A Darker Domain

I'd sometimes shied away from Val McDermid's books, despite my admiration from her excellent writing, as I found her viscerally explicit descriptions of violent and cruel acts off-putting. This book is quite different for, although it does involve deaths these are peripheral to the two intricate and cleverly intertwined stories that kept me rapt for many hours eager to find out how the stories ended. A splendid book with a good narrator.

This was a fast moving plot with no boring and unecessary facts. The clever plot starts with the search for a man who went missing 20 years previously during the time of the miners strikes. Also at that time in a nearby location was the death of a well-heeled woman after a kidnapping turned sour and the disappearance of her son, then a baby.The story takes you to beautiful Italy with it's laid back "hippy style" communes and also into the lives of a powerful familiy who believe they are beyond the law.The relationship between the reporters and Police was revealing and so accurate.My only gripe is the ending which was left a little unfinished.

Undoubtably the best character was DI Pirie. Fiesty yet likeable with grit and determination, a person not to be cowed by her supervisors nor class division. A good cop who gets the job done.

A good performance by Eilidh Fraser whose lilting tones fitted the story so well.

I stuck with this book as really not sure about the narrator - guess I've been spoilt by Sean Barrett and Steven Pacey who are excellent. Good story with the background running alongside, came together well towards the end but very disappointed with the unfinished ending - a lot of guessing left with the story on both sides.

All in all ok, but not sure I would recommend as a great read compared to some of the many books I have listened to. Don't want to put anyone off but a 3 star from me.

Yes. The plot is plausible, and the characters are interesting.

The descriptions of the hardships suffered by striking miners, and the conflicting loyalties they faced.

A bit staccato. She put pauses, every few words, which I found, irritating after, a while.

Light and dark in Scotland and Italy.

Loved the plot twists and turns and the colourful characters. My first Val McDermid book. Gonna get more!

Lovely and appropriate to have it read in a Scottish accent, but she couldn't really vary it at all - posh Scottish, strong Fife and English sounded pretty much the same. For a short cringeworthy section she tried to do a strong Italian accent. I felt her pain.<br/>There were basic pronunciation mistakes, especially with the Italian words, that could have been easily researched.<br/>Barring that, she told the story well and it must be a bit of a marathon reading for an audiobook, so respect anyway.

A typically enthralling story from Val Mcdermid set in her home area and read in a dialect understandable to most .....however Eilidh Fraser was in sore need of pronunciation advice. Once I could ignore ( eg the mangle-ing of the striking Scot's miners leader's name) but by the 5th or 6th occasion it was really becoming annoying and not even with particularly unusual words. I feel sorry for the reader but especially sad that such a popular author has her work let down in this way. And it is a great story!

I'm a fan of this writer and the story was good with lots of twists and turns, no gruesome violence and gore and it is very well read.
The action moves between the UK and Tuscany.
The last hour, however, stretched credibility which was a shame but I'd still recommend it.

This one wasn't for me, I usually love a good Val McDermaid but I found this one confusing to the last.

Good book, lots of twists and turns but for me the end was decidedly abrupt and after buying into the actions of the villains I would have liked to know more about their fate. Worth listening to though. Hey ho!

Good mix of characters and definitely a story with many twists and turns. Quite heartbreaking at times and ultimately shows that love can cause people to behave insanely. Highly recommend.
Narration excellent and easy voice to listen to.