Insidious Intent by Val McDermid is the 10th entry in the Carol Jordan/Tony Hill Series of police procedurals and this one is a humdinger! This book, drawing on threads from past books, brings a few plot lines to a head and gives a surprise ending that has left me wondering what’s next.

Carol and her team are investigating a series of murders where women are picked up at a wedding, dated for a week or so and then disappear only to be found strangled in their burnt out vehicles. One man is causing this havoc and the investigators are having a difficult time as this murderer is very clever and forensically aware, making evidence just about impossible to find.

Meanwhile Carol has given up drinking and is slowly suffering her way back to sobriety, also reporter Penny Burgess is still trying to track down more information about Carol’s drunk driving charge being dismissed and Paula is finding out that being in charge of a teenage boy often leads to difficulties.

I wasn’t very happy with how this book ended, but I trust the author and I am willing to follow along wherever she is going to take the series. ( )

Unfortunately Hill and Jordan have gone the same way as Cornwell's Scarpetta & Benton where the character development has overtaken what made these books good to read in the first place - a cracking good forensic / detective novel........

Unfortunately this is not so much of a "who did it" but a "why did they bother"........ ( )

Whether you are a McDermid fan, or a new reader, this book will really throw you. McDermid examines secrets that are never that, the consequences of our actions, and throws in a gigantic what in the holy hell ending.

Cannot say anymore other than .. read this book. ( )

Tony Hill Book 10

Excellent prose, dialogue and characterisation as always with McDermid but I just didn't buy the premise of how uncatchable this killer was. He wasn't particularly smart and repeated reference to him being forensically aware didn't sell the idea that he was impossible to crack (particularly, no spoilers, with regard to the outcome of the phone call toward the end).

I get McDermid had a goal in mind with the story (again, no spoilers) but the central case just didn't seem intractable enough to justify getting there. Honestly I was more engaged with the subplot about Torrin for most of this.

Four stars for quality of writing, two stars for plot so I'll give it three. ( )