It's perhaps fitting that for McDermid's 25th novel she's revisited her most thrillingly murderous creation, Jacko Vance
Daily Mirror
Val McDermid's 25th novel is stunningly good, but it comes with a health warning. It is truly disturbing
The Times
McDermid never pulls her punches in her graphic descriptions of the evils men (and women) inflict on each other...tension filled from start to finish
Irish Independent
Her writing is taut, her plotting pacy... McDermid is particularly good at analysing human damage and its effects
Scotsman
To write one brilliant book is hard. To write 25 is a miracle. That is what Val McDermid has achieved over the course of her career and it's why she is a much-loved legend in the literary world...the pace here is flawless and the various storylines are expertly interwoven...a superb crime novel
Sunday Express
Brilliant ... sensational ...unforgettable
Guardian
It's a tribute to McDermid's skill as a storyteller that she deliberately creates a trio of central characters who are essentially incapable of conventional empathy yet still manages to sustain reader sympathy right through to the coldly brutal finale
Irish Times
McDermid has pulled out all the stops, delivering a fast-moving tale
Herald