I have given this 4 stars, and must ask myself why, rather than 5 such as I gave to The Wire In The Blood and The Last Temptation.This is book 4 of a series that currently stands at 9 books. The first was published in 1995, the 9th just a few weeks ago in 2015. She's not churning them out putting pressure on you to read them in a hurry. I strongly advise you to read them in order - I appreciate that this isn't easy when you're dependent on libraries or charity shops, but really, I urge you to!So, this review is written on the assumption that you have read books 1 -3 of the series, and that you are aware that the series currently goes up to 9; if you haven't read 1-3, this acts slightly as a spoiler.If I tried to explain my 4 rather than 5 rating it would start to look like a criticism of a book I vastly enjoyed. I'm working through several other series and have decided to pause some of them after 3 or 4 books, but not this one - I shall carry on reading as and when they come up on my random selector sheet. They really are outstanding - I would give six stars to the series a whole, so far.I thought that the theme of serially murdering prostitutes to be a bit tending towards cliché. Of course I remember the Yorkshire Ripper and the Suffolk Strangler and numerous one-off cases of murders of sex workers, but in fiction it 's too easy: easy to explain motive, easy access to victims, associates unwilling to talk/co-operate, lack of public interest - compared to the murders of 'innocent' schoolgirls or respected academics.I found the psychology of The Voice less convincing than Val's previous serial killers. It seems that The Voice had dull holidays as a child. If that was sufficient cause, then I would be a super-serial killer - as would many of my friends and acquaintances. The Voice wants to control people...again, not that uncommon, and that desire is often acted out in junior supervisory roles or in higher echelons of professions and commerce. Not as interesting as the psychology of the bargeman in Last Temptation; I read Wire in the Blood full in the knowledge that it was influenced by Jimmy SavileKnowing that there are several subsequent books never made me fear for Tony Hill's safety. This was different form Carol Jordan's ordeal in Berlin, where she survived, but very damaged. And that fed well into this book. Perhaps this is a bridging book. Carol was changed irrevocably in The Last Temptation, and this book proved that which she doubted - she is still a good copper. I have read synopsis and some (non spoiler) reviews for Beneath the Bleeding, and feel that the Jordan/Hill partnership will move forward and upward. I look forward to it.If you've read books 1-3, you've definitely got to read this. If you haven't, please do so before you read this. It moved quite slowly for the first part of the book, and quite a lot of that was resolving issues from Book 3, and slowly setting up a background. I just don't think that would be as pleasing if you were trying to treat this as a standalone. It just isn't a standalone.
McDermid advances the Hill and Jordan series with this wonderfully crafted fourth book. When both Dr. Hill and DCI Jordan take new jobs back in their own stomping grounds, both end up with full plates before the week is out. Dr. Hill has taken a job at the local mental hospital, while DCI Jordan is tasked with creating a 'Major Case' squad to deal with some of the most heinous crimes in the region. Their first task is to tackle a cold case of two missing boys whose disappearance has plagued the force for over a year. Few clues mean little progress, but the team is not ready to give up just yet. When prostitutes begin showing up dead in seedy hotels, precisely as they did two years before, confusion and panic heightens, leading the team to their first fresh case. The prostitute killer, with irrefutable evidence, was convicted and is currently in prison, locked away in the aforementioned mental hospital. With Dr. Hill's assistance, Jordan must try to determine if this is a copycat or if the authorities got it wrong the first go round. When an undercover operation goes awry, Jordan must fight back the flashbacks of her own detainment in Berlin to get to the bottom of the case before another body turns up... perhaps the most important one yet. A pornographic photo of one of the missing boys injects new life into the missing boys' case and Jordan uses all she can to extract even a sliver of hope. Teaming up with the oddest of experts, Jordan tries to bring closure in a case whose end result is already all but certain. A page-turner filled with great development and interesting characters that draw the reader in from the preface onwards.Thrilling from beginning to end, McDedrmid uses her formulaic style to enthral the reader. Best read by series regulars (as it furthers some of the already-known issues from earlier books), the story allows the characters to grow in ways that I enjoy. Shining light on the ever-present Hill/Jordan amorous undertone, McDermid treats readers to some wonderful advancement in that regard, in a roundabout way. In her signature style, the story uses snippets of the killer's first person narrative. It is a well constructed book, divided into four clear parts. However, the use of four MASSIVE chapters loses the flow that past books have included and make digesting the overall novel a little harder, in my view. While I somewhat understand the premise, it makes each chapter become a massive journey of reading. Still, a jam-packed piece of work with much to entice, even with its gory parts.Kudos Madam McDermid for entertaining us with so many wonderful sub-plots, all of which come together nicely.
What do You think about The Torment Of Others (2005)?
Tödliche Worte ist der vierte Band in Val McDermids Reihe um Profiler Tony Hill und Kommisarin Carol Jordan. Nach einer schwierigen Zeit in Berlin kehren beide in ihren Heimatort zurück und geraten dort sofort in einer Mordserie an Prostituierten. Diese erinnern an identische Fälle, die einige Jahre zurückliegen, doch der damalige Täter sitzt hinter Gittern in einer psychiatrischen Anstalt. Als eine Undercover-Agentin vor ihren Augen von dem aktuellen Täter entführt wird, wächst der Druck auf die Ermittler. Es wird immer deutlicher, dass die Täter von einer weiteren Person gesteuert werden...Ich kannte die Protagonsiten noch nicht und bin mitten in der Reihe eingestiegen. Dennoch gefallen mir Hill und Jordan als Team gut, sie sind nicht zu glatt und haben ihre Probleme, miteinander und im Job, sind aber dennoch brilliant in ihrem Tun. Der Fall selbst wirkt allerdings zu konstuiert und die Auflösung ein wenig abwegig, was der Spannung allerdings keinen Abbruch tat. Ein guter Thriller.
—Inga
Am so happy to have discovered Val McDermid! Her clean, uncluttered writing style makes all the characters and action jump off the page at you and keeps you deeply ensconsed in the action. Her plotting is masterful. The ever changing group dynamic is terrific in shifting your alliances and raising the stakes. No one is safe here. And even when the killer is revealed 40 pages before the end, the story doesn't stop until the last paragaph. Great detective fiction, whodunnit, suspense, cop drama entertainment! Can't wait to read her other books. I need to buy the person who turned me on to her and Denise Mina a big box of dark chocolate!
—Mark
DCI Carol Jordan, who I gather was raped in the previous volume of this series (this is the first volume of it I've read), is coaxed back into service to head a new Major Incident Team in Bradfield, a fictional city somewhere in northern England. There she finds that her old friend (and unconsummated lover), criminal psychologist Tony Hill, has likewise recently moved back into the area. Together they solve the cold(ish) case of a double pedophile murder and, more pressingly, that of a particularly sadistic serial killer of prostitutes; this killer has an m.o. not just similar to but identical to that of a serial killer who was put away a couple of years ago and about whose guilt there can be no question. Against Carol's wishes, one of her team, Paula McIntyre, is put on the streets as a decoy hooker; of course, Paula's almost immediately seized by the killer, so there's a race against time . . .I've read several of McDermid's non-series novels and in general liked them a great deal. This serial killer chiller/police procedural I found less impressive. It certainly had me turning the pages at great speed for the most part (there was a period in the middle where the narrative seemed to sag), so in that sense it did its job. But when I got to the end of the book I put it aside with a sort of "so what?" shrug. Matters weren't helped by the fact that I worked out the whodunnit and howdunnit pretty early on. Even misfiring McDermid is better than many of her competitors, but I expect quite a lot when I start one of her novels and in this instance I came away disappointed.
—John
