The Retribution by Val McDermid

• Hardcover:416 pages
• Publisher:Atlantic Monthly Press (January 3, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 0802120172
• Source: Publisher

Clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and detective Carol Jordan make quite the dynamic team. The work they’ve done together to put away dangerous criminals makes them the envy of their coworkers. One individual, however, has forever changed & affected their careers, their very lives: Jacko Vance, a former celebrity and truly evil person. Jacko is imprisoned, never to walk the streets again. So they think…

Vance has a unique way of influencing people. With help from inside the institution he is imprisoned, as well as outside, Vance is able to escape, desperate to destroy the lives of those individuals who put him in jail. Including Tony and Carol. They don’t know who Jacko will strike out against, they just know it will brutal and painful. Meanwhile, the team is also on the hunt for another serial killer, responsible for the murders of multiple prostitutes.

The Retribution is the seventh book in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series of books, but my first introduction to McDermid’s writing. In my opinion, this book serves as a good introduction to the characters.  While new readers miss out on a great deal of the character’s history, The Retribution does a pretty outstanding job and describing the characters and giving an introduction to who they are, including brief snippets of the past incidents that have influenced them.

I can’t believe I waited so long to read McDermid’s books! I hate to use the term “unputdownable” but I was so absorbed in the storyline and the characters that I couldn’t bear to take a break from reading. As mentioned above, we learn a great deal about the character’s past, specifically Tony’s childhood and his unloving and emotion-free mother (which just happens to play an important role later on in the book).  Additionally, the pacing is perfect, lasting throughout the entirety of the book.  This is an author I plan on devoting a lot of my reading time to. Highly recommended!