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angrygreycatreads's review against another edition
2.0
A Place of Execution is by Val McDermid and has many rave reviews. It covers a span of time from the early 1960s to the 90s. A child disappears in the 1960s and years later the crime is being looked at again. First, this book was longer than it needed to be to tell the story, over 400 pages. It seemed repetitive in places and the ending was what I assumed fairly early on. This was a disappointing read.
rainnbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant writing and crafty story! Was too good to put down even for a cup of tea. One of the best books in crime thriller genre.
lizclairlee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse
besha's review
5.0
This went on my to-read pile during a Goodreads binge. Anything I’d heard about it had gone out the window by the time I got it from the library, and I also didn’t read much of the description. Pure naïveté is the ideal state for reading this book.
chickenx1000's review against another edition
3.0
Flying to Week 31 of the Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge : An author whose career spanned more than 21 years with Val McDermid, whose first novel was published in 1987 .
Content warning : this book contains brief but graphic descriptions of the sexual assault of a minor.
A Place of Execution is a well-rounded crime novel in the classic police procedural tradition. It is told in two somewhat unequal parts, and this inequality is what - with regret - brought my rating down to 3 stars.
Book 1
The first part of the story is a superb example of a classic police+courtroom procedural. This plot structure can easily produce a dry or hackneyed narrative, but it is not the case here. In style, characterization, and pace, it succeeds.
At first my immersion into the narrative suffered from the amount of characters quickly introduced. Still, I quickly warmed to the noble character of the (handsome) Inspector Bennett and his Lieutenant Tommy Clough. The villagers - while still hard to tell apart, barre the unmistakable Ma Lomas - of Scardale provide a setting I always love in crime fiction: a remote, tight-knit community.
As in many procedurals, especially this classic in style, the plot is very events-driven, whit any character development or focus centred on the main inspector. George Bennett is likeable in every way. In this day and age, I find somewhat refreshing to have a law-enforcement protagonist who isn't cynical and prone to violence and substance abuse.
After the first few chapters, the pacing was truly marvelous, changing to reflect the events; the slow suspense of the early investigation, the chase of a final lead, and, finally, the nerve-racking trial.
McDermid's writing has the comfortable descriptiveness of many older works, without foresaking dynamism. Without seeming dated, it reflects the temporal setting, giving the novel an immersive quality.
On a sidenote, here is a line that seems darkly humourous to a modern reader:
"[The British public] think of policemen as they do of Labradors - noble, loyal, good with children, man's protector and friend. In spite of evidence to the contrary, they refuse to admit policemen can be corrupt, sly or untruthful, because to do so would be to admit we are on the very verge of anarchy."
All in all, Book 1, in its style, temporal setting and landscape, it reminded me somewhat of [b:Snow|50353739|Snow (St. John Strafford, #1)|John Banville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584824767l/50353739._SY75_.jpg|75355208].
Book 2
Book 2 starts 35 years later - a bit of a personal pet peeve - and unfortunately concludes a solid story with a bit of an implausible reveal
But perhaps if McDermid had ended her novel after the first book, it would have been regarded as lacking in originality.
The large jump in time and the late introduction of a new main character broke the rythm for me, and I found I had to re-immerse myself, which was harder as I perceived some redundancy in Book 2's early chapters. I typically don't do very well with dual timelines or large time-skips.
But the main problem here was the magnitude of the coincidence on which Book 2 relied. And in the end, I didn't find the conclusion any more satisfying than the one offered by Book 1.
Minus the redundancies, the pacing and style remain, however, excellent.
Note on the author and political/identity themes:
I had heard of Ms. McDermid as a pioneer in LGBTQ+ crime writing and read about her strong feminist and left-leaning beliefs, which I greatly respect. However, those beliefs are not strongly reflected here. This isn't criticism, but an observation; I respect an author's right to write (ha!) about more than their immediate selves. This is meant to be nothing more than a heads up that if someone is looking for a socialist, feminist, or queer novel, this isn't it. It isn't a very political novel.
Content warning : this book contains brief but graphic descriptions of the sexual assault of a minor.
A Place of Execution is a well-rounded crime novel in the classic police procedural tradition. It is told in two somewhat unequal parts, and this inequality is what - with regret - brought my rating down to 3 stars.
Book 1
The first part of the story is a superb example of a classic police+courtroom procedural. This plot structure can easily produce a dry or hackneyed narrative, but it is not the case here. In style, characterization, and pace, it succeeds.
