Cross and Burn: A Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Novel

The tension, and interpersonal relationships, kept one engrossed, and it was difficult to put down. It would have been good to have read the prior book that set the scene for this one. But it stands well alone.

Best crime read - I love Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, but this book offered much more. Couldn't put it down - highly recommend to anyone loving a good crime story set in Britain.
Can't waIt for Val McDermid's next novel.

Another edge of your seat novel by McDermd. My actual rating is 4.7 Stars. The plot was fast and it kept me guessing. McDermid is the master when it comes to serial killer novels. I know it's fiction but it was nice to see Carol not blame Tony for the death of her brother and girl friend.

Carol Jordan, unemployed and burdened by her sense of guilt for her brother's death, is getting her life back together (or not) by restoring the barn in which her brother was murdered and by caring for a new dog. Paula McIntyre, a member of Jordan's Major Incident Team with the Bradfield Metropolitan Police before it was broken apart, is newly promoted to Detective Sergeant. Paula would like to investigate the disappearance of Bev McAndrew, whose 14-year-old son is disturbed that she didn't come home, but Paula's new DCI puts her to work on a brutal homicide instead. Paula nonetheless devotes herself to investigating McAndrew's disappearance because disobeying their bosses is standard procedure for fictional police detectives. Soon enough, we learn that a serial killer is kidnapping, tormenting, and killing women who happen to look like Carol. Eventually the evidence points to an unlikely suspect, and it is up to Paula to determine whether that series regular is innocent or guilty.

Val McDermid understands the tendency of police detectives to focus their tunnel vision on the first suspect they encounter, working thereafter to prove that suspect's guilt rather than continuing an open-minded investigation. She also recognizes the tendency of police officers to believe that everyone is entitled to a defense except the suspects they arrest, who are by definition guilty scum undeserving of a presumption of innocence. Paula's obnoxious DCI, who succumbs to both those tendencies, is the novel's most realistic character.

Point of view rotates through the cast of characters, including various victims of the serial killer. One of the more prominent characters is Carol's former love interest, Tony Hill, a psychologist who doubles as a profiler. Like most fictional profilers, Tony has analytical powers that border on the psychic. He is also a good friend of Paula, who is tedious in her insistence that she is soooo very compassionate and cares soooo much about victims, unlike all the people who make her soooo angry because they have soooo little compassion. Both Tony and Paula are obnoxiously self-aggrandizing.

Carol's personality is similar to Paula's except that she's even more ridiculously judgmental. Carol is tedious in her insistence that the police are always pure of heart and that criminals are always monsters. That's bad enough, but she's just as harsh when it comes to judging her friends. Sometimes there's value in making a protagonist disagreeable, but I found little value in reading about Carol, in part because much of her anger seems artificial, a contrivance that allows Carol to make deep and meaningful adjustments in her thinking before the novel is over, leaving her fans smiling because Carol once again becomes the justice-craving person her fans want her to be. It's just too obvious to be compelling drama, and in any event, she's still a shallow binary thinker at the novel's end.

McDermid's bad guys are consistent with Carol's binary view of the world. There is no nuance in McDermid's cartoonish depiction of purely evil villains. Her descriptions of the serial killer's formative years are both unimaginative and unconvincing.

Characters frequently interrupt the plot to talk about their failed romances or their relationship anxiety or to "listen to each other's pain." It's amazing that they have time to do any police work. The conversations are a dull drag on the novel's momentum.

The plot hinges on too many unlikely coincidences. Coincidences happen all the time so I'm willing to give writers the benefit of their use, but when they start to pile up, the plot loses its credibility. The ending is much too tidy, and the novel loses credibility points there, as well. Still, the story moves quickly and McDermid's unblemished prose style is easy to read. The novel held my attention despite its unlikable characters and unconvincing plot. I would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could.

Cross and Burn, the latest by author Val McDermid begins where The Retribution left off. Carol Jordan, racked with grief and guilt over the deaths of her brother and his partner, has left the police. Her team has been separated and Paula McIntyre is now bagman for DCI Fielding, Carol's replacement. Fielding is a single-minded, by-the-book, I'm-in charge kind of leader and she despises profilers like Tony Hill who is as racked by guilt as Carol.

