The Last Temptation

By: Val McDermid

Narrated by: Guerin Barry

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Mapping the minds of murderers is what Dr. Tony Hill does better than anyone. So when a twisted killer starts targeting psychologists across Northern Europe, he's the obvious choice to track the executioner's mental and physical journey.

Except that Tony doesn't want to do this anymore.

But the case is about to come uncomfortably close to home. The next victim is a friend of his. And his former partner, DCI Carol Jordan, is herself in Germany, working undercover in a world where human life is cheaper than a drug deal. She needs his help as much as the beleaguered European police forces do.

Confronting the worst of contemporary crime and struggling to unravel roots that lie deep in the tormented past of Nazi atrocities and Statsi abuses, Tony and Carol are forced to battle for their survival against overwhelming odds.

Deftly merging the dark world of forensic psychology and the crime-streaked word of post-Cold War Europe, McDermid has created a truly original crime thriller for our time.

©2002 Val McDermid (P)2002 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"With consummate skill and pacing, [McDermid] braids together the complex story lines through surprising revelations, heartstopping suspense, and cruel double-crosses." (Publishers Weekly)
"Guerin Barry narrates changes in location and high-action sequences without a hitch." (AudioFile)
"The Last Temptation is a masterful examination of evil and relics of the Nazi and Stasi years in Germany." (The Guardian)

Overall, good book/story but…

…the music overlays were maddening and the review following is solely about production of the recording. IMHO: There is absolutely no point, nor contribution of dramatic flare, to having music overlays bridging the chapters. The music contributed nothing to the presentation, sometimes contradictory to the storyline at present, and often made it difficult to hear the actors’ words. It was so annoying; please consider removing.

changed narrator from first books in series.

Not a fan of the new narrator. the first guy was very good. other wise it was a good story

Val deserves better

Val McDermid is a tremendous author. Her books are insightful and witty and smart -- enough so that I can cringe through the gore scenes willingly to get to the "good stuff." That being the case, she deserves much better narration and production than this book offers. There has been enough said about the narrator by other reviewers; I will only add that I was so distracted by visions of Natasha and Boris from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons that I had trouble following the story line. The narrator's accents were so overdrawn that they were difficult to take seriously, and when he attempted female voices I pictured Monty Python players dressed in drag and flouncing ridiculously. And of all people, Val McDermid doesn't DO flouncy ridiculous women -- part of the pleasure of her writing is that the women are strong and interesting. It is quite a jarring element distracting from a very good, very complex book. The two books before were narrated beautifully, perfectly, and added to the story in a way that just reading the print book could not match, but without coloring or adding an interpretation the author didn't seem to intend. But other than the unacceptably bad narration, this recording includes two other elements that should be forever banned from audio books: 1) Abridgements should be illegal. 'Nuff said about that. 2) Extraneous sound effects including music are highly off-putting to every audio book listener I know. The music on this particular book caused teeth-grinding jaw clenching from the very beginning of the book, and each time thereafter. Presumably it is played each time they cut chunks out of the book to signal the abridgment, so if the publishers will follow my first rule, this issue would be eliminated. I would love it if Audible would fix up a survey of their listeners and ask what we actually like and dislike about audiobooks, so that they could pass these values on to their publishers. I would like to point out to publishers that many readers will be listening to their books through ear pods or similar devices, thereby having a nice comfortable level set for the volume of narration actually IN their ears. Therefore, noises other than the voice of the narrator such as obnoxious, overly loud music or sound effects disturb not only the cadence and enjoyment of the book but also the auditory nerve. Isn't the idea to create an ambiance with the narrator and his/her presumed talent so that the listener becomes focused and involved in the story, our senses wrapped up in it, our imaginations stirred to form a certain union with the author and narrator? Then it stands to reason that introducing jarring noises is going to snap the reader right out of that happy state and instantly break the flow, replacing enjoyment with annoyance. With some more popular novelists, some books' sound effects include automobile and traffic sounds as well as gunfire and other B-movie contrivances. The music in this book is not that, thankfully, but it is loud and of a particularly high pitch that I find especially annoying. Please, audio book publishers, don't do that any more. As far as recommending the book, I absolutely do. Recommending this recording, however, comes with a caveat. If you don't mind having to rewind a few times to regain your focus, and if you can go into it telling yourself, "It's not about the voice, it's about the story," then it is an interesting, complex, and compelling story. It would be better if it were not abbreviated -- but then we'd have to listen to this voice even longer.

Overly dramatic reader.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The story is pretty typical Val McDermid, although some of the writing is not up to his usual ability. However the reader makes it worse. EVERY line is read as if it is the most important line in the book - way overly dramatic. Skip this one if you value your mind and ears.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Typical

What didn’t you like about Guerin Barry’s performance?

See above

Do you think The Last Temptation needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I am no longer going to follow this series. The writing gets worse with each book.

Disappointed

I found the first two books in this series thrilling, but The Last Temptation let me down in almost every way. Too many characters, too little action, and too short to be a worthwhile buy.

Too much fake accent

Another well written story by Val McDermid that continues the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan Series. The characters continue to develop and the multi-layered plot is handled pretty well. I find the conclusion of these stories to be a bit abrupt, but the story is more about the hunt than the kill.
The performance is way to focused on fake German accents and it really distracted from the content. I'm sure the print version does not have the extra V's and R's that the narrator over emphasized.

Horrible reader

The story was good, but the person reading it was horrible. The fake accents were annoying and cheesy. This reader was not remotely up to participate with the reader in the rest of this series.

Not as good as The Distant Echo

If you are considering trying your first Val McDermid audiobook, choose The Distant Echo--the narration is far better. Indeed The Distant Echo is one of the very best audiobooks I've ever heard.

Not that this book is poorly ready, just that the style is a bit flat, compared to the lively Scottish brogue used to read McDermid's other novel.

I also found the characters in this novel a bit flat compared to what I know McDermid can do based on her other novels. Perhaps the problem is the abridgment--I was periodically left with the impression that I was getting the facts, the plot line but not really gaining enough insight into the motivations of the characters. I suspect an unabridged version would have "read" better.

Very disappointing!

It's possible I didn't care for this book because it was abridged and skipped too many passages that might have connected the story more smoothly. However, this is about the 4th book I've read - ***Spoiler Here*** where a "look alike" or twin has been inserted into an investigation. It's a plot device that's really wearing thin, never believable and I expect better from Val McDermid. I realize she wants to take her characters outside their comfort zone, but this wasn't very well executed in my opinion. AND, on top of that, the narrator is American and can't figure out what he wants to do with his accents. He's not consistent and it's almost comical. Lastly, it really annoys me when fairly common terms like: "Die Welt" (German newspaper) are mispronounced. In German "Die" is pronounced like "Dee" not "Die". And, "W' is pronounced like a "V".

Interesting story, but not compelling

The audio performance distracted me from the story. I had a difficult time listening to the performance.