Not sure how this one got on my reading list. Wouldn't recommend it to many people I know but I though the plot development and charters were well developed. Will I read another in the series-not quite sure.

This one has not aged well owing to the gay killer trope - I bet when it first came out, it was edgy and possibly ripped from headlines, but now.....well it's a trope and not a good one! Otherwise it was a great thriller, but not one I would recommend. I am sure she has written much better ones that have aged well since the 90s.

This was my third read of her novels but I must say it was my least favorite. It's mostly about the gay community and the acts of debauchery and cruelty inflicted on one another. Very graphic at times with many details regarding the methods of torture used. Not a book I would recommend to anyone.

Visually, I found it too scary to finish.

This is a great taut, cat and mouse psychological thriller. This book is extremely graphic from start to finish. I think the writer could of lightened up a bit in that area, so I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. Not for the squeamish and certainly not for anyone under 18. That cost it a star in the rating. If this were a movie it would get a harsh NC-17 rating.

Disturbing but riveting read. May be too graphic for some.

I must disagree with the below comments - in regard to "transphobia". We all have dark sides to our makeup; Heterosexuals, gays, lesbians, Christians, Muslims, blacks, whites, browns, poets and plumbers. Serial Killers must come from all walks of life and to include transsexuals is to include them where we all are - equal and human.
All forms of murder are cruel. The use of torture can be simple or complicated, but it's all torture. McDermid's books are edgy, dark, unpredictable and at times, funny. This is simply another of her magical creations.

Val McDermid felt a need to add to the fake transsexual psychokiller genre, only her crime is greater being an openly lesbian author. The transphobia is so heinous one doesn't need a murder to make it blood curdling. She creates other killers in subsequent books that are so much more realistic that this book pales in comparison. Skip it and try any other.

Well, I had high hopes, based on all the other four- and five-star reviews, but I honestly think this was trash. I didn't finish it, didn't care "whodunit." Unless you love detailed, highly graphic descriptions of the most horrific kinds of torture mankind (mancruel?) has ever devised, steer clear of this one. While Tony Hill is an interesting character, and MdDermid writes some good ones, this novel has utterly no redeeming social value. If violence can be porn, this is it.

First in the series that lead to the Wire in the Blood TV series. Scottish crime. Not at YPRL.