The story opens with the thoughts and plans of a particularly vicious serial killer who is targeting women who look like Carol. When a friend of Paula's goes missing, Paula is approached by her teenaged son who is convinced something must have happened to her. Paula agrees but her new boss doesn't. Paula decides to investigate anyway and calls Tony to help her. Soon it becomes clear that her friend was the latest victim of the killer and, unbelievably, all the evidence points to Tony.

This is author McDermid's eighth Tony Hill book, not to mention the British TV series Wire in the Blood based on the books. One would think it would start to get stale by now and yet somehow McDermid is able to maintain the quality and integrity of the series and it is still one of the best police procedurals around today. And a lot of that is down to the characters. Tony and Carol who, despite all their neuroses or maybe because of them, never fail to gain the empathy of the reader. Although the story is a tale of good versus evil, it is definitely not simple. McDermid's characters have nuances and character flaws including self-doubt which makes it easy to relate to them. Even the serial killer, despite his sadism, has a fascinating back story which explains his actions without excusing them. In this book, though, it is Paula who carries the tale and, in her, McDermid has created one of the best female characters in the genre - smart, strong but able to bend when necessary.

There is enough background from the previous book that this could be read as a stand-alone. However, for fans of police procedurals and for those who prefer a more nuanced story, you really should check out the entire series. It's definitely a huge cut above the usual run-of-the mill thriller.

But here instead of bridges yet crossed and yet burned at the end of 'The Retribution', we will see others re-built instead.

Young Torin appears at the Bradfield Metropolitan Police to report his Mum missing, a very straight person Paula McIntyre knows. He cannot believe that his mother has left him alone for the night, 14-year old as he is. And Paula takes his claim very seriously. Because someone is brutally killing women. Women who who bear a striking resemblance to former DCI Carol Jordan - but is this the right way around?
Or is Carol Jordan simply fitting into the scheme of the abducter and later on also killer of a certain type of woman he wants to punish? Punish for what? For being a bad wife? He certainly is looking for a GOOD wife...
This is a killer unparalleled until now, inflicting really grotesque punishments on the women he captures. As the case becomes more complex Paula contacts ex-DCI Carol Jordan to try and save the current - and maybe future - victims.
On the other side Tony Hill is full of guilt pangs because he didn't foresee the turn the killer Jacko Vance would take - killing Carols brother and his wife...
And other crimes he committed on his revenge campaign, finished only by him killed by a designated victim...
But the new DCI Fielding, a woman spurred by an insane ambition, isn't very fond of Paula using her skills to solve the case in her own way, helped by other very able persons who worked with Carol Jordan in the old MIT group.
And in her aberrant and blind ambition she takes out the most unexpected person as her designed culprit...

This is really a step in the right direction Val McDermid has taken here.
After the "Retribution" case there really remained only a few feeble "bridges" to start with a new relationship between Carol Jordan and Tony Hill.
But the skilled authoress took her chances and ...

You have to read this book by Yourselves, because there are scenes You will want to kick the behind of certain persons for real!
But the thrilling story will keep You bound until the end.
Now I am awaiting the next book of this series, while I am biting my nails!

I must begin this review by stating how perfect I found the title. It is a quote from David Russell: “The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn.” And there many bridges here where both verbs apply. The most startling of these for the reader is the bridge connecting the series protagonists, DCI Carol Jordan and Dr. Tony Hill, forensic psychologist and offender profiler who frequently consulted in that capacity with the police and the MIT.

Carol, formerly DCI of the Major Incident Team, had handed in her resignation; her old team has been completely disbanded; and her relationship with Tony, which had reached the point that they had been planning to share the house he had unexpectedly inherited, has ended. Following the horrific events in the last series entry, “The Retribution,” wherein Carol’s brother and his significant other were brutally murdered, the rift between Jordan and Hill is so severe that there has been no communication at all between them for nearly 3 months, with each feeling insurmountable guilt, Carol’s all the worse because she holds Tony even more at fault than she herself; Tony’s own feelings are similar. Following those events as well are other drastic changes: Carol had handed in her resignation; her old team has been completely disbanded; and Tony is now working solely in a secure mental hospital and living on a houseboat. Everything has been affected by budget cuts; the Forensic Science Service has been privatized, with criminal investigations being outsourced; and Tony’s services are felt to be no longer needed: “there’s no budget for anything you can’t reach out and touch any more.”

