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The Wire in the Blood: Book 2
Val McDermid’s Number One bestselling crime series, featuring psychological profiler Dr Tony Hill and Jacko Vance – protagonist of new novel THE RETRIBUTION – in the suspenseful and ferociously readable thriller that led to the much-loved TV show. Young girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind. Dr Tony Hill, head of the new National Profiling Task Force, sets his team an they are given the details of missing teenagers and asked to discover any possible links between the cases. Only one officer comes up with a theory – a theory that is ridiculed by the group … until one of their number is murdered and mutilated. For Tony Hill, the murder becomes a matter for personal revenge and, joined by colleague Carol Jordan, he embarks on a campaign of psychological terrorism – a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed.
- GenresFiction
544 pages, Paperback
Published June 24, 2021
3 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Val McDermid
342 books5,318 followersVal McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.
She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.
She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.
She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.
She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 17, 2022
I haven't seen the TV series so I came to 'The Wire in the Blood' with no preconceptions, other than knowing that I like Val McDermid as an author. From the opening pages I was hooked and I knew this was a book I would enjoy. It was an excellent book for a recent train journey to Edinburgh and back. I was so engrossed I forgot to look for the Angel of the North, one of the landmarks of the journey on the East Coast Line!
Dr Tony Hill is head of a newly formed National Profiling Task Force. As a training exercise he gives his recruits a selection of missing persons cases to review. All are teenage girls but there seems to be no connection between them. One of the team, Shaz, marked out by Tony as the most promising of the police officers, comes up with a theory the group thinks is preposterous - but then one of the team is murdered and the hunt for the killer is on ....
Meanwhile Carol Jordan, who has worked on a previous case with Tony, is promoted to another police force where she starts to investigate a serial arsonist. She and Tony join forces to track down the serial killer that Shaz had unmasked.
These two investigations run concurrently throughout the book. However there is a third strand to the story which is told by the killer himself. It becomes apparent from the start that Shaz was right. The reader therefore knows who the killer is. Jacko Vance is a former Olympic athlete who lost an arm in an accident and is now a TV personality and charitable fundraiser. On the surface he oozes charm and has become a National Treasure, spending hours with the terminally ill and volunteering at a hospital. Underneath the veneer is a warped and sick killer.
This was a great story! The race is on to catch Jacko Vance and to try to save Donna, his latest victim, who could still be alive. This made it a real page turner - but it wasn't only the story, it was the characters that made this book so memorable. Tony and Carol are complex characters both scarred by their experiences on a previous case and their relationship is difficult because they have become involved personally. Shaz with her determination and ambition certainly had me rooting for her. And Jacko Vance was very disturbing - I was reminded of Jimmy Saville.
One of the main themes of the book was the interaction of members of a team. Tony's team bond quickly and Leon, Simon and Kay work well with Tony and Carol in trying to catch Jacko out. In contrast the team that Carol is in charge of do not work as a cohesive unit, which leads to one of them being killed because a team mate decides to go to the pub instead of continuing the surveillance work he should be doing. When confronted by Carol about this he mutters 'well, she wasn't one of the lads'. A horrible example of sexism in the police force.
Interestingly though, the death of the police officer Di, for which Carol feels responsible because she heads the team, changes her relationship with Tony. He too feels responsibility for a death and their shared experience brings them back together - but as friends. At the end of the book Tony thinks of redemption, not through work but through friendship.
If Tony and Carol's relationship shows us the best of humanity, Jacko's warped mind shows us the worst. At the end of the book as he lies in police custody, his clever mind is already thinking of how he can use his influence and public persona to escape the charges he faces. Part of the case against him rests on evidence of using the same vice on two of the murdered women. He remembers that the twin brother of a terminally ill patient he'd comforted had a market stall and could be persuaded to provide proof that it wasn't the same vice. It was an unsettling ending as the reader was left not knowing if justice would be done.
An excellent book all round which has left me wanting to read more by this author!
Dr Tony Hill is head of a newly formed National Profiling Task Force. As a training exercise he gives his recruits a selection of missing persons cases to review. All are teenage girls but there seems to be no connection between them. One of the team, Shaz, marked out by Tony as the most promising of the police officers, comes up with a theory the group thinks is preposterous - but then one of the team is murdered and the hunt for the killer is on ....
Meanwhile Carol Jordan, who has worked on a previous case with Tony, is promoted to another police force where she starts to investigate a serial arsonist. She and Tony join forces to track down the serial killer that Shaz had unmasked.
