill join forces providing a different dimension to the plot, but Hill soon finds himself in the accusatory glare of the indominitable Fielding and Carol Jordan cannot help but be drawn back into the world she has left behind, despite the fragility of her relationship with him. This is the real strength of the book for me, as the abduction storyline was a little laboured (although I appreciate the need to draw McIntyre's personal life into the mix for the sake of the plot) but where McDermid excels is in her observation of the very human need for connection and reconciliation. I loved the tentative and thorny reactions between Jordan and Hill, the pressures on McIntyre to connect with a new team of detectives and her narrow minded boss, and the ruminations of Hill on his disconnection with a world that largely tolerated his own peculiar quirks of character and way of working. I enjoyed the depictions of the solitary lives led by Jordan and Hill- consumed in their own particular miseries- set against the sudden change in McIntyre's domestic set-up with the introduction of her own newly arrived waif and stray and how this impacts on her relationship with her partner Eleanor, and of course the very marked differences made in the characters and professional attitudes of Jordan and Fielding in their former and current roles of overseeing murder investigations.
No question then in my mind that McDermid is back with style, not necessarily in the depiction of the central investigation, but in her capturing in the real frailties and strengths in her established cast of characters. It's no mean feat to reveal new aspects to such stalwart characters over the length of a series, but to me this worked beautifully throughout, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ebb and flow of them reconnecting them in the face of emotional and professional difficulties. Nicely done.
elegantmechanic's review against another edition
4.0
A much stronger return to form after The Retribution, although I really didn't like the treatment of Alex Fielding in the story (having been a fan of the TV show). It felt like some sort of score-settling by McDermid over a producer's decision on the show back then. Maybe she can be redeemed in the next book?