Customer Reviews
Far from her usual standard - By: crime reader, 05 Dec 2008 
I have read a few of Val McDermid's books (the less gory ones), & thoroughly enjoyed them,in fact A Place of Execution is one of my favourite books. But sadly this one does not live up to her usual superb efforts. I couldn't get into it at all, it was really boring & dreary. I read about 150 pages but by then couldn't care less what happened to any of the characterless peoplein it & gave up. Utterly dismal.
Starts well but gets increasingly silly... - By: Roman Clodia, 29 Jun 2008 
This was my first Val McDiarmid & perhaps reading the reviews it wasn't the best place to start (see the reviews under the pink/purple cover edition here on Amazon): this starts out well but starts to deteriorate & towards the end gets increasingly silly with a completely unbelievable denoument.
The plot is multi-layered with three separate murder investigations going on, but that's probably one too many & the since the initial strand of the Spanish plot ends up by going nowhere it could easily have been cut.
The characters were interesting with enough roundness to fill out the book but without them taking over. But I'm afraid that after 500 pages of build up the ultimate conclusion with the identity of the serial killer was barely credible & had me giggling on the tube! It passes a commute but I couldn't help feeling that VM was writing with her tongue very firmlyin her cheek.
Excellent introduction to Val McDermid - By: O. Doyle, 07 Feb 2007 
I was on the lookout for a good thriller since the demise of Patricia Cornwell & James Patterson into my `never again' list. Then I stumbled across Val McDermid here on Amazon & am so glad I snapped up Killing the Shadows.
The plot centers around a serial killer who seems to be targeting thriller writers & killing themin the same manner that they killed the victimsin their books. When one author dies it's a shock, when two die it looks like a pattern but the police are convinced that there's no connection so no need to panic. Fiona Cameron is a profiler who believes otherwise & since her partner is a thriller writer she's more reason than many to be worried about the possibility of the police being wrong.
The twists & turnsin this book were excellent & it was a real whodunit right until the very end. I'm not sure what the point was of the whole Spanish side-story though. That could probably have been omitted & nobody would have missed it. Allin all though this was an excellent book & although it may have been my first Val McDermid book it certainly won't be my last.
Not the usual 5 stars but still very enjoyable - By: The Bavarian Countess, 10 Jan 2007 
I love Val McDermid & look forward to going on the usually exciting & enjoyable journey of her thrillers. This was very good but not up to the 5 stars of, for instance, the Distant Echo or the Last Temptation.
In this book I was introduced to a new protagonist. I thought that it was an interesting & different slant to the usual psychological profiler, using geographical patterns worked out by computer instead. However, at times I did feel that, for a psychologist, the leading character appeared to be further removed than expected from what must have been part of her original training i.e. on a couple of ocassions, her suppositions were a little niave.
There were 3 lines to the plot - one of which I did not completly see the relevance. This could have been dispensed with, leaving more time to build up suspense, characterisation - whatever!
At the end I was compelled to sit up late at night to read on.
Allin all - recommended! A superior thriller.
New crime to read - By: Lisa Dearnley-Davison, 01 Oct 2006 I was looking for a new crime writer to add to my collection & I think I've found itin Val McDermid. Drawn at first only by the back cover & the use of computers rather than the more known versions of profiling, I thought I'd give it a go & very glad I did. Ms McDermid keeps the plot moving along & just when you think you may have spotted the 'bad guy' when you know the obvious is just too obvious, she twists the tale again. Good read!
