The Retribution - (Tony Hill Novels) by Val McDermid (Paperback)

About the Book

Clinical psychologist Tony Hill has had a good run. He and police detective Carol Jordan have put away scores of dangerous criminals at a rate that colleagues envy. But there is one serial killer who has shaped and defined their careers, and whose evil surpasses all others: Jacko Vance, ex-celebrity and sociopath, whose brilliance and utter lack of remorse have never left Tony's mind in the ten years since they put him behind bars. With a twisted and cunning mind honed by long years of planning, Jacko has now pulled off the perfect escape and is determined to wreak revenge on Tony and Carol for the years he has spent in prison. They don't know when Jacko will strike, or where, or even who. All they know is that Jacko will cause them to feel fear like they've never known.
A chilling, utterly gripping tour de force, "The Retribution" is an unforgettable read.

Book Synopsis

Clinical psychologist Tony Hill has had a good run. He and police detective Carol Jordan have put away scores of dangerous criminals at a rate that colleagues envy. But there is one serial killer who has shaped and defined their careers, and whose evil surpasses all others: Jacko Vance, ex-celebrity and sociopath, whose brilliance and utter lack of remorse have never left Tony's mind in the ten years since they put him behind bars. With a twisted and cunning mind honed by long years of planning, Jacko has now pulled off the perfect escape and is determined to wreak revenge on Tony and Carol for the years he has spent in prison. They don't know when Jacko will strike, or where, or even who. All they know is that Jacko will cause them to feel fear like they've never known.

A chilling, utterly gripping tour de force, The Retribution is an unforgettable read.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Retribution

"Val McDermid's 25th novel is stunningly good, but it comes with a health warning. Not in the sense of too many detailed descriptions of violence or post mortem examinations, but in what she does in entering the mind of a wholly evil, exceptionally inventive serial killer of teenage girls. . . . Vance is a character in the exaggerated mould of the likes of Hannibal Lector and Lisbeth Salander, and his tussle with Hill and Jordan achieves grotesque, frightening proportions."--The Times (UK)

"A gripping and well-written crime thriller. If you've been following McDermid's Hill/Jordon series, this new addition won't disappoint you. And if, like me, you're new to Val McDermid's work, The Retribution is a good introduction."--Paul Davis, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"The novel's deft prose, sprinkled with psychological insight and sparks of wit, makes it hard to turn away."--Shelf-Awareness (online)

"[McDermid's] writing...remains taut and unflinching. . . . As in all her novels, McDermid creates a brooding tension that allows readers to get close to characters whose lives are about to be ripped apart."--Danuta Kean, The Independent (UK)

"Superb. . . . The emotional wedge that the sadistic Jacko is able to drive between Tony and Carol makes this one of McDermid's strongest efforts."--Publishers Weekly

"Val McDermid . . . has done more to establish the British variant of the serial killer than anyone else--so successfully, indeed, that everyone else's serial killers seem pale imitations . . . . McDermid handles the multiple viewpoints of this complex narrative with assurance. She flicks from crisis to crisis, constantly misdirecting her readers. She is brilliant at sensational set-pieces . . . and Hill and Jordan have a psychological depth that's rare in crime fiction. . . . She also has the ruthless psychological scalpel that forms part of the equipment of all good novelists, whatever their genre. And, fortunately for us, she knows just how to use it."--Andrew Taylor, The Guardian (UK)

"The villain in the seventh thriller in the Tony Hill series . . . is like a slowly growing tsunami that finally spends its fury on the inhabitants of the shore. . . . As usual, McDermid shifts point-of-view deftly, moving from Jacko's plans for escape and then retribution to Hill's and Carol's thoughts on how to outwit and outrun him. . . . For those who like script-like prose with shock after shock . . . McDermid is perfect."--Connie Fletcher, Booklist

"It's perhaps fitting that for McDermid's 25th novel she's revisited her most thrillingly murderous creation, Jacko Vance. . . . Put away by McDermid's crime-cracking dream team--psychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan--Vance never stopped plotting his escape. Finally, and brilliantly, in The Retribution he achieves his aim, then sets about exacting revenge on Hill and Jordan."--Henry Sutton, The Daily Mirror (UK) (four-star review)

"McDermid is such a central figure in British crime fiction that it is hard to imagine a time when she was not."--David Robinson, The Scotsman (UK)

"British author Val McDermid's psychological thrillers are richly layered with palpable suspense and intense emotion. . . . In the strongly plotted The Retribution, McDermid returns to the partnership of crime profiler Tony Hill and detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan. . . . The Retribution moves at a brisk pace as McDermid keeps the taut plot frighteningly believable."--Oline H. Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel

"McDermid has made the transition from enfant terrible to grande dame."--Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian (UK)