Newly promoted DS Paula McIntyre of the Bradfield Metropolitan Police (formerly a member of the MIT under Jordan,) is called in to a murder scene. She and DCI Alex Fielding, now her boss, soon come to believe that it is the work of a serial killer, when another body is found with the same MO; it appears that he stalks and then kidnaps the women before brutally abusing and murdering them. Periodically there are chapters from the chilling perspective of the perpetrator as he sizes up his next potential victims. All of whom, by the way, strongly resemble Carol Jordan.

But half-way through the novel, the author provides a jaw-dropper (literally) of a twist, beyond which point I cannot go. Except to say that Val McDermid just keeps getting better and better (which I know I’ve said in the past of this author’s books, and it remains true). Highly recommended.

After nearly two decades of following the complex lives and nuanced relationship between criminal profiler Dr. Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan, each new appearance has come to be as welcome as a visit by an old and valued friend. But every life has its good times and bad times, and Hill and Jordan are definitely at a bad point.

Cross and Burn begins with the horrific devastation left in the wake of the previous novel in the series, The Retribution. Carol’s brother and his lover had been savagely butchered in their own home, murdered by a psychopath named Jacko Vance whom she and Tony had failed to catch in time to prevent it. The crime had been compounded by the mutilation and blinding of one of Carol’s own team in a trap meant for her. Unable — or unwilling — to cope with her trauma, Carol wrestles with guilt and remorse. She struggles to put the tragedies behind her by walking away from police work altogether, and focussing on totally renovating the converted barn where her brother and his partner died. It is a doomed attempt to eradicate all evidence of that horrific event: physically she has succeeded, but the memories will always remain.

Carol still holds Tony responsible for what had happened, by not anticipating in time Vance’s perverse plan to make her suffer, and for the past three months she has utterly severed herself from any contact with him. She is striving to define a new life, and for all their history that life does not yet — and might never again — include Tony Hill. But in trying to put her police work behind her Carol’s copper’s instincts have been relegated to a back shelf somewhere in her mind, and she is unaware that someone is stalking her.

Meanwhile, the city of Bradfield is trying to cope with the appearance of a new sociopath on the scene. He’s kidnapping, beating and murdering women and further mutilating their remains. When a local woman, mother to a teenage boy, disappears, DS Paula McIntrye and her partner, Dr. Elinor Blessing, decide to take the boy under their wing while Paula fervently seeks to find the woman before something horrible happens. But another body is discovered, and when one of their own comes under suspicion, old enemies must work together to get to the bottom of things.

With its layered plot, compelling dialogue and McDermid’s trademark characters, Cross and Burn is intense and utterly engrossing, and, for all its darkness, a joy to read. Narrated from multiple viewpoints that further heighten the suspense, the reader is torn between trying to finish the book in one go and carefully parceling it out, savouring both the tale and the consummate skill with which it’s told. Her strongest work to date — and that’s saying a very great deal — Cross and Burn is a delicious gift to readers for the new year, from the pen of one of the most talented crime writers around.

Since 2005 Jim Napier's reviews and interviews have appeared in several Canadian newspapers and on various crime fiction and literary websites, including his own award-winning site, Deadly Diversions.

Northern England has become a very scary place in several bestselling British crime writers' contemporary novels based on true events. David Peace's quartet which began with Nineteen Seventy-Four: The Red Riding Quartet, Book One tells of police corruption set against a backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper murders that occurred between 1975 and 1980. Scottish crime writer Val McDermid explores the area...one she knows well... in her series of novels loosely grouped together as A WIRE IN THE BLOOD featuring hardboiled DCI Carol Jordan and eccentric psychological profiler Tony Hill. She bases her most infamous villain Jacko Vance on real-life Sir James Wilson Vincent Saville, an English television personality and charity fundraiser. A year after his death, Jimmy Saville was exposed as one of Britain's most prolific pedophiles; McDermid had interviewed Saville in 1977.

CROSS AND BURN is the eighth installment of the excellent Carol Jordan/Tony Hill series. At the end of the last disappointing installment The Retribution, this electrifying detective duo had severed both their personal and professional relationship. They are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives destroyed by Vance who had wreaked havoc after escaping from prison. Carol Jordan has resigned from the crack squad at Bradfield's Major Incident Team that she led and is gutting the restored barn where her brother Michael was slaughtered. Tony Hill is living on a houseboat after Vance burns the estate he inherited from his father that he had hoped to share with Carol.

