Several murders have happened in Bradfield. The bodies of young beautiful upper-class men, all dumped in the Temple Field District, the gay village of the city, all horribly mutilated. After three murders, the Bradfield police doesn’t have a clue. The murderer has a perfect modus operandi, is extremely meticulous and leaves no clue. Brandon, the Assistant Chief Constable decides to try something new and asks for help from Tony Hill, a psychiatrist and serial killer profiler. He promotes lieutenant detective Carol Jordan as the liaison officer. So, it’s traditional police techniques against innovative techniques, a policewoman against macho policemen. Carol and Tony get on very well together, professionally and perhaps personally, if both could let go. The killer kills a fourth time and slowly the knots unravel… The description of the murders is painful, but the psychological elements to get in the killer’s head are captivating. The last chapters are page-turners, impossible to stop. My first McDermid, but not the last.
“Sometimes it was tempting to imagine that everybody was like him, getting up each morning and selecting a persona for the day. But he had learned over years of exploring other people’s minds that it wasn’t so. For most people, the available selection was severely limited. Some people would doubtless be grateful for the choices that knowledge, skill and necessity had brought Tony. He wasn’t one of them.”