BOOK REVIEW: ‘Splinter the Silence’

OPINION:

SPLINTER THE SILENCE

By Val McDermid

Atlantic, $26, 416 pages

The myriad evils of the Internet are fertile ground for an author who has done her homework on serial killers.

Tony Hill, a criminal psychologist, and Carol Jordan, a former police detective, have been prominent in the chronicles of Val McDermid’s many works, but this time around she has put a twist on their relationship that makes them both more human as they track down the maniacs of the world. Carol has not recovered from the murder by a serial killer of her brother and sister-in-law, and not only is her drinking out of control but she has secluded herself from almost every friend she has. That includes Hill, with whom she had worked on so many cases and with whom she had always had an ambiguous relationship. It is not until her alcoholism catches up with her in an arrest for drunken driving that she reaches out to the psychologist who is willing to help her but makes clear it is on his terms. She has to stop drinking. His ultimatum makes her resentful and angry, but she doesn’t argue with him and it is at that time that she is offered a new job of tracking down the trolls infesting the Internet and realizes she is dealing with her last chance.

There is rising police suspicion that an increasing number of suicides by women who challenge what is said and published on websites may not be self-inflicted deaths. The police are gambling on the possibility that Carol’s talents as a detective will give her the strength to reinvent her life, despite severe doubts expressed even by those who know her. Toughest of those is Hill, who knows her best and who has always been far more devoted to her than she admitted or permitted. This is a new phase of their complicated relationship, and the presence of Carol’s dog, the collie Flash, helps it along. Even Carol is softened by the adoration of Flash.

Meantime, Ms. McDermid explores one of her favorite topics — the warped workings of a killer’s mind. There is a murderer at work who plans how to present violent death that is reported as a suicide. And there is a traitor on Carol’s team who can bring all its efforts to failure. But there is also the dogged and tough Tony who has made it clear that one mistake on Carol’s part will be the finale for them both.

Yet Tony Hill’s analysis of the kind of crime they are facing reveals a lot as he cautions, “A serial killer produces signs and indicators in the commission of his crimes. Everything he does is part of a pattern and discovering the underlying pattern reveals the killer’s logic. Straightforward traps will not capture him.”

Discussing the possible goals of such a person, Hill asserts: “The silencing of outspoken women who criticize men, generally in overtly feminist terms sends a message to other women that feminism is a counsel of despair. He’s telling them that pursuing such an agenda will lead to so much misery that suicide is the only answer.”

He tracks the roots of such hostility to childhood or early adolescence, noting that men driven wild as adults by what they see as damage done to them by feminism tend to focus their anger directly in the form of domestic violence. Such a man might be coping with a lost mother and a distorted reason for her disappearance. Hill emphasizes that such men do not see rape as a weapon in such a context.

“The idea of exerting power and control is to erase these women, not simply to punish or humiliate them. He wants them gone for good.”

What makes this plot different is that when Jordan and Hill capture their prey, it is not the end of the story. The agony she has suffered at the hands of a killer has not entirely faded, but she has come to realize the importance of Tony Hill in her life. He was there as no one else was when she needed him most. And when Carol carefully, casually invites him to move in with her and her dog Flash, she is taking a giant step forward because she knows she needs more than his support with her alcoholism problem. She needs him, and Tony is grateful that they have reached this stage in an often tortured love affair.

• Muriel Dobbin is a former White House and national political reporter for McClatchy newspapers and the Baltimore Sun.