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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
Very graphic violence; a serial killer directly targeting the protagonists and everyone they care about
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Moderate drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific horror of being targeted by someone who has studied you as carefully as you studied him; the limits of psychological insight when the subject wants to destroy you
What this book is about
Jacko Vance — a serial killer Tony Hill helped put away — has escaped from prison. He is systematically targeting Tony and Carol by hurting everyone around them. McDermid's seventh Wire in the Blood novel is the most personal of the series: the procedural machinery is almost secondary to the direct threat, and the question of whether Tony and Carol can survive someone who knows exactly how they think. Darker and more thriller-driven than its predecessors; the ending makes permanent changes to both characters.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
very graphic violence — this is the series at its most brutal
seventh of the Wire in the Blood series
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