A twisted killer targeting psychologists has left a grisly trail across Europe.

Dr Tony Hill, expert at mapping the minds of murderers, is reluctant to get involved. But then the next victim is much closer to home…

Meanwhile his former partner, DCI Carol Jordan, is working undercover in Berlin, on a dangerous operation to trap a millionaire trafficker. When the game turns nasty, Tony is the only person she can call on for help.

Confronting a cruelty that has its roots in Nazi atrocities, Tony and Carol are thrown together in a world of violence and corruption, where they have no one to trust but each other.

‘… a well-thought-out thriller… McDermid is incapable of writing badly’ Sunday Telegraph

‘The Last Temptation is a cracker of a story… McDermid’s delivery is impeccable. [Using] her own hallmarks of deviance, violence and criminal psychology… [she has] turned it into a scary, disturbing, exciting and atmospheric white-knuckle read.’ The Times ‘Play’

‘A complex and deftly crafted novel deserving of all the plaudits it will surely garner, like all McDermid’s work it is underpinned by a strong sense of morality.’ Publishing News

‘Deeply textured and gripping, Val McDermid’s latest thriller delivers a heavy payload. Not only a highly efficient techno-thriller, it is also a dance macabre though the damaged psyche of modern Europe, its present travails resulting from the legacy of its history.’ Waterstone’s Derby

‘Val McDermid is one of the few crime authors who can be convincing when it comes to ‘writing tough’, yet retain a powerful emotional insight. … Her capacity to uncover the roots of anger and fear have never been better demonstrated than in The Last Temptation. The real legacy of the horrors of the Second World War is… the one at the heart of this book: the way in which the experience of wartime suffering is bequeathed by the victims to the next generation. … It is part of McDermid’s strength that she makes Jordan and her ‘target’ into rounded human beings with whose feelings the reader can engage, and that the love affair between Hill and Jordan is skilfully developed… Most powerful of all, and a unique voice in a novel of this type, is a low-pitched authorial rage about the crimes committed upon children in concentration camps by the very people who should have protected them… McDermid is doing something quite extraordinary with the crime fiction suspense thriller.’ Scotland on Sunday

‘[A] complex, brooding novel [which] boasts a highly complex… plot. McDermid is by far the most talented writer of the three [writers reviewed]… The climax of the book is quite horrifying…’ Sunday Tribune (Dublin)

‘[The Last Temptation] is a masterful examination of evil and the relics of Nazi and Stasi years in Germany.’ The Guardian

‘McDermid’s third thriller featuring psychological profiler Tony Hill is packed with white-knuckle suspense, hot action and graphic chills.’ Booklist

‘a psychologically chilling and multifaceted thriller. … With consummate skill and pacing, she braids together the complex story lines through surprising revelations, heartstopping suspense and cruel double-crosses. McDermid’s writing and her understanding of the criminal mind get better with each novel.’ Publishers Weekly

‘Relentless, electric and absorbing, this is a thriller not to miss.’ Los Angeles Times

‘full of many truly pleasing and diabolically ingenious twists and turns’ Mystery News, USA