What do you think?
Rate this book
Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #6
Fever Of The Bone
Scottish writer Val McDermid is one of the most respected authors at the scene of the crime, and Fever of the Bone offers a bravura display of her exceptional storytelling talents. Criminal profiler Tony Hill and his ally Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan are back in this terrifying psychological thriller, tracking down a brutal killer who’s targeting a group of young people through a social networking site.
501 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
554 people are currently reading
3671 people want to read
About the author
Val McDermid
317 books5,441 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 558 reviews
March 11, 2019
Tony Hill has always believed he has the capacity to be as evil as those he profiles. He learns more about his past in this book, and that gives him more to self-analyze and possibly reassess himself. Through six books now, the author has developed this wonderful character. I really like him.
Carol Jordan, on the other hand, perplexes me. She's a determined cop and leads her team well. She’s a staunch supporter of Tony's relationship with the police. Personally, she has problems. She's borderline alcoholic, and Tony has urged her to reduce her consumption. Other than Tony, she has no personal life. Sometimes I see a meanness in her. The author has not really described much of Carol's background up to this point, and maybe that’s what I need.
The investigations are interesting, tightly plotted, and have some surprising revelations. Sam Evans is working a cold case on his own. Carol and the rest of her team are looking into one, then two, then three missing 14 year olds whose bodies are quickly found. Tony is hired by a different CID on a different case, but you just know it’s going to be related.
Val McDermid has nicely laid out this series so far. Every book reveals something new, and I’m looking forward to the next. I think there are some changes coming for Tony, Carol, and the team.
Carol Jordan, on the other hand, perplexes me. She's a determined cop and leads her team well. She’s a staunch supporter of Tony's relationship with the police. Personally, she has problems. She's borderline alcoholic, and Tony has urged her to reduce her consumption. Other than Tony, she has no personal life. Sometimes I see a meanness in her. The author has not really described much of Carol's background up to this point, and maybe that’s what I need.
The investigations are interesting, tightly plotted, and have some surprising revelations. Sam Evans is working a cold case on his own. Carol and the rest of her team are looking into one, then two, then three missing 14 year olds whose bodies are quickly found. Tony is hired by a different CID on a different case, but you just know it’s going to be related.
Val McDermid has nicely laid out this series so far. Every book reveals something new, and I’m looking forward to the next. I think there are some changes coming for Tony, Carol, and the team.
August 22, 2021
Book 6 in the Hill & Jordan series published 2009
An entertaining 4 star read.
An other great edition to the Hill/Jordan series.
There’s no getting away from it Hill and Jordan make a great crime solving partnership. Especially given the baggage they both carry.
Over the course of five books we have become aware of the problems they both have and with each book we learn a little bit more of what makes them tick.
With book six Tony Hill is about to find out the truth concerning his father. Truths that will change all of Tony’s perceptions.
And while all this is being reveled young people are dying.
To make matters worse there has been a change of leadership at Bradford Constabulary and it’s not a change that Carol finds easy to deal with. For one thing Tony now finds himself surplice to requirements at the cop shop.
But for all that the new boss expects Carol and her team to solve the child murders asap. But without Tony’s input things are not going well and the pressure is becoming palpable.
Once again readers have to expect some fairly confronting crime scenes. Val McDermid has never been one to gloss over the horrific.
The book can be read as a stand alone but is so much better if read in numerical order.
An entertaining 4 star read.
An other great edition to the Hill/Jordan series.
There’s no getting away from it Hill and Jordan make a great crime solving partnership. Especially given the baggage they both carry.
Over the course of five books we have become aware of the problems they both have and with each book we learn a little bit more of what makes them tick.
With book six Tony Hill is about to find out the truth concerning his father. Truths that will change all of Tony’s perceptions.
And while all this is being reveled young people are dying.
To make matters worse there has been a change of leadership at Bradford Constabulary and it’s not a change that Carol finds easy to deal with. For one thing Tony now finds himself surplice to requirements at the cop shop.
But for all that the new boss expects Carol and her team to solve the child murders asap. But without Tony’s input things are not going well and the pressure is becoming palpable.
Once again readers have to expect some fairly confronting crime scenes. Val McDermid has never been one to gloss over the horrific.
The book can be read as a stand alone but is so much better if read in numerical order.
