DCI Carol Jordan has an opportunity for a very special assignment, an undercover sting in Germany, totally outside her comfort zone and her country, so even the familiar is lost. The prime objective is to capture Tadeusz Radecki, a crime boss responsible for smuggling illegal aliens and drugs. A trip to the darkside, for sure. Coincidentally it seems, Carol is a doppelganger for Tadeusz’s deceased lover Carolyn, which they hope will give her a bridge into this dangerous world and Tadeusz’s business and heart. Radecki’s henchman, Darko Krasic isn’t as convinced of her innocent resemblance and continues to have her shadowed.

Meanwhile, Dr Tony Hill is invited to consult in a gruesome case where a serial killer is victimizing psychological researchers in a ritualistic and horrific way, vaguely reminiscent of Nazi experiments. Working with Berlin police in an unofficial capacity, Tony gets caught up in the mind of this man who himself is collateral damage from that time.

Fascinating, interesting, fast moving, heart stopping, tragic, fabulous. Still going strong on these two, they don’t disappoint. Never quite know where the story is going and I know the author isn’t afraid to sacrifice characters, so that always keeps my attention. I did have a moment when I was in disbelief at the stupidity of a seemingly intelligent woman, but I got over it. Incredibly complicated storyline, two dissimilar and distinct investigations, many characters, many countries.

Carol Jordan is drawn into a Europol sting while Tony gets involved in a Berlin detective's case that appears to be the work of a serial killer. The two cases are separate but brings the two of them back together.

This was another harrowing, tense ride with an exciting climax, although I could foresee the inevitable. Scared me witless but the procedurals covering so many European jurisdictions was quite interesting. I enjoyed all aspects of this story and, of course, want to jump right into the next one.

Carol gaat undercover. In Duitsland moet ze het aanleggen met een berucht crimineel. Diens vriendin was het evenbeeld van Carol en is kort geleden bij een verkeersongeluk om het leven gekomen en hij kan Carol ook niet weerstaan.
Carol belandt daardoor in gevaar, vooral als blijkt, dat ze door de politie niet helemaal goed is ingelicht over de redenen waarom ze in dienst is genomen.
Ook Tony is in Duitsland en onderzoekt de moord op bekende psychologen in Duitsland en Nederlanders. Hij moet zich verdiepen in de praktijken van de nazis in WOII. Niet vrolijk stemmend, maar erg interessant. Ook dit deel moest weer achter elkaar uitgelezen worden en daarna moest deel vier zo snel mogelijk begonnen worden. Hoe zouden de ernstig beschadigde Tony en Carol verder gaan. Zo spannend.

Just couldn't get into this one.

The Last Temptation is the 3rd book in Val McDermid's Tony Hill / Carol Jordan thriller series. I will say that this was one heck of a long story but once I got into it, it kept me interested.

So the plot? Tony has retired from criminal profiling and has sort of hidden himself off in Scotland as a psychology professor and is dating another woman. Carol has moved up in the police force and is hoping for an assignment with Europol (a Europe version of Interpol). She is offered a special assignment. She looks like the girlfriend of a German drug dealer / human smuggler. She is to portray an English criminal who wants to do a deal with Radecki so that the German police and English police can end his operation.

Another story line involves a German police officer, Petra and a Dutch police officer, Marijke. They are friends who met online in a chat group for lesbian police officers. Marijke is involved in a murder case of a psychologist and Petra feels there has been a similar case in Germany. By somewhat convoluted machinations, Carol is involved with Petra in the Radecki case and introduces the two cops to Tony Hill who wants to get back into the profiling fame.

Make sense? Well, it actually does. The story moves to Berlin, where Carol is working undercover. Oddly enough, Tony goes to Berlin as well, both to help Petra with her case and to be a sounding board for Carol. Petra gets him accommodation in the same building as Carol. Do you see a potential problem there? Well, I can't say... you'll have to read it.

So the story moves along, with Carol inculcating (this is my new favorite word) herself into Radeckis operation and Tony investigating the murders. Both are interesting cases and it's also interesting how the stories come together at times.

