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A review by sofijakryz
The Last Temptation by Val McDermid
3.0
I think I will need something light after this one. McDermid throws some heavy stuff right at the start. We get human traffickers, drug dealers, mafia, undercover policing, psychological and physical violence, human torture, cruel murders and a psychopath unleashed. I was definitely not prepared to take in so much crap in one go – not all of that cruelty even necessary. Maybe that was why it took so long to read through.
I must be getting old and sentimental.
The plot is split into two tangential, semi-intertwined strands. On one hand we have Carol Jordan trying out a new role of an undercover cop, attempting to bring down a leader of organised crime gang. On the other, we have a(n) (unofficial) team of German detective Petra Becker and Dutch detective Marijke van Hasselt trying to nail a serial killer. What links the two lines? Well, Petra is acting as liaison for Carol’s undercover operation and Carol’s former colleague and profiler of serial murderers, Dr Tony Hill, aids Petra’s and Marijke’s investigation upon Carol's request.
The two strands complement each other, yet not at all times. Sometimes they just compete for space with each other and politics of international policing on top of that, making the reader wonder why they were not separated into two stories. Quite a lot of attention is dedicated to analysis of Carol’s feelings about her undercover work, emotional state or state of mind of the killer, and general dynamics of relationships. Maybe that’s how police investigations work in real life, but I found the need to constantly split my attention among topics or character views a bit distracting and sometimes even tiresome.
The end of the book was a bit cramped too, with focus tipping towards the organised crime line and the serial killer line kind of neglected towards the end. There were also a few too many coincidences.
Overall it was a good and interesting story, rather ambitious, but definitely one of the darkest ones. I wouldn’t recommend it to sensitive readers - it makes me want to go for that shot or double of some heavy spirit.
I must be getting old and sentimental.
The plot is split into two tangential, semi-intertwined strands. On one hand we have Carol Jordan trying out a new role of an undercover cop, attempting to bring down a leader of organised crime gang. On the other, we have a(n) (unofficial) team of German detective Petra Becker and Dutch detective Marijke van Hasselt trying to nail a serial killer. What links the two lines? Well, Petra is acting as liaison for Carol’s undercover operation and Carol’s former colleague and profiler of serial murderers, Dr Tony Hill, aids Petra’s and Marijke’s investigation upon Carol's request.
The two strands complement each other, yet not at all times. Sometimes they just compete for space with each other and politics of international policing on top of that, making the reader wonder why they were not separated into two stories. Quite a lot of attention is dedicated to analysis of Carol’s feelings about her undercover work, emotional state or state of mind of the killer, and general dynamics of relationships. Maybe that’s how police investigations work in real life, but I found the need to constantly split my attention among topics or character views a bit distracting and sometimes even tiresome.
The end of the book was a bit cramped too, with focus tipping towards the organised crime line and the serial killer line kind of neglected towards the end. There were also a few too many coincidences.
Overall it was a good and interesting story, rather ambitious, but definitely one of the darkest ones. I wouldn’t recommend it to sensitive readers - it makes me want to go for that shot or double of some heavy spirit.