At first my immersion into the narrative suffered from the amount of characters quickly introduced. Still, I quickly warmed to the noble character of the (handsome) Inspector Bennett and his Lieutenant Tommy Clough. The villagers - while still hard to tell apart, barre the unmistakable Ma Lomas - of Scardale provide a setting I always love in crime fiction: a remote, tight-knit community.
As in many procedurals, especially this classic in style, the plot is very events-driven, whit any character development or focus centred on the main inspector. George Bennett is likeable in every way. In this day and age, I find somewhat refreshing to have a law-enforcement protagonist who isn't cynical and prone to violence and substance abuse.
After the first few chapters, the pacing was truly marvelous, changing to reflect the events; the slow suspense of the early investigation, the chase of a final lead, and, finally, the nerve-racking trial.
McDermid's writing has the comfortable descriptiveness of many older works, without foresaking dynamism. Without seeming dated, it reflects the temporal setting, giving the novel an immersive quality.
On a sidenote, here is a line that seems darkly humourous to a modern reader:
"[The British public] think of policemen as they do of Labradors - noble, loyal, good with children, man's protector and friend. In spite of evidence to the contrary, they refuse to admit policemen can be corrupt, sly or untruthful, because to do so would be to admit we are on the very verge of anarchy."
All in all, Book 1, in its style, temporal setting and landscape, it reminded me somewhat of [b:Snow|50353739|Snow (St. John Strafford, #1)|John Banville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584824767l/50353739._SY75_.jpg|75355208].
Book 2
Book 2 starts 35 years later - a bit of a personal pet peeve - and unfortunately concludes a solid story with a bit of an implausible reveal
But perhaps if McDermid had ended her novel after the first book, it would have been regarded as lacking in originality.
The large jump in time and the late introduction of a new main character broke the rythm for me, and I found I had to re-immerse myself, which was harder as I perceived some redundancy in Book 2's early chapters. I typically don't do very well with dual timelines or large time-skips.
But the main problem here was the magnitude of the coincidence on which Book 2 relied. And in the end, I didn't find the conclusion any more satisfying than the one offered by Book 1.
Minus the redundancies, the pacing and style remain, however, excellent.
Note on the author and political/identity themes:
I had heard of Ms. McDermid as a pioneer in LGBTQ+ crime writing and read about her strong feminist and left-leaning beliefs, which I greatly respect. However, those beliefs are not strongly reflected here. This isn't criticism, but an observation; I respect an author's right to write (ha!) about more than their immediate selves. This is meant to be nothing more than a heads up that if someone is looking for a socialist, feminist, or queer novel, this isn't it. It isn't a very political novel.
devrose's review against another edition
4.0
I finished this book and then obsessively hunted for more by Val McDermid. This was another one where I had to peek to see what happens before I could go off and do something else (though, had I waited a few pages, I would have found out anyway). I'm keeping my hard copy rather than donating it to William Way because it's definitely one to re-read and see if I can find places that pointed to the conclusion that I missed.
jamread2021's review against another edition
4.0
Determining the exact crime and culprit kept me interested as the story unfolded. The story starts in the past with the investigation, arrest, and trial then fast forwards to the the future when the situation is revisited because of a book deal. This clever plot twist worked. While the story is not dark or overly graphic, it is realistic and the final revelation could be disturbing to some.
rubestar's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 stars. An incredibly heavy and dramatic read, my goodness. Big warning for child abuse, there is quite a lot of that in this book & sexual abuse too so be warned of that, it's quite upsetting. I was quite compelled by this book, it was really nice to have a detective in crime fiction who was genuinely kind hearted and good without being a morally conflicted man at the core, was quite refreshing to have a genuine soul you could trust. Several twists and turns w this novel, very dramatic & incredibly sad overall. Good crime novel I would say, but yes be warned going into it. Also I am not at all sorry for Philip Hawkins, it is sad for George that he'll carry grief over mistaking the case and all but I stand with Alison on this one; he was tbh better off dead. Just, what a disgusting and awful scumbag, glad they got rid of him. Also I must admit that the whole village being in on it is rather fun (of course not so much considering the circumstances) but it reminded me of the Ken murder case w the 60 witnesses to his shooting just saying they didn't see anything bc that guy was absolutely awful & also a little bit reminded me of Hot Fuzz.