A DARKER DOMAIN
Val McDermid
Harper
Mystery
ISBN: 9780061688980
Val McDermid is best known for her Tony Hill novels and the television series created from them. In A DARKER DOMAIN, a stand-alone work, she takes a completely different storytelling tactic. She has devised a complicated collage consisting of a dual narrative and two seemingly unrelated cases dating back more than 20 years. At first, readers may find themselves stumbling through the labyrinth of the alternating time frames and multiple voices. But once they get the footwork down, things begin to fall into place. As the tension propels the plot forward, the trail of breadcrumbs and red herrings starts to coalesce, bringing the events, past and present, out of their maze.
A DARKER DOMAIN also takes on social issues not always present in other novels: the desperate cruelty of the coal strikes decades ago, the results that shattered lives and communities, the underlying class system that still exists in Britain and the role of the police when it comes to solving current and cold cases.
The time is 1984-1985 during the coal miners’ strike in Britain. At that time Margaret Thatcher wanted to break the unions, and the coal industry was where she was going to do it. As a result, the destruction was catastrophic for an entire industry, and there was no return from the damage. People were worn down to the quick as they slowly starved or froze in their tiny cottages. Fife, Scotland, was where Thatcher centered her project. Other mines continued to operate in other parts of the country, but no miner wanted to desert his home and fellow union buddies to become a “blackleg” (better known as a “scab”). This was unthinkable.
Thus, when a small group of men fled with their families, all of their reputations were permanently damaged. One of the most surprising turncoats was Mick Prentice, a well-respected union man with a wife and daughter, both of whom he left behind. They suffered brutal shunning and were no longer considered part of the community. His family never heard from him again except for the occasional envelope stuffed with money, which his wife, Jenny, gave to charity. The night Mick disappeared his best friend, Andy Kerr, also vanished and was never heard from again. Everyone, including his wife, just assumed he ran off to Nottingham with the others to find work.
Misha Prentice is now a grown woman and mother. Her son is desperately ill and needs a transplant. His only hope is the possibility that his grandfather, Mick, is a match for him. Thus begins Misha’s long, thorny and desperate journey to find him. Her first step is to go to the Fife police. Since the case is so old, it falls on the desk of Karen Pirie, the newly promoted Detective Inspector of the cold case unit. As she interviews the woman, she feels an affinity for Misha, finds the case intriguing and decides to investigate.
Broderick McClellan (Brodie) Grant is one of the richest men in the country. His one daughter and only grandson were kidnapped 22 years ago. A ransom transfer went terribly wrong, leading to the daughter’s death and the boy never being seen again. Still, the old man is ready to open another investigation when Bel Richmond, an investigative journalist, finds a crumpled old flyer about the case when she is on vacation in Tuscany. With this piece of paper, if she can gain access to Brodie (who never grants interviews), she has written her own ticket to an explosive exclusive. He surprisingly ends up agreeing to her demands, and she slowly mines the story of the kidnap/murder. Her agenda aside, all of this opens a Pandora’s box, one that will frustrate both DI Pirie and Bel Richmond.
Slowly and painfully, Brodie describes the kidnapping of his only daughter and grandson. As he and Bel go back over the few facts he knows, little tidbits of newly accessible information begin to seep out and could be new leads.
Geography, pathology, archaeology, anthropology mingled with common sense, intuition and the brains of the two women investigating two arms of the monster cases afford readers a fascinating history of what the powers that were did to an entire industry and the people they crushed. Murders are uncovered and disappearances put to rest. Fans of McDermid and newcomers alike should find A DARKER DOMAIN a masterful novel that will challenge their armchair detective skills.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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