August 3, 2020
Another excellent thriller featuring Tony Hill & Carol Jordan solving crimes and catching serial killers in the north of England
Fever of the bone is the sixth entry in Val McDermid’s police procedural/murder mystery series starring DCI Carol Jordan and psychologist profiler Tony Hill.
I love the way McDermid can quickly place the reader into a scene to sympathize with a character, even if we know that person will probably become the next victim of a sordid serial killer. The relationship between Jordan and Hill is as complicated as ever. This time the crime is not as gruesome as McDermid’s typically horrific fare but the hint for the killer is as gripping as ever. Teenagers are being stalked online and then abducted, drugged, suffocated and sexually mutilated. McDermid lets us experience the thoughts and hopes of the kids before they meet the killer.
As with most series that have recurring characters, part of the enjoyment of the book is not only reading how (or whether) they will catch the culprit, but learning more about these characters and seeing what new developments happen to them and how they react to them.
In the case of Carol Jordan, she has a new boss who is skeptical that her specialized team is worth the extra money it takes to work with a specialized profiler like Dr. Tony Hill. And he’s not sure the difficult (often cold) cases they solve are worth the effort it takes. For Tony, he’s still coming to terms with the fact that he has received a huge inheritance from a father he thought had abandoned him to the abuse and deprivations of his psychopathic mother. There’s also some interesting developments with the important secondary characters in the series. In this book, some clarity is provided about the romantic tension between Carol and Tony, which is refreshing (and somewhat surprising, considering it has previously been a feature of the narrative heft of the books).
Overall, Fever of the Bone is a median entry in this excellent series. This time I was able to guess some of the connections between the crimes but I didn’t figure out the eventual perpetrator before Tony, but there were enough clues to do so.
Can’t wait to see what happens next in these books, especially since in The Retribution the series’ most notorious villain will play a prominent role!
Fever of the bone is the sixth entry in Val McDermid’s police procedural/murder mystery series starring DCI Carol Jordan and psychologist profiler Tony Hill.
I love the way McDermid can quickly place the reader into a scene to sympathize with a character, even if we know that person will probably become the next victim of a sordid serial killer. The relationship between Jordan and Hill is as complicated as ever. This time the crime is not as gruesome as McDermid’s typically horrific fare but the hint for the killer is as gripping as ever. Teenagers are being stalked online and then abducted, drugged, suffocated and sexually mutilated. McDermid lets us experience the thoughts and hopes of the kids before they meet the killer.
As with most series that have recurring characters, part of the enjoyment of the book is not only reading how (or whether) they will catch the culprit, but learning more about these characters and seeing what new developments happen to them and how they react to them.
In the case of Carol Jordan, she has a new boss who is skeptical that her specialized team is worth the extra money it takes to work with a specialized profiler like Dr. Tony Hill. And he’s not sure the difficult (often cold) cases they solve are worth the effort it takes. For Tony, he’s still coming to terms with the fact that he has received a huge inheritance from a father he thought had abandoned him to the abuse and deprivations of his psychopathic mother. There’s also some interesting developments with the important secondary characters in the series. In this book, some clarity is provided about the romantic tension between Carol and Tony, which is refreshing (and somewhat surprising, considering it has previously been a feature of the narrative heft of the books).
Overall, Fever of the Bone is a median entry in this excellent series. This time I was able to guess some of the connections between the crimes but I didn’t figure out the eventual perpetrator before Tony, but there were enough clues to do so.
Can’t wait to see what happens next in these books, especially since in The Retribution the series’ most notorious villain will play a prominent role!
May 30, 2020
Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, book No. 6: is, as ever, a gripping addictive read as the previous volumes. Carol's team has to hunt a serial killer who grooms his child victims on a social network site; they also have a cold case, and on top of all this the new chief deems profiler Tony Hill too expensive and a conflict of interests for Carol! 7 out of 12.
March 26, 2022
This was my 2nd book by in the Hill and Jordan series (the first was Retribution) and will be my last. I don't have any patience to read about the protagonists' personal story and psychoanalysis, in an otherwise interesting murder mystery. The plot was suspenseful, but the writing was dull. I got bored by the personal interaction between Jordan and Hill.
