- Paperback: 560 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; (Reissue) edition (7 Oct 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006512631
- ISBN-13: 978-0006512639
- Product Dimensions: 17.7 x 11.1 x 3.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 88,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Val McDermid is known for the violence, and tension, of her writing. Both The Mermaids Singing, which won the Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of 1995, and The Wire in the Blood (1997) are monuments to the human capacity for torture (and the psychological profiling supposed to counter it). No less thrilling, A Place of Execution is, however, a different kind of book. On one level, it is about the disappearance of a schoolgirl, Alison Carter, in December 1963: a girl from a tiny Derbyshire village whose disappearance turns into a personal quest for the detective heading the investigation, George Bennett. Resisting comparisons with real events in Manchester (what are now known as the "Moors Murders"), Bennett is confronted with the strange and isolated community of Scardale: a community reputed to be a "a law unto itself", it may well harbour the kind of secret which allows murder to reverberate across the generations. Building slowly with lots of suspense, McDermid takes her readers through Bennett's investigation and the trial that follows, projecting back to the beginning of the 1960s a very contemporary anxiety about the "desecration of childhood". It's an intelligent and compelling move, one that sustains the book's shift to the present and Bennett's return to the case decades later when he tells his story to the journalist Catherine Heathcote. Heathcote is a woman who wants to know; complex, thoughtful, skilfully plotted, A Place of Execution suggests how unsettling that knowledge can be. --Vicky Lebeau
Review
'From the first pages, we know we're in the hands of a master this book will earn its author a place in that rare pantheon – the truly literary suspense novel' Jeffrey Deaver
‘Beautifully written … It may be that McDermid will write better novels than this in the future, but I do not see how’ Daily Telegraph
'One of the best detective stories I've read' Ruth Rendell
‘A substantial book and an impressive one, possibly the best McDermid has written and it takes this most accomplished writer into higher territory’ Sunday Telegraph
'A Place of Execution is a wake-up call to crime writers everywhere. A terrific and original novel, brilliantly executed' Mirror
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This has got to be the best book I've read! I've never felt the desire to read detective or murder books, but this book was bought for me by a friend and without her, I would have never looked twice at the book or the author.
However, from the moment I began reading, I was hooked! The winning formula is created by the combinination of a missing girl, a very close-knit community that despises interference from strangers and a story that is set in the early 1960s during the time of the Moors Murders. The atmosphere of the 1960s and the investigation methods used by the police in that period is conveyed very vividly by the author and shows that she has carried out a thorough research before putting pen to paper. An atmosphere of mounting tension is created as the police try to gain new information, despite the hostility of the local folk of Scardale who seem to know more than they're letting on. The characters are all very believable and each one plays their part perfectly by building up feelings of apprehension mingled with great curiosity, giving the reader the urge to keep on reading until the truth is uncovered. By taking the mystery forward to present day, the author keeps the tension mounting and rewards the reader with a very satisfactory ending. Superb!
However, from the moment I began reading, I was hooked! The winning formula is created by the combinination of a missing girl, a very close-knit community that despises interference from strangers and a story that is set in the early 1960s during the time of the Moors Murders. The atmosphere of the 1960s and the investigation methods used by the police in that period is conveyed very vividly by the author and shows that she has carried out a thorough research before putting pen to paper. An atmosphere of mounting tension is created as the police try to gain new information, despite the hostility of the local folk of Scardale who seem to know more than they're letting on. The characters are all very believable and each one plays their part perfectly by building up feelings of apprehension mingled with great curiosity, giving the reader the urge to keep on reading until the truth is uncovered. By taking the mystery forward to present day, the author keeps the tension mounting and rewards the reader with a very satisfactory ending. Superb!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read all of Val McDermid`s thriller books-the Carol Jordan/Tony Hill books and "Killing The Shadows", which I enjoyed, but to me this was the best.
The story starts off with the disappearance of a girl in the sixties in a very close and isolated community, the police investigation, the trial and then brings us to the present day to a truly stunning conclusion.
My only criticism is that there may seem to be rather a lot of people introduced in the early part of the book, but do not be put off by this. There is plenty of time to become familiar with the important ones, and although there may be some repitition at the trial stage, it is well worth the build-up to one of the strongest and most suprising endings of a book that I can ever remember. When so many books are enjoyable, but are let down by a weak ending, this is one book that does not disappoint, and has to be one of my all time favourites.
The story starts off with the disappearance of a girl in the sixties in a very close and isolated community, the police investigation, the trial and then brings us to the present day to a truly stunning conclusion.
My only criticism is that there may seem to be rather a lot of people introduced in the early part of the book, but do not be put off by this. There is plenty of time to become familiar with the important ones, and although there may be some repitition at the trial stage, it is well worth the build-up to one of the strongest and most suprising endings of a book that I can ever remember. When so many books are enjoyable, but are let down by a weak ending, this is one book that does not disappoint, and has to be one of my all time favourites.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
just when i thought Val McDermid couldn't get any better she surpassed herself with this chilling thriller.as usual her characters are believable ,not stereotypical,and the setting throws up lots of interesting side issues,such as the prejudice of those living in the hamlet.the fact that the story is intertwined with the real life murders gives it an extra edge and its attention to detail and its realism were so good i asked my mother if it was a true story.As far i'm concerned McDermid is on another level when it comes to crime writing,because hers are the only books that leave me hanging on until the end and use clever twists rather than the usual suspects.this book is a gripping read and you will be thinking about it for days after you've finished it,its so thought provoking.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Place of execution
Excellent read, quite a change of writing style for Val Mcdermid. The story line is a tangled web, that only becomes clear at the end of the book.
Published 17 days ago by Dinky
Simply brilliant.
I devour books. Horror, crime, thrillers, by the bucket load. Most I don't remember. This book is memorable. Read more
Published 3 months ago by marcia jones
ok plot but "wordy".
I am a great fan of Stephen Booth and his wonderfully evocative books set in the Peak District. This book was mentioned as another novel set in the same area (quite rare), so I... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. John Bartlett
A Thriller With A Final Twist You Won't Soon Forget!
A Place Of Execution
by Val McDermid
My dad (who reads two, maybe three books a week) told me that this was the best mystery he'd read in a long time. Read more
by Val McDermid
My dad (who reads two, maybe three books a week) told me that this was the best mystery he'd read in a long time. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jay Gilbertson
A Place of Execution
Sorry to say, but this book failed to grab me. Deadly dull it dragged on to the end with a promise of a final twist which, I found more insulting than surprising. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2008 by Rich
don't give up!
Having read several Tony Hill books and really enjoyed them, I found the first two thirds of this book slow going and a bit of a struggle to be honest. Read more
Published on 20 July 2008 by pompeyman
A Cracking Read
I bought this book six years ago and never got arround to reading it. I was bored the other day so I thought I'd give it a go. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2008 by Mr. M. A. Krajewski
Truly Excellent, You MUST read!
I bought this book as something to read when I was on holiday. It was the first time I had ever heard of Val MacDermid, and it won't be the last book of hers that I will read. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2005
A Cracking Thriller
As a male I have always had an unconscious prejudice against female thriller writers. I only discovered this state of mind a few months ago when discussing the books I had read... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2004 by Mr. Victor Botterill
Clunky and Infuriating, But Good Style and Atmosphere
Partly a police procedural, partly a psychological study, partly a study in gothic atmosphere, and partly a glimpse back into the '60s, this long crime novel by veteran writer... Read more
Published on 28 July 2004 by A. Ross
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