A review by sireno8
A Place of Execution by Val McDermid

5.0

Val McDermid continues to amaze me. I've read 4 of her books now and they're all different and they're all excellent. What amazed me in this one was her ability to construct suspense from different areas of the story line--the detective element, the court/legal element, the personal element--so it doesn't let up until the very last page. This, of course, comes from her ability to build characters you believe in and care about and creating an atmosphere that continually draws you in. Once I hit the halfway point with this one, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. And, though I have to admit, I suspected the overall what, I had no idea what the whys were and the twist near the end was brilliant. In lesser hands, it wouldn't have been credible. In McDermid's, it was thrilling. Hmmm, maybe that's why they call them thrillers.