DCI Mark Lapslie of the Essex Police is in Pakistan for a conference when he receives an email that sends him scurrying home. Attached to the message is a sound file of a woman screaming and because it has been sent directly to him Lapslie thinks something sinister is afoot. The fact it will allow him a reasonable excuse to get out of presenting at the conference is a bonus. At the same time the woman who is normally his Sergeant, Emma Bradbury, is being put in charge of a case of her own. The badly mutilated body of a young woman has been found on nearby Canvey Island and the investigation must be put into motion. When Lapslie returns it becomes evident there might be a link between the case and the sound file but the pair have to trawl through old cases to find a pattern of behaviour.

In my review of Still Waters, the first book in this series, I wrote

Rather than larger than life serial killers making suits out of human skin (Thomas Harris) or similarly fantastical yarns this was a story that one can imagine happening in the real world.

Sadly from my point of view the subsequent two books have strayed further and further into ‘suits of human skin territory’, to the point where this one will be the last I’ll read of the series. It’s not that the book is bad or poorly written; rather that it seems consumed with describing hideous violence and mutilations experienced by the killer’s victims, either as they happen or as reconstructed by the pathologist and various forensic experts and I simply have no interest in reading such descriptions. In the first book of this series the few scenes of real violence (one of which I still remember vividly to this day) stood out because of their rarity

Leaving the gore aside for a moment there a positive elements of the novel. The Mark Lapslie character is developed nicely, especially for those who have been with him since the beginning. He has a condition called synaesthesia which in his case manifests itself by causing him to experience strong tastes whenever he hears something. In the past this has been very debilitating for him but here is getting treatment that is working and he is able to function far more normally than in the earlier books. It’s interesting to watch him enjoy his new experiences like eating a spicy meal or attending a concert. His depiction as being both excited and a little scared of all this felt very natural to me. His relationship with Emma, who has become romantically involved with a known (but never convicted) criminal, is well-drawn too.

Without adding any particular twist or nuance to the long line of novels featuring crazed serial killers on a quest only they understand I didn’t think the plot of Scream anything more than serviceable. On top of the gore factor I frankly didn’t find the killer (who I thought obvious early on) remotely credible (though to tell you why would be a jolly big spoiler) and there were several other plot points that were far too obvious as devices.

I listed the first book in this series among my top ten books of the year for 2008 because I thought it offered something unique to the genre and the crime at its heart was an all too believable one which involved real people I could care about. So it is a little sad for me to see the series head in the blood-soaked direction of a hundred similar tomes published each year, but knowing how my tastes are rarely in sync with those of the mainstream this probably means the Lapslie books will now sell by the tonne. I shan’t be reading any more though. ( )

I doubt it's much of a coincidence being a big fan of the scripts and the acting in the TV Series NEW TRICKS, that I'm also a fan of the DCI Mark Lapslie series. After all, Nigel McCrery is a writer and creator of both. (Along with many other excellent TV series including Silent Witness and All the King's Men.)

SCREAM is the third in the DCI Mark Lapslie series, Lapslie being an unusual central protagonist who suffers from a particularly acute form of synaesthesia. In other words he experiences sounds as a variety of different flavours. Which makes receiving a very disturbing email; with a sound file attached which appears to be a recording of an unknown woman's death throes particularly confrontational for him. The situation isn't made any easier as Lapslie is in Pakistan at an international course on counter-terrorism, which means he has to fly back immediately to lead the investigation as it's obvious that the killer wants him involved.

In the meantime Lapslie's sergeant, Emma, is leading an investigation into the murder of a woman on Canvey Island. It seems that the victim was tortured before death, and whilst they do manage to identify the victim, it doesn't seem to move the investigation any further. Eventually it's trace evidence and the search to see if they have a serial killer that edges it slowly forward.

Lapslie and Emma have been developing a tentative working relationship in all three of these novels now, although in SCREAM things are complicated by Emma's ongoing relationship with local crook and police informer Dom McGinley. He's a most unlikely love interest for Emma, but there's something very pointed about Lapslie's objections, not that he's got any romantic feelings for Emma himself, his concerns are partly paternal, partly professional.

Obviously Lapslie's synaesthesia (which does contribute to his investigative ability) has been a major element in all the books thus far, although in SCREAM he is getting treatment, and the condition is not as overpowering, and therefore it's not as major a thread throughout the entire book. Which is actually a really good thing. Not only has the condition improved, his life in general is improving, he's even able to enjoy concerts or meals out with a new girlfriend. A considerable change, particularly from the first book, where he was effectively housebound. That sense of moving on helps make this a very engaging series, but I suspect, if you've not read either of the earlier books, you could be missing out on the importance of Lapslie's improved circumstances and outlook. It may make reading this book out of sequence a little less of an enjoyable experience.

But that won't make it an unpleasant experience. McCrery has a very deft manner in the way that he plots out a story, and draws a verbal picture of the forensic and crime scene details. Having said that, the books don't read as a film / TV script in the making - SCREAM is a great novel, with pace, humour, intrigue and tension. ( )

This might be the third in the Lapslie series but it was a first for me but still thoroughly enyoyable - if one can call a book which deals with a madman torturing victims because the quality of their screams reklieves his synaesthesia, enabling him, momentarily, to see colours. Actually, Synaesthesia is at the heart of the book because the main character, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie is a sufferer and the story takes up at a point where recent medication with an experimental drug and extensive cognitive Behaviour Therapy have enabled him to resume a semi-normal life again.

For the first time in years he is not only able to travel, but faces the prospect of delivering an address to a policing conference in Islamabed with if not equanimity then with a degree of confidence which would have been impossible in the past. A sound file of blood-curdling screams sent to his personal e-mail address puts paid to all that however and he hotfoots it onto the next 'plane home determined to investigate even before he knows for sure there has been a murder.

Meanwhile, his sergeant has been assigned to the stomach-turning killing of a young woman who has had pieces of flesh flayed off her. This is one in a series of gruesome murders, linked not only by their sickening cruelty but also by the fact that all the victims are, to some extent, singers.

Mark is suspended following unfounded allegations that a bullying interogation caused a girl to kill herself, but - naturally - does not let this get in the way of his investigation especially when his sergeant Emma disappears, kidnapped by the killer who explains to her that he is a synaesthetic who belongs to a musical family but cannot sing. He also has no colour vision at all, his world consisting of shades of grey with an occassional 'grey-out' when he's under stress, robbing him of his sight completely. When he discovers that certain screams of pain - but only certain ones - cause his to 'see' colours, he starts torturing musical victims and recording their shrieks of agony to create his own colour palette.

Not surprisingly given the genre, the sergeant is rescued in the nick of time just before having hot tar poured onto her head; the tar splashes over the hands of the killer and as it burns away his flesh he shrieks - only to discover his own voice is the one that gives him the most intense colours of all. He fumbles with his recording equipment trying to capture the sound while his skin literally burns away.

Okay, not a book for those with weak stomachs perhaps but very well written and an absolutely fascinating introduction to a disorder I barely knew about previously. Definately a writer whose backlist will repay investigation! ( )