Reviews

The Last Temptation by Val McDermid

squeaky_luna's review against another edition

Surprisingly this was a bit slow to get going. The earlier chapters hopped between storylines and I found myself being less keen to read one thread. It was only that I knew they'd all weave together in the end that I persevered. Boy was I glad I did!!! The second half of the book was a real page turner and now I can't wait to read the next instalment.

syren1532's review against another edition

4.0

Another fantastic read in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series by the fabulous Val McDermid. Enjoyed the fact this book took both Carol and Tony to Europe to work with law enforcement there. Have only just started reading this series but I'm hooked and can't wait to start the next one.

kieran_c's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Disappointing. Too long. Too many threads that take far longer than necessary to tie into each other. The ending comes too fast and unsatisfactorily. This could have been an amazing book at half the length. One of the main characters was absolutely shoe-horned into this plot, characters from previous books completely dropped, so many new characters with little backstory or characterisation to make them distinguishable are thrown at us instead. I would not recommend this book, though I love Val McDermid. Maybe skip this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

sassenak's review against another edition

4.0

J’avais envie de retrouver Carol Jordan et Tony Hill avec cette troisième enquête et cette fois, c’est dépaysant car on quitte l’Angleterre pour l’Allemagne. J’ai toujours un peu peur quand un auteur écrit une histoire qui ne se déroule pas dans son propre pays ou un pays dans lequel il a vécu mais là, ça passe très bien (mais en même temps, je ne connais ni l’Allemagne, ni les Pays-Bas donc j’aurais du mal à repérer les erreurs !). Comme pour l’opus précédent, on sait tout de suite qui est le tueur de psychologues mais on découvre ses motivations par étapes et l’essentiel du développement de cette enquête se focalise sur la façon qu’ont les enquêteurs pour le retrouver, ainsi que la façon dont Tony Hill bâtit le profil du tueur. Parallèlement, il y a le récit sur l’infiltration de Carol Jordan auprès de Radecki et comment elle va gérer cette situation toute nouvelle pour elle. Et pour finir, il y a bien sûr la relation intense entre Carol et Tony, ainsi que la vie des personnages secondaires (une enquêtrice allemande et une hollandaise, Radecki et son homme de main). C’est assez touffu mais facile à lire et prenant car j’ai toujours eu envie de voir comment les choses aller tourner, même si je sais que les aventures de Carol et Tony ont encore plusieurs autres tomes à suivre ! L’auteure n’est pas tendre avec ses personnages et elle ne leur facilite pas la tâche mais j’ai été un peu déçue par un rebondissement peu digne des protagonistes qui ne me paraissent pas aussi bêtes pour avoir fait ce qu’ils ont fait (je ne vais pas développer là dessus car ce serait divulgâcher !). Sinon, c’est toujours un plaisir de lire cette série car la psychologie de nos héros est toujours bien développée et ils sont attachants (on peut même comprendre partiellement les méchants de ce tome ... comme quoi, l’auteure ne fait pas dans le manichéen). Sûr que j’attaquerai le tome 4 dans quelque temps !  

cel_red's review against another edition

4.0

El final fue un poco apresurado y hubo cosas terribles (sucesos, no narración) que me dejan con sentimientos encontrados.

nocto's review

Short version: just as good as I'd hoped it would be.

Long version:

I was disappointed in McDermid's last standalone book and so I was really worried that this one was going to miss the mark for me as well. This is the third story to feature Carol Jordan and Tony Hill (the previous two books were The Mermaid's Singing and The Wire in the Blood). I read both of the earlier books a while ago now and loved them both. There were plenty of elements in this book that could have made it a dreadful experience but I got involved with the characters and really liked the book.

This book revolves primarily around Jordan as she is given an undercover operation that involves living in Berlin and working with a big time trafficker of both drugs and people. The new setting brings in a lot of new European characters including a pair of lesbian detectives from Berlin and the Netherlands who know each other primarily through instant messaging. I thought these two characters were very realistically drawn and can only hope that police forces throughout Europe are populated by their sisters. The world would be a better place if that were so.

Jordan also becomes involved in helping out with a serial killing investigation and this is where psychological profiler Tony Hill is drawn into the story.

McDermid puts her characters through a lot and I don't know how many books this series can go on for because they barely get out of this book alive and this isn't the first time this has happened. This is one of the things that could have wrecked the book for me but I went with the flow and got drawn into the suspense.

I hear that a TV series is being made based on these books and I'm in two minds about it. I'm worried that they'll wreck the books by casting people who are nothing like the characters in my head and by abridging stories and cutting out the goriest bits. But I also think greater readership for McDermid is a good thing and though she's one of the stars of the crime writing scene I don't think she's well enough known to the general public yet.

A couple of other comments: At the beginning of this book there's a lot of stuff that refers back to the case in the previous book that I think would wreck the suspense of that book if you read the series out of order so don't read this book first! And if you have read the previous books I think this one is lacking the extra gory bits that featured in those - I could read all of this one with my eyes open ;-)

In summary, this was a very enjoyable episode in this series with some excellent settings along the rivers of Europe and some great characters and I thought the plot worked pretty well (though there were moments when I thought some rather predictable things were being foreshadowed, but these didn't come to pass). I hope McDermid gives us another Lindsay Gordon or Kate Brannigan book next though!

ivy1302's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

So emotional and disturbing. It gripped me from start to finish. It made me feel all the emotions really sad it was over but so glad there are more books in the series. 

blissfully_me's review against another edition

5.0

Not very fast paced but still brilliant with plenty of suspense to keep you turning pages. I really enjoyed this book, though I did think Carol and Tony made a huge rookie mistake when involved in such a dangerous and delicate undercover operation. On the other hand it had been pointed out that working undercover can lead to the officer losing a sense of self, and Tony being there was Carols way of trying to keep herself grounded. Nevertheless I still loved this book and recommend it

gawronma's review against another edition

4.0

One McDermid's best Hill and Jordan stories. The characters continue to grow.

jonetta's review against another edition

4.0

Carol Jordan is drawn into a Europol sting while Tony gets involved in a Berlin detective's case that appears to be the work of a serial killer. The two cases are separate but brings the two of them back together.

This was another harrowing, tense ride with an exciting climax, although I could foresee the inevitable. Scared me witless but the procedurals covering so many European jurisdictions was quite interesting. I enjoyed all aspects of this story and, of course, want to jump right into the next one.