Carol Jordan was a highly incompetent cop who doesn't seem to have anything better to do than digging into Tony Hill's father's history, when she had to solve a case of teenagers getting murdered. She is the most annoying and useless character. She didn't have a single contribution to the murder investigation that she was leading and couldn't even figure that they were connected. She drinks on the job too! There was another parallel investigation of a cold case, where Sam did all the work and all she did was rolling her eyes and getting bored while interviewing the suspects.
I found one interesting reference to the mapping technology. This book was published in 2009, a year before Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan. There is a hypothesis that they had located Laden using satellite photography. Was that a lucky guess or did she have inside information?
Carol Jordan was a highly incompetent cop who doesn't seem to have anything better to do than digging into Tony Hill's father's history, when she had to solve a case of teenagers getting murdered. She is the most annoying and useless character. She didn't have a single contribution to the murder investigation that she was leading and couldn't even figure that they were connected. She drinks on the job too! There was another parallel investigation of a cold case, where Sam did all the work and all she did was rolling her eyes and getting bored while interviewing the suspects.
I found one interesting reference to the mapping technology. This book was published in 2009, a year before Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan. There is a hypothesis that they had located Laden using satellite photography. Was that a lucky guess or did she have inside information?
November 19, 2022
Fever of the Bone (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #6) by Val McDermid. hardcover
This was the 6th Hill & Jordan book in this series although you can read any of them as a stand alone novel. They are just that well written. The author takes me at a fast pace into the lives of Tony & Carol both at work solving a case and their personal relationship. The interactions never leave time to dream. The action packed pages bring me back to a place I want to be and with people I want to know more about.
A teenager has gone missing and is found with plastic wrapping around her head and tightly taped at the base causing death. Then there is discovered the genitalia mutilation. This Jennifer Maidment case brings the Dept. into full swing. It was found that Jennifer was involved with an internet site popular with teens known as RigMarole. She had been conversing with another person there that went by zz.
While the members of Carol's team was doing their individual thing another missing teen is reported. This hasn't added up to be the work of a serial killer. The clues aren't there yet. They needed more to go on but do they have the time to wait?
While all this is occupying Carol's time...Tony is finding out more about his Dad. Facts that may throw his concept of abandonment by his Father out and replacing it with the truth.
Fabulous read and not to be missed mystery and psychological thriller.
This was the 6th Hill & Jordan book in this series although you can read any of them as a stand alone novel. They are just that well written. The author takes me at a fast pace into the lives of Tony & Carol both at work solving a case and their personal relationship. The interactions never leave time to dream. The action packed pages bring me back to a place I want to be and with people I want to know more about.
A teenager has gone missing and is found with plastic wrapping around her head and tightly taped at the base causing death. Then there is discovered the genitalia mutilation. This Jennifer Maidment case brings the Dept. into full swing. It was found that Jennifer was involved with an internet site popular with teens known as RigMarole. She had been conversing with another person there that went by zz.
While the members of Carol's team was doing their individual thing another missing teen is reported. This hasn't added up to be the work of a serial killer. The clues aren't there yet. They needed more to go on but do they have the time to wait?
While all this is occupying Carol's time...Tony is finding out more about his Dad. Facts that may throw his concept of abandonment by his Father out and replacing it with the truth.
Fabulous read and not to be missed mystery and psychological thriller.
December 28, 2009
I’m a fan of McDermid’s Tony Hill / Carol Jordan books (and the tv series, Wire in the Blood); she’s a smart writer who keeps her stories compelling and excellently-paced. One of the classiest psychological thriller writers I’ve encountered.
That said, for a McDermind book, Fever of the Bone starts a little staidly and never seems to achieve anything remarkable (beyond the author’s very entertaining base-line which I’m more than willing to read her books for) – there’s more departmental problems for Carol, more insecurity for Tony; the established set of personal pitfalls reasserting their bond with each other (and the reader’s with them)… and their capacity to misunderstand one another and still come back to mutual respect with a spark of something else is undiminished. Their relationship is the most intriguing of all the detective fiction I’ve read, and I was glad of the slight movement in a direction at the end of this book.
There’s nothing that’s not readable in ‘Fever of the Bone’, but there’s little that’s startlingly original, either (as opposed to the last two books which were stonking good yarns). The back-story on Tony’s father was far more interesting than the murder investigation, which felt like one or two of the earlier books revisited - someone is stalking teenagers via the internet and killing them in psychologically curious ways and, despite his track record, Tony is once again left too far on the outside of the investigation to prevent several deaths.
