The Retribution

When Detective Carol Jordan and psychologist Tony Hill captured serial killer Jacko Vance, they thought they were through with him. That story was recounted in Val McDermid's novel WIRE IN THE BLOOD. But seven years later, Vance escapes the British jail where he was serving a life sentence. He's anxious to get back to his bloody hobby of murdering girls, but first there's a little matter of revenge. In THE RETRIBUTION, the hunters become the hunted as Vance tracks down the people who captured him. Narrator Gerard Doyle's delightful British accent goes from barely noticeable to backwoods thick as he interprets the speech of characters from all over Great Britain. M.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 21, 2011
The return of serial killer Jacko Vance drives McDermid’s superb seventh novel featuring Dr. Tony Hill and Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan of the Bradfield police (after 2010’s Fever of the Bone). Vance, the charming TV talk show host responsible for murdering 17 teenage girls in 1997’s The Wire in the Blood, manages to escape from prison just as Carol and her team are on the brink of disbanding at the behest of a new chief superintendent. Carol is also leading the murder investigation of several sex workers, each tattooed with the word mine, but it’s the hunt for Jacko that consumes her and Tony, knowing that he’ll likely direct his pentup anger at the people who helped put him away. Soon Carol’s team is working both cases and both killers are upping the ante (and the body count). The emotional wedge that the sadistic Jacko is able to drive between Tony and Carol makes this one of McDermid’s strongest efforts. 5-city author tour. Agent: Jane Gregory.