This installment is narrated in part by Paula McIntyre, a former member of Jordan's MIT squad, now promoted to Detective Sergeant who becomes the chief interviewer for a recent case assigned to a new boss, DCI Alex Fielding. Two women, blonde hair, blue eyes, have been savagely beaten and murdered. Same haircut, similar height and build, professional women "who go to work suited up"...dead ringers for ex-DCI Carol Jordan. Paula enlists the help of her friend and profiler, Tony Hill, to find the killer. And looks up her old boss when DCI Fielding arrests a suspect whose DNA is found on the clothing of the first victim.

As Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill languishes in jail as a major suspect, Paula searches for Carol Jordan. Will Jordan stop burning the bridges of their former relationship and come to Hill's aid?

A late night call to the best criminal defense attorney in Northern England and a Deep Throat meeting in a deserted city-centre car park begins an exciting search for the real killer. Several members of Jordan's former squad are enlisted to help with the "old fashioned coppering with new fangled methods." And the fans of one Val McDermid are left with 130 pages of pure reading joy!

Welcome back...queen of crime Val McDermid.

Val McDermid's Carol Jordan/Tony Hill series has always been angst-laden, gritty, and graphically violent. "Cross and Burn" is no exception. Carol, a former Detective Chief Inspector, and Dr. Tony Hill, a forensic psychologist and profiler, are traumatized individuals who, before tragedy drove a wedge between them, reached out to one another for companionship and comfort. They have not spoken for some time; in fact, Tony has no idea where Carole lives.

The author's focus is initially on newly promoted DS Paula McIntyre, a sharp and ambitious detective who is trying to adjust to her new position under no-nonsense DCI Alex Fielding. Paula and her partner, Dr.Elinor Blessing, also become personally involved when fourteen-year-old Torin McAndrew reports that his mother, Bev, who is Dr. Blessing's friend and colleague, has disappeared. Soon, Fielding and her team are on the trail of a psychotic predator who has been abducting and torturing women for his own perverted reasons. The evidence points to an unlikely culprit, a development that propels Carol, Paula, and an aggressive solicitor to join forces, determined to prevent a terrible miscarriage of justice.

Jordan and Hill are lonely people who have difficulty forming close relationships. Tony misses Carol tremendously and is eager to reconcile with her. Unfortunately, the destruction that maniacal killer Jacko Vance left in his wake led Carol to isolate herself from anyone who might provide much-needed love and support. Nothing has healed Carol's psyche nor relieved her corrosive guilt--not the passage of time, her fondness for vodka, nor her labor on a construction project that she undertook as a kind of catharsis. It will take a crisis to make Carol realize that she needs to get her life back on track. Although "Cross and Burn" is far from perfect--its contrivances, rambling exposition, and one-dimensional villain prevent it from earning an unqualified recommendation--it is an engrossing and suspenseful psychological thriller. In addition, fans who have long cared about Tony and Carol will want to reconnect with them, hoping that these two wounded but kindred souls will at last find the peace of mind that has eluded them for so long.

This is my first Val McDermid book. This was also the 8th book in this series(Tony/Carol) and I was able to pick it up and not even realize I missed the first 7, but I will be going back and checking out the first ones. Although the story seemed to revolve around the Tony/Carol storyline, it really was the story of Paula. Paula struggles to find her way after DCI Carol Jordan retires therefore pushing her to take a job in a new department. It also is the story of Tony's life without Carol and Carol's life without Tony.

The case that Paula is working on enthralled me. I could not put this book down and when I was forced to I kept thinking about it. As the story comes together I could not help but think how seamlessly it all works out. The hiccups and twists make the story so entertaining. Making the reader wonder continuously who the killer could be, will Carol and Tony come back together, and can Paula make this new job work for her?

I have to recommend this to my fellow mystery readers. As a matter of fact I recommend that you join me in going back and reading the first books in this series if you have not already done so.

I received this book free from Net Galley in exchange for a review.