It takes awhile to get there but the tension builds quite dramatically. I think I could foresee some of the problems.. it turns out I was right in some ways. I've always liked Carol and Tony and their friendship / relationship, but I have to say I really liked the two European cops. Marijke and Petra were excellent.

All in all a very entertaining, tense story. I look forward to finding the next book in the series. I hope it'll be a bit shorter. :0) (3.5 stars)

Can we just say *** PLACEHOLDER *** to all her books now? Um. Quick recollection: apt, echoing title on many levels. Multi-layered plot set in Europe, mostly Berlin. A serial killer whose own suffering might just have been a bit worse than the one he later inflicted. A modern high-flyer criminal who is actually worse, and yet had been done wrong by those supposed to uphold justice. A fate worse than death for one protagonist, and an annoyingly stupid carelessness by T+C that I could only forgive for the way they genuinely suffer (what an ill-used word by now) for the other.

I actually had written more about this somewhere - how McDermid based one of her lesbian cops on the lesbian German TV cop from "Tatort", how Tony rises to adversity in the direst straits, how McDermid (I think!!) purposely subverts the modern romance cliche of what the heroine thinks at the sight of the approaching male's penis. If I'll add that later, I will be more spoilery.


Whoops, I just found an earlier review:

I have yet to input something about her other novels, but right now something in the plot made me unable to go on without letting off some steam! I hope to later outline how this Scottish writer fits with the shows Cracker and Prime Suspect, and how this third Tony Hill/Carol Jordan novel is similar to Killing the Shadows in some respects, but mainly I read (yet another lesbian thriller writer) for the human angle, the characters and relationships. As a friend said, she didn't mind that contrary to blurbs Tony and Carol don't "fully get together", and in a way neither did I, but since there's really nothing that would be changed, my own private disappointment is yet again the very relationships I read her for. She does have the only truly ideal ones I know of, independence and deep affection in various het couples, but - as odd as that might sound for such hardboiled thrillers - I just find it's always too easy. Tony has been considered sexually deviant for ages, but rather than delve into that it seems now nothing than a mostly cured impotence. Their affection/love hasn't really changed and they never had actual problems between them, it's external and situational and when they briefly find a tiny moment of peace or joy or hope I feel a bit disappointed that that's all. I'll have to say more about KtS but right now I'm most upset because something stupid they did was finally really unnecessary and REALLY REALLY stupid and I wonder if McDermid means to show that people make the worst mistakes when in lust or not but I wish she hadn't made them so stupid to get that plot to work. Now poor Tony is once again in awful mortal peril and knowing he'll survive is just not enough, because pain and torture are worse than "the end".

The title though is great, as usual (and unlike Cornwell) it resonates with various characters and actions. She also moved "evil" away from a "simply born evil" person, another thing I appreciate.
*mopes back to last pages of book*


ETA: ah, right, another significant external stumbling block to make T*C impossible but mainly I wanted to add that McDermid obviously knows the German TV Show "Tatort", because her Petra is not only a lesbian DC like Lena Odenthal, she is even described looking and dressing like her and with a seemingly incompetent young boyish sidekick - I didn't see that aluded to in her comprehensive acknowledgements that admitted she took liberties with EU geography (since the Brits won't mind ;P)

Hmm det var en skuffelse

Sometimes when my synapses are raw and sore I need to relax into a soothing bath of Val McDermid or Rankin. Just the job this one, as usual the pages turning themselves while I relax....
...but then, in the last third my brain started working again. McDermid's instinct was surely right not to turn the two stories in this novel into two separate books. She was wrong trying to squeeze them into one. While I look forward to exoskeletal plots in this genre, it becomes a bit much when the characters disappear completely. The ending is dreadful, rushed and written with no care or apparent interest.
On the plus side, there are a few neat aphorisms about human nature. Just a shame that they appear littered randomly like mottoes from cheap Christmas crackers.

