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Monday 7 October 2013

Val McDermid - The Last Temptation



Review by showhost
This is another book with the characters Dr Tony Hill, criminal psychologist, & DCI Carol Jordan.  Hill & Jordan have a little bit of history going back in previous books.  Tony Hill had a bad experience as a child and doesn't function quite normally, which I suspect has always marred their relationship.
DCI Carol Jordan is asked to work undercover, which is something she has not previously done.  She is to liaise with the German crime squad to bring to justice a Russian racketeer who deals in human smuggling and drugs.  Carol bears an uncanny resemblance to the recently deceased girlfriend of the Russian traffiker, which is why she has been selected for this work.  The carrot being dangled is the promise of promotion to a job she would like.
she isn't sure how to go about her role and would like the experience/advice of her nemesis, Tony Hill.
Tony has retired from the police role because of a very traumatic case he and Carol worked on,and is now a university lecturer in Scotland.  But always glad to help her he agrees.
When DCI Carol Jordan contacts the German crime squad they are also working on a potential serial killer case.  The killer is targeting psychologists.  Carol suggests to Petra that they ask Tony Hill for his help.  This stirs something in him & makes him realise that he is actually missing the profiling work, plus the last victim was a friend of his.
So, he and Carol end up working on separate cases in Germany.
Illegal immigrant trafficking, drugs, Nazi atrocities, violence & corruption are the ingredients in this thriller.  There are a few threads running through this book but they all come together very neatly.  Another good book from Val McDermid.

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