This was my first book by the highly acclaimed Val McDermid and it did not disappoint. While I have apparently missed a lot of history with Carol and Tony, I did not have any trouble following the story.

I see why Ms. McDermid is an acclaimed author. The story about girls who look like the protagonist, Carol Jordan, go missing because some evil person is determined to get his obedient and very scared wife back. She left him with their children months before because she could not take his evil ways. He misses her and is on the hunt to find a replacement. Unfortunately, true blonde, medium height and professional looking woman equates to looking like Carol Jordan.

While I had some idea who the culprit was, the story takes you on a wild goose chase with Tony Hill as the suspect.

A very good story with great, likable characters that only makes me want to read more of this author.

CROSS AND BURN, by Val McDermid. This thriller comes after THE RETRIBUTION, in the Scottish author’s massively popular, award-winning series of crime novels about investigative team psychologist/profiler Dr. Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan. (The Wire in the Blood series, as it is known, has been filmed for British television under the same name, starring Robson Green as Dr. Hill.) At any rate, in CROSS AND BURN, the duo, as ever based in the fictional Midlands English city of Bradfield – read Manchester—are experiencing lives estranged each other. No one has seen Carol in three months; without her, the police no longer hire Tony. Even more damaging to their up and down relationship is the fact that both hold Tony responsible for the bloody havoc their last case wreaked on Carol’s life, family, friends and colleagues. Carol has sworn she’ll never speak to Tony again.

In this police procedural, as Carol, in her despair, has quit the police force, Det. Sgt. Paula McIntyre, who formerly served with the DCI, catches two cases—one involving a missing person, the other a vicious murder: a body has been found in a squalid abandoned flat inhabited by squatters. Together the cases engulf McIntyre both personally and professionally. Unfortunately, as a result of Carol’s quitting the force, the newly promoted detective will be supervised by the by-the-book, unimaginative DCI Alex Fielding, a female character who was first created for the TV series WIRE IN THE BLOOD. Evidence soon begins to point in a disturbing and unexpected direction. As connections to other missing or dead women emerge, a dangerous pattern becomes clear: all this killer’s victims bear a striking resemblance to DCI Jordan.

McDermid, who was raised in a Scottish mining town by her grandmother, went, in company with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a son of the manse as the Scots would say, to Oxford on scholarship. For 16 years she earned her writer’s spurs in the competitive world of Manchester daily journalism; spent three as Northern Bureau Chief of a British national Sunday tabloid. She has long been acclaimed as the queen of tartan noir. And what’s tartan noir, you might ask? Written by a Scot, duh. More bloody and violent than most mysteries; McDermid’s work, in this particular series at least, has never been for the squeamish -- and she is particularly hard on her female characters. But tartan noir is always lightened somewhat by that dark Scottish sense of humor. The author’s books have been international #1 bestsellers. She has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; been nominated for an Edgar Award; her books have been named New York Times Notable Books. Her earlier book, THE MERMAIDS SINGING won the coveted Crime Writers of America Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. McDermid has long been a favorite of mine: I have read almost all the Hill/Jordan series, and a few of her standalones, and have reviewed, on their respective pages, A DARKER DOMAIN, THE DISTANT ECHO, THE GRAVE TATTOO, KILLING THE SHADOWS, THE LAST TEMPTATION, THE MERMAIDS SINGING, A PLACE OF EXECUTION, THE TORMENT OF OTHERS, THE VANISHING POINT, THE WIRE IN THE BLOOD, BENEATH THE BLEEDING and THE RETRIBUTION.

In this book’s acknowledgements, McDermid states that she ”has appropriated [Fielding] [for the book] for her own purposes.” The author’s appropriation of a TV character for this book seems to me illustrative of the fact that this thriller, while it admittedly has its moments, is far too influenced by television. And I’d consider the thriller’s plot best described as “high concept”: an idea currently very popular among the makers of movies and TV. But not necessarily appropriate for the makers of novels. Sorry, but I’d have to say that this book, in company with some unsuccessful films and TV shows, ought to go directly to DVD.

First of all, thank you to the author and publishers for the advance copy of this novel via netgalley. I was overjoyed to receive it as I'm a long time fan of Tony Hill and indeed all books from Ms McDermid. My beautiful Hardback copy remains on pre- order. Hey, Bookshelf OCD. Can't have a missing one from the collection...

