Quick Reads: Cleanskin - Val McDermid

No Tony HIll in sight (483 words)
by pmcds - written on 16/03/10 (Very useful, 34 readings)
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pages to work with, this was never going to get really deep and start delving into the extreme plot developments and character descriptions that you usually expect and get from McDermid, but even so, telling the story from a narrative point of view makes you feel a certain affinity to the main character, DCI Martin. Coupled with this is the gangster in question, who is only in the story a short while before his body is found washed up on the shore, only days after his daughter had died, in a house fire that seems deliberate rather than accidental. McDermid s strength lies in creating twists in the plots, where there are clues throughout the book, but that you rarely ...

The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid

Bold and imaginative departure from previous form (911 words)
by sheri3004 - written on 25/07/06, updated on 25/07/06 (Very useful, 92 readings)
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Val McDermid, a former journalist, is the author of many crime novels including series featuring criminal profiler Tony Hill; private investigator Kate Brannigan; and journalist Lindsay Gordon. Val’s work has received awards including the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger, the Anthony Award for Best Novel and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. “The Grave Tattoo”, published in 2006 and currently available in hardback, is her latest novel. I do enjoy Val’s novels although, being a sensitive soul, some of her murders are a bit too gruesome for my liking. (In fact, this has put me off reading a couple of them.) “The Grave Tattoo”, I’m happy to report, does not fall ...