Killing the Shadows

By: Val McDermid

Narrated by: Vari Sylvester

A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.

Professor Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who uses computer technology to help police forces track serial offenders. She used to help the Met, but vowed never to work for them again when they went against her advice and badly screwed up an investigation as a consequence. Still smarting from the experience, she's working a case in Toledo when her lover, thriller writer Kit Martin, tells her a fellow crime novelist has been murdered. It's not her case, but Fiona can't help taking an interest.

Which is just as well, because before too long the killer strikes again. And again. And Fiona is caught up in a race against time, not only to save a life, but to bring herself redemption, both personal and professional.

Rich in atmosphere, Killing the Shadows uses the backdrops of city and country to create an air of threatening menace, culminating in a tense confrontation between hunter and hunted, a confrontation that can have only one outcome.

©2002 Val McDermid (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

This is painful to listen to. ...

The recording is garbage. Whoever produced this should be ashamed. The sound quality is pathetic. It's either tinny, or sounds like the narrator is underwater.

Story seems decent so far. I have not finished it yet.

I just wanted to express my discontent of the sound production before i forgot.

Found it hard to listen and get in to

So straight of the audio quality, so bad it dipped in and out of mono to stereo a lot.
The story overall was good it took a lot to get in to as I found the voices of the characters similar and with there being many characters it wasn’t always easy to tell who it was which made the start of the story hard to gel with and get in to.
I love these books and Val but didn’t enjoy this one as much.

An engaging read....

Although rather predictable, I enjoyed this book. Other reviews warned about excessive gore....but I did not find this story about serial killers and the authors who write novels about them any more "gory" than many other murder-thrillers I've read.
Is this her best book? No. But I enjoyed it none the less.

A 3

I'm listening to quite a few of her books right now. Even in these readArama days, this book gave me: flat characters, long winded and dull plot, relief that there appears to be no sequel

Poor audio quality

I tried to listen to this. Unfortunately, the audio quality was very poor, especially for the first few hours. By the time it improved, I lost interest in the book and couldn’t get into it. Not sure if the story was good or not.

Disappointing, creaky plot

What better subject could there be for a mystery writer than a serial killer targetting mystery writers? Yet this book suffers from significant plot weaknesses--basically, characters must display incredible stupidity or stubborness for the plot to advance. The underlining motive of the villain was, in my view, ridiculous. That said, there were moments of suspense, and some interesting characterizations. The narration was fine. This was the first book I've read by McDermid. I had high hopes because of her Diamond Dagger win (lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers Assoc.), but I was disappointed. I'll probably give another book a chance, but I won't rush to do so.

Suspense till the end

Would you consider the audio edition of Killing the Shadows to be better than the print version?

Since I haven't read the print version I wouldn't know

What did you like best about this story?

I suppose the story itself it what I most enjoyed. The fact that you were never quite sure of what was to happen next, is to me what keeps me listening. The narration was also excellent. Even with minor changes in her voice the characters became believable and real.

Which scene was your favorite?

I totally enjoyed the entire performance

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I prefer books that have a substantial length so I can stretch them out over days.

Any additional comments?

I have listened to dozens of books over my years with audible and can say this is one of my all time favorites. I am familiar with Val McDermids work both in books and TV and always find them compelling both in subject and construction.

Terrible audio quality.

Can’t believe Audible would sell a book with such bad audio. They should be ashamed.

Engaging Story and Characters

I enjoyed this novel; it held my interest. I cared what happened to the characters. It's not Val McDermid's best--I prefer her more recent novels; she gets better and better in my opinion.

This wasn't the worst reading I've encountered, by far. The pacing and general expressiveness were very good. In a book with this many significant characters a professional reader must make a choice--whether to try to give each character a distinctive sound, or to favor general plausibility in terms of tone and pacing. I prefer plausibility, some variation for characters, but remaining within the bounds of normal speech patterns; the reader seems to have tried to give each character a unique voice, implausibly making intelligent characters, including a reasonably intelligent DCI (not a career that favors hesitancy) speak hesitantly, almost robotically.

Nonetheless, an entertaining and engaging listen--exactly what I want from audiobooks in this genre.

Atrocious reader!!!!

How could the performance have been better?

The timbre of the reader's voice is nice but the teeth whistle and continuously changing sound quality (or total lack thereof) is ridiculous. This kills the book.