So, the latest instalment finds Tony and Carol at odds in the aftermath of "The Retribution"..meanwhile Paula Mcintyre takes front and centre as she takes on the case of a missing friend...and also begins the hunt for a killer alongside her new Boss, someone she is not sure of. Paula can't resist getting Tony involved, this must mean that Carol will not be far behind....surely?

I'm used to a high standard from these novels - I will admit to some slight concern about what would come next, The Retribution having had such an emotive storyline for those of us who are fans of the Carol/Tony pairing...and leaving us with such huge consequences for their relationship. How could she top that I wondered? I kept the faith though and my faith was more than justified. Here we have not only a top notch mystery as usual but a wonderfully written continuation of our favourite characters ongoing story.

By cleverly giving more focus to Paula, a character I have always been inordinately fond of anyway, and for at least the first portion of the book putting Tony and Carol very much in the background of the story as it relates to the current investigation, Ms McDermid created for this reader, a thing of beauty. I was equally enthralled with the new case and with Paula's struggles to come to terms with new relationships..both personal and professional. And then flipping the coin and seeing just how Carol is coping with her life and how Tony is trying to cope in his world that simply, at this moment, does not have Carol in it.

Other characters, both old and new make an appearance, a little twist to Paula's case gives us some unease and I had to make myself slow down a little and appreciate the writing - I could happily have read this one in a few hours straight when as usual it is a thing to be savoured....
Pulling together the strands of the story, Ms McDermid polishes things off in her indubitable style and gives us, her constant readers, a satisfactory conclusion and yet...a very real need to find out whats next for Tony, Carol et al. Oh dear, here comes my chronic impatience again...

So for the readers. If you are already immersed in this world then this instalment will more than satisfy you..I have no doubt. If you have yet to meet Tony Hill and Carol Jordan then don't start here - you COULD, in fact you could start anywhere, but I would highly recommend that you start at the very beginning. Tony and Carol have had a whole life before this. "The Mermaids Singing" begins their story...where it will end we have yet to discover.

We cross and burn bridges - accidentally, deliberately, under duress. Carol Jordan has burned her bridges following the murder of her family. Distance and hard work are bringing healing, but also new bonds, including one to her first dog. Far away, though, the world goes on and a serial killer is murdering blonds. The news that Tony Hill has been accused forces Carol to decide if she has really burned her bridges or only scorched them.

As always, Val McDermid delivers a fast paced, expertly written thriller, this one with a lovely twist at the end. I am especially pleased by the "and" rather than a trite "or" in the title.

I received this review copy of Cross and Burn by Val McDermid through NetGalley.com. It is the latest in the Tony Hill, Carol Jordan series.

Val McDermid has delivered yet again another excellent installment in the Tony Hill series of novels. This one finds Tony owning the guild caused by Jacko Vance's murder of Carol Jordan's brother and his partner. Tony's house has burned down and he is living on a house boat. He blames himself for the blinding of a detective by Vance. If you have read McDermid's Hill series before, you know there is violence and you know Tony Hill is going to be used as the profiler to solve these cases. There is violence but it well within the plot's parameters.

Val McDermid's latest book is the eighth entry in her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series. Cross and Burn picks up a few months after the ending of The Retribution. (my review)

The series is set in England. Tony Hill is a clinical psychologist who assists the Bradfield Police Department with profiling. He's good at his job...."he understood them because he had come within a hair's breadth of being them." Carol Jordan is a Detective Chief Inspector with Bradfield. They've made a spectacular team professionally. And they're slowly building a personal relationship as well.

Or were.....their last case ended with catastrophic results. Carol has left the force and retreated from everything. Tony is functioning, but barely. And their unit has been disbanded. But, when someone starts targeting women who look like Carol, they must put differences aside to stop a killer.

McDermid grabbed me from the opening pages. It is the killer who has the first chapter....

'He woke every morning with a prickle of excitement. Would today be the day? Would he finally meet her, his perfect wife? He knew who she was, of course. He'd been watching her for a couple of weeks now, growing used to her habits, getting to know who her friends were, learning her little ways. How she pushed her hair behind her ears when she settled into the driver's seat of her car. How she turned all the lights on as soon as she came home to her lonely flat. How she never ever seemed to check in her rear-view mirror."