These two investigations run concurrently throughout the book. However there is a third strand to the story which is told by the killer himself. It becomes apparent from the start that Shaz was right. The reader therefore knows who the killer is. Jacko Vance is a former Olympic athlete who lost an arm in an accident and is now a TV personality and charitable fundraiser. On the surface he oozes charm and has become a National Treasure, spending hours with the terminally ill and volunteering at a hospital. Underneath the veneer is a warped and sick killer.
This was a great story! The race is on to catch Jacko Vance and to try to save Donna, his latest victim, who could still be alive. This made it a real page turner - but it wasn't only the story, it was the characters that made this book so memorable. Tony and Carol are complex characters both scarred by their experiences on a previous case and their relationship is difficult because they have become involved personally. Shaz with her determination and ambition certainly had me rooting for her. And Jacko Vance was very disturbing - I was reminded of Jimmy Saville.
One of the main themes of the book was the interaction of members of a team. Tony's team bond quickly and Leon, Simon and Kay work well with Tony and Carol in trying to catch Jacko out. In contrast the team that Carol is in charge of do not work as a cohesive unit, which leads to one of them being killed because a team mate decides to go to the pub instead of continuing the surveillance work he should be doing. When confronted by Carol about this he mutters 'well, she wasn't one of the lads'. A horrible example of sexism in the police force.
Interestingly though, the death of the police officer Di, for which Carol feels responsible because she heads the team, changes her relationship with Tony. He too feels responsibility for a death and their shared experience brings them back together - but as friends. At the end of the book Tony thinks of redemption, not through work but through friendship.
If Tony and Carol's relationship shows us the best of humanity, Jacko's warped mind shows us the worst. At the end of the book as he lies in police custody, his clever mind is already thinking of how he can use his influence and public persona to escape the charges he faces. Part of the case against him rests on evidence of using the same vice on two of the murdered women. He remembers that the twin brother of a terminally ill patient he'd comforted had a market stall and could be persuaded to provide proof that it wasn't the same vice. It was an unsettling ending as the reader was left not knowing if justice would be done.
An excellent book all round which has left me wanting to read more by this author!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2025
I begin by being really upset that there are so many bad people in the world and that so much horrible stuff can happen. I admit I had to read the end to be able to read the whole in a dispassionate way. In today's world I'm not sure I need to have this book added to my knowledge, however...
This is my first Val McDermid so I can't comment much on the method of the story. Having recently read an Ann Cleeve and a Colin Dexter I do think that I like the sort of "Columbo" style in that we know "who dunnit" and go into their heads. I think that this is more involving and makes us have more sympathy for the detectives. I was sorry that such a strong character was killed early on by being foolish, and find it hard to believe someone would be that foolish; but it served the plot.(not a spoiler as it was pretty obvious from very early on)
I do think it would have been dated even in 1997 as I don't think I'd have been worried then if my TV presenter was a lesbian, not enough to believe she would seek a sham marriage to hide it. (also established very ealy on so no spoiler)It also seemed quite easy to find the "dirt" when the detectives went looking. Wouldn't a journalist find it as easy?
I think I am supposed to fall in love with Tony Hill, but I just want to shake him out of his world.
This is my first Val McDermid so I can't comment much on the method of the story. Having recently read an Ann Cleeve and a Colin Dexter I do think that I like the sort of "Columbo" style in that we know "who dunnit" and go into their heads. I think that this is more involving and makes us have more sympathy for the detectives. I was sorry that such a strong character was killed early on by being foolish, and find it hard to believe someone would be that foolish; but it served the plot.(not a spoiler as it was pretty obvious from very early on)
I do think it would have been dated even in 1997 as I don't think I'd have been worried then if my TV presenter was a lesbian, not enough to believe she would seek a sham marriage to hide it. (also established very ealy on so no spoiler)It also seemed quite easy to find the "dirt" when the detectives went looking. Wouldn't a journalist find it as easy?
I think I am supposed to fall in love with Tony Hill, but I just want to shake him out of his world.
April 24, 2025
Brilliant story. Well written. loved the plot. Thought it was a bit iffy when the killer was announced early on with about 300 pages to go. But it was all tied up neatly and well explained at the end ❤️
February 14, 2025
Loved the way this was written, kept me gripped all the way through!
September 16, 2022
The most gruesome book I have ever read but unputdownable
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews