The Killing Ground
Val McDermidShaanxi Normal University Press2011
Rating 3.8- Word count
- 360K words
- Chapters
- 1
- Series
- A Vera McDermid Novel
- ISBN
- 9787561356821
Tags
Featured Fiction Mystery and Suspense Closed SocietyMurder MysteryMysterious DisappearancesHuman NatureDual NarrativeSuspense NovelCrime FictionSocial MysterySummary
Winter 1963. In a bleak limestone valley in Derbyshire, England, the ancient, closed-off village of Scardale is all but cut off from the outside world. On a cold December night, thirteen-year-old Alison Cutter vanishes mysteriously on her way home, and the once peaceful village is thereafter shrouded in fear, suspicion, and a media siege. Young Inspector George Nebett is determined to find her at any cost, yet he must contend with the villagers' silence, hostility, and the outside world's doubts. Just as the case reaches a deadlock, a set of fatal evidence emerges, turning the investigation inward toward the village and utterly changing everyone's understanding of the truth. More than thirty years later, writer Catherine Heathcote reopens the yellowed case files to write a book about this unsolved case, revisits the people and events of those years, and behind layers of buried silence touches a truth deliberately hidden. As the law's verdict and human revenge entangle, the ancient village becomes a stage for moral judgment—whose killing ground is this "killing ground," after all? Through dual narrative lines shuttling between the 1960s and 1990s, the novel fuses cold-case detection with inquiries into closed rural society, media violence, and the boundaries of justice. It is one of McDermid's most celebrated standalone works, once adapted into an Edgar Award-winning television series.Editor's review
《刑场》是薇儿·麦克德米德作品里最常被推荐的一部，也是许多中文读者认识这位“英国推理小说女皇”的起点。它被改编成同名剧集并获埃德加·爱伦·坡奖最佳电视剧集奖，原著亦曾进入金匕首奖决选。这本书的精彩并不在于连环转折，而在于“慢”：前半部几乎像一份耐心的地方志与田野调查，村庄的天气、口音、亲缘关系、集体沉默被一点点铺开；后半部所有铺陈突然同时收束，读者才明白作者把线索藏得多么深。它是一本关于“真相”与“正义”并不重合的犯罪小说，读罢留下的不是解谜的快感，而是对法律边界与人情伦理的长久不安。译笔通畅，适合有耐心的推理读者细读。Who it's for
A good fit for
- 喜欢慢热、重人物与社会背景的英式犯罪小说读者
- 对冷案重启、乡土封闭社会题材感兴趣的读者
- 读过阿加莎·克里斯蒂、米涅·渥特丝，想拓展英伦推理谱系的读者
- 关注司法、媒体舆论与正义议题的非虚构类读者也可尝试
Not a good fit for
- 追求开局即高能、节奏紧凑爽感的惊悚小说读者
- 对儿童受侵害、暴力等沉重情节较为敏感的读者
- 希望在书中获得大量法庭辩论细节的法律爱好者
Reading tips
- 前半部节奏偏慢，建议耐住性子把村庄人际关系的细节记下来，它们是后文的伏笔。
- 留意“过去”与“现在”两条时间线的交替，可以试着边读边列出你怀疑的人物与其动机。
- 读完后回头重看开头的几章，会发现不少关键信息第一次出现时被读者自然忽略了。
- 可与作者的《遥远的回声》《黑暗领域》连读，感受其“历史悬案”系列的共通写法。
About the publisher
Shaanxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1985Shaanxi Normal University Press is a comprehensive publisher that gives equal weight to humanistic scholarship and general reading, with publishing directions covering law, world classics, social psychology, classic works, mystery and detective fiction, and foreign literature. In law, it offers theoretical translations such as Hegel's Philosophy of Right; in literature, it publishes Chinese and foreign classics including Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, Don Quixote, Six Records of a Floating Life, and The Complete Sherlock Holmes, with translators such as Jia Wenhao, Jia Wenyuan, and Jia Lingyi. It also publishes in social psychology and biography, such as The Neurotic Personality of Our Time and Beethoven. The library currently holds 210 titles; public information is limited, yet the overall profile shows a publishing character that balances academic depth with popular readability.
Contents
- Val McDermid Series
FAQ
这本书属于麦克德米德的哪个系列？
《刑场》是麦克德米德的非系列独立作品，不属于林赛·戈登、凯特·布兰尼根或托尼·希尔与卡罗尔·乔丹等系列，主角是探长乔治·内贝特与作家凯瑟琳·希斯科特。没读过作者其他作品，能直接读这本吗？
可以。本书故事独立完整，不依赖任何前作背景，是了解麦克德米德写作风格最合适的入门作之一。这本书有影视改编吗？
有。小说被改编为同名剧集，并曾获得埃德加·爱伦·坡奖最佳电视剧集奖，不过剧集与原著在细节处理上有出入，建议先读原著。中文版与英文原版差别大吗？
中译本基本完整保留原作的叙事结构与双线安排，个别译名（如人名译法）在不同版本中略有差异，不影响阅读。This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Val McDermid AuthorVal McDermid is a foreign suspense and mystery writer whose works are available in nine editions on this site. Her representative works include the four-volume Mindhunter-style series (also available as a four-volume set), The Execution Ground, The Dark Domain, and Distant Echo, which are commonly classified on the site under premium fiction, suspense and mystery, literature, and foreign literature. Due to limited publicly available information, details of her biography cannot be verified, but based on the existing works, her writing clearly leans toward crime, psychological suspense, and mystery. She is skilled at building narratives around case investigations and character psychology, creating tension and advancing plots layer by layer. Her works have already been translated and circulated to a certain extent among Chinese readers and are suitable for those who enjoy crime suspense and psychological mystery.