Creepy! McDermid cuts back and forth between the investigation and the killer's point of view. His chapters are deliciously chilling.

McDermid is a master of the police procedural. The plots in McDermid's books are devious, dark and gritty. But for this reader, it is the characters that draw me back time and time again. I truly had no idea where McDermid could take this series after the ending of the last book. In Cross and Burn it is DC Paula McIntyre who takes the lead role. I enjoyed seeing another recurring character fleshed out. But Tony and Carol's storyline is the one that intrigues me the most. It's real and raw - I sometimes feel like an interloper, inadvertently intruding on someone's private conversations and grief.

The title comes from a quote by David Russell...."The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn."

The last few pages put a close to this case, but leaves the door wide open for the next installment - one I'll eagerly be awaiting.

Although you can read any of this series as a stand alone, I heartily recommend starting at the beginning - it's a must for crime lovers. A television series - Wire in the Blood - is also based on these characters.

Val Mcdermid has this capacity to scare me like no other writer, and I don't scare easy. Her Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series introduced me to gritty British crime novels, and they still remain the best of the genre.

"Cross and Burn" shifts the focus from the characters of Hill and Jordan in the aftermath of "The Retribution". Their relationship is broken almost beyond repair. Carol has removed herself from the world and cut all ties with her former life, including Tony Hill, who she blames for the death of her brother and his wife. Tony for his part, is consumed with guilt but hopeful that Carol will return to him.

Paula Mcintrye steps up as the protagonist as she investigates the abduction and violent deaths of women who bear a passing resemblance to Carol Jordan. As evidence pointing to Tony Hill is uncovered, Paula struggles with loyalties to her new boss and her desire to protect an old friend.

I genuinely hope that this book is the start of a new direction for the series. The decision to place Paula, a supporting character who has grown so much over the course of the series, at the centre of the story was unexpected and very welcome.

Some of the more predictable elements of the story can be overlooked when the writing is this good. The pace is brisk and McDermid doesn't let the story - especially when it comes to the relationship between Hill and Jordan - descend into melodrama.

If you're a fan of British crime, McDermid is still the best, and she still scares the pants off me. Highly recommended.

In the last book (no spoiler), everything went FUBAR. I couldn't imagine how McDermid would resurrect the characters, but she did. This is another excellent serial killer book, in this case delving into sexism and gender roles but not in an obvious way. I simply loved every page, but if you haven't read the other books, don’t start the series here. Bechdel test: Passed (almost all main characters are female). Grade: A-

But here instead of bridges yet crossed and yet burned at the end of The Retribution, we will see others re-built instead.

Young Torin appears at the Bradfield Metropolitan Police to report his Mum missing, a very straight person Paula McIntyre knows. He cannot believe that his mother has left him alone for the night, 14-year old as he is. And Paula takes his claim very seriously. Because someone is brutally killing women. Women who who bear a striking resemblance to former DCI Carol Jordan - but is this the right way around?
Or is Carol Jordan simply fitting into the scheme of the abducter and later on also killer of a certain type of woman he wants to punish? Punish for what? For being a bad wife? He certainly is looking for a GOOD wife...
This is a killer unparalleled until now, inflicting really grotesque punishments on the women he captures. As the case becomes more complex Paula contacts ex-DCI Carol Jordan to try and save the current - and maybe future - victims.
On the other side Tony Hill is full of guilt pangs because he didn't foresee the turn the killer Jacko Vance would take - killing Carols brother and his wife...
And other crimes he committed on his revenge campaign, finished only by him killed by a designated victim...
But the new DCI Fielding, a woman spurred by an insane ambition, isn't very fond of Paula using her skills to solve the case in her own way, helped by other very able persons who worked with Carol Jordan in the old MIT group.
And in her aberrant and blind ambition she takes out the most unexpected person as her designed culprit...

This is really a step in the right direction Val McDermid has taken here.
After the "Retribution" case there really remained only a few feeble "bridges" to start with a new relationship between Carol Jordan and Tony Hill.
But the skilled authoress took her chances and ...

You have to read this book by Yourselves, because there are scenes You will want to kick the behind of certain persons for real!
But the thrilling story will keep You bound until the end.
Now I am awaiting the next book of this series, while I am biting my nails!