4.5 stars

Once again this was a really good read and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I love the fact that the author shows the characters and all their flaws and vulnerabilities. Each book in the series so far has moved the characters on in their life and career so it doesn't become boring. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

As McDermid creates a new psychopathic mystery for her readers, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are back to test their wiles and personal chemistry. Seeking a new position, DCI Jordan interviews for a job with Europol, in hopes of using her skills to help those all across the continent. Handed an interesting file, whereby she must infiltrate the depths of a human smuggling ring, Jordan goes undercover to weasel her way right to the top. Stationed in Berlin and working with a German cop, Jordan seeks the assistance of Dr. Hill, who offers valuable insight into how to have those around her become trustworthy without blowing her own cover. Meanwhile, a serial killer may be on the loose, slaying experimental psychologists in The Netherlands and Germany. When Jordan posits that Hill may wish to help look into these cases, he jumps at the opportunity to leave academia (a position he took when profiling became too personal). Diving deep into Germany's past, he discovers what might be the perfect rationale for such murders, but cannot fathom the gruesome experiments the Nazis undertook, nor the reaction our killer is having in modern-time. As both cases inch towards success, passion between our two characters, long suppressed, may be the one thing that derails the entire mission. Explosive plot lines mesh together and leave the reader gasping at the lengths to which McDermid will go to shock the reader.

McDermid is sensational in her character development and storytelling. She gets to the core of the matter and pulls no punches. While some are queasy by her graphic murder scenes and description, I find it useful to offer the reader the full-scale knowledge of what Hill and Jordan are seeing, which only adds to the story. This is the second novel in the series that seeks to show the killer throughout, offering up their identity and hoping authorities can piece it together before it is too late. McDermid paints a vivid/gruesome backstory that fully complements the killings and the impetus. My one critique might be the continual change in jobs both Hill and Jordan undertake, making any character foundation all the more difficult, even if it opens up new and exciting characters in each novel.

Kudos, Madam McDermind on this wonderful addition to the series. You shock me when I think I've seen it all!

Short version: just as good as I'd hoped it would be.

Long version:

I was disappointed in McDermid's last standalone book and so I was really worried that this one was going to miss the mark for me as well. This is the third story to feature Carol Jordan and Tony Hill (the previous two books were The Mermaid's Singing and The Wire in the Blood). I read both of the earlier books a while ago now and loved them both. There were plenty of elements in this book that could have made it a dreadful experience but I got involved with the characters and really liked the book.

This book revolves primarily around Jordan as she is given an undercover operation that involves living in Berlin and working with a big time trafficker of both drugs and people. The new setting brings in a lot of new European characters including a pair of lesbian detectives from Berlin and the Netherlands who know each other primarily through instant messaging. I thought these two characters were very realistically drawn and can only hope that police forces throughout Europe are populated by their sisters. The world would be a better place if that were so.

Jordan also becomes involved in helping out with a serial killing investigation and this is where psychological profiler Tony Hill is drawn into the story.

McDermid puts her characters through a lot and I don't know how many books this series can go on for because they barely get out of this book alive and this isn't the first time this has happened. This is one of the things that could have wrecked the book for me but I went with the flow and got drawn into the suspense.

I hear that a TV series is being made based on these books and I'm in two minds about it. I'm worried that they'll wreck the books by casting people who are nothing like the characters in my head and by abridging stories and cutting out the goriest bits. But I also think greater readership for McDermid is a good thing and though she's one of the stars of the crime writing scene I don't think she's well enough known to the general public yet.

A couple of other comments: At the beginning of this book there's a lot of stuff that refers back to the case in the previous book that I think would wreck the suspense of that book if you read the series out of order so don't read this book first! And if you have read the previous books I think this one is lacking the extra gory bits that featured in those - I could read all of this one with my eyes open ;-)

In summary, this was a very enjoyable episode in this series with some excellent settings along the rivers of Europe and some great characters and I thought the plot worked pretty well (though there were moments when I thought some rather predictable things were being foreshadowed, but these didn't come to pass). I hope McDermid gives us another Lindsay Gordon or Kate Brannigan book next though!

This is how you write a crime novel. Carol and Tony end up in Germany - one undercover on the trail of a brutal crime boss and the other profiling a seriel killer brutally murdering slong the waterways. This is a dark tale where the main characters are presented with tests of character and perseverance way beyond what you might expect. Brutal in the extreme but a belting good read from the first page. May sleep with the light on for a while......