Cold Cases, Serial Killers

 For a long while, Val McDermid's bread-and-buttter was the world of serial killer stories. McDermid's Tony Hill series often featured a killer on the loose; there was a ticking clock; yadda yadda yadda.

At a certain point, McDermid began to pursue a different kind of story, the cold-case story. This was through her Karen Pirie series. Cold-case narratives are a nice way of steering around one problem of a serial killer narrative. Serial killers can become dull and repetitive; I began to sense this in the Tony Hill stories. Is it conceivable that there are *not* inexhaustible options for making a crazed "spree killer" seem interesting?

With a cold case, it's possible that someone committed one terrible crime--then chose to "self-correct." But failing to acknowledge the crime is a kind of societal disease. It's a disease because victims of the crime may still be trying to live their lives; they have "ingested" the idea that someone can terrorize a neighbor or colleague or employee and get away with it. For this reason, there is a strong desire (at least for some people) to bring the truth to light.

Val McDermid's new novel, "Silent Bones," is centered on Chloe Grainger, who may (or may not) recall having once been a victim of sexual assault. She isn't talking. Her reasons for not talking are compelling. But the open wound of the assault is an open wound for *several* people. A crime occurred, and there wasn't a moment of societal "redress." And so the impacts of the crime multiplied, multiplied. A journalist suffered. The journalist's wife--and unborn child--also suffered. Two investigators endure physical attacks when the "coverup campaign" becomes turbocharged. McDermid is so good at showing how one person can poison an entire ocean. Her villain in this piece made me think of Andrew Cuomo; although Cuomo *physically* assaulted "just" a handful of people, Cuomo's toxic personality was (additionally) a source of terror for hundreds of colleagues. The poison spreads and spreads.

I really like "Silent Bones"--I like everything McDermid publishes. She stays "topical" without trying too hard. The new book is about the MeToo movement, but it is also about Assad in Syria. Through McDermid, I have learned a bit about Syrian politics--there is no way I would have followed Assad's trajectory if it weren't covered (elegantly) in a piece of Scottish crime fiction. I look forward to the next Karen Pirie book.