I enjoyed it, a lot, but I feel like I enjoyed it for the comfort of rejoining well-loved characters, rather than for the thrill of mystery. The mystery was merely satisfying... and given that this mild complaint is the only one I can summon up, it can't have been a half-bad book, eh?
That said, for a McDermind book, Fever of the Bone starts a little staidly and never seems to achieve anything remarkable (beyond the author’s very entertaining base-line which I’m more than willing to read her books for) – there’s more departmental problems for Carol, more insecurity for Tony; the established set of personal pitfalls reasserting their bond with each other (and the reader’s with them)… and their capacity to misunderstand one another and still come back to mutual respect with a spark of something else is undiminished. Their relationship is the most intriguing of all the detective fiction I’ve read, and I was glad of the slight movement in a direction at the end of this book.
There’s nothing that’s not readable in ‘Fever of the Bone’, but there’s little that’s startlingly original, either (as opposed to the last two books which were stonking good yarns). The back-story on Tony’s father was far more interesting than the murder investigation, which felt like one or two of the earlier books revisited - someone is stalking teenagers via the internet and killing them in psychologically curious ways and, despite his track record, Tony is once again left too far on the outside of the investigation to prevent several deaths.
I enjoyed it, a lot, but I feel like I enjoyed it for the comfort of rejoining well-loved characters, rather than for the thrill of mystery. The mystery was merely satisfying... and given that this mild complaint is the only one I can summon up, it can't have been a half-bad book, eh?
April 8, 2018
3.5 stars
Good enough for a lazy afternoon, with a modern plot and enough verve to get me to the end. If you're looking for something new, this is not it, but it's an easy read with a satisfying conclusion.
My one bugbear has got to be the way authors use text speak. Do real people really use text speak? Seriously? Does anyone, now or ever, write C U l8r?? Or other, equally horrendous things that take longer to write out than the actual word??? Especially professional adults. Do teens even do it? My 10 year old nephew doesn't even write like that. Maybe i'm sheltered in my well crafted, correctly spelled message bubble, but it gets on my last nerve when I read supposed conversations written like this in books. Ok, i'm done. Rant over.
Good enough for a lazy afternoon, with a modern plot and enough verve to get me to the end. If you're looking for something new, this is not it, but it's an easy read with a satisfying conclusion.
My one bugbear has got to be the way authors use text speak. Do real people really use text speak? Seriously? Does anyone, now or ever, write C U l8r?? Or other, equally horrendous things that take longer to write out than the actual word??? Especially professional adults. Do teens even do it? My 10 year old nephew doesn't even write like that. Maybe i'm sheltered in my well crafted, correctly spelled message bubble, but it gets on my last nerve when I read supposed conversations written like this in books. Ok, i'm done. Rant over.
February 26, 2010
There are common elements to Val McDermid's Tony Hill books: a series of murders (of course) committed by an unknown assailant, some kind of doubt about Tony's usefulness as a profiler, and the ever present will-they-won't-they tension between Tony and Carol Jordan.
Yet, despite all this, every time I read the newest installment of this series I find myself more drawn into the story than ever before.
As always, the whydunnit is a bigger question than the whodunnit, and the great thing is that once you're given the answer, you don't feel cheated, because all the pieces are there (and I admit, I did manage to figure out the motive before it was spelled out, which I'm proud of!).
The subplot of Tony finding out more about his father was extremely well done, and the ending poses some interesting possibilities for McDermid to address in the seventh book.
The only weak point I found was the team dealing with the cold case on the side; I feel like the book could easily have worked without it. Other than that, a strong effort as always.
(oh, and a word of friendly advice: never begin a McDermid book before bed. If you're anything like me, you won't be able to sleep until you know what happens next.)
Yet, despite all this, every time I read the newest installment of this series I find myself more drawn into the story than ever before.
As always, the whydunnit is a bigger question than the whodunnit, and the great thing is that once you're given the answer, you don't feel cheated, because all the pieces are there (and I admit, I did manage to figure out the motive before it was spelled out, which I'm proud of!).
The subplot of Tony finding out more about his father was extremely well done, and the ending poses some interesting possibilities for McDermid to address in the seventh book.
The only weak point I found was the team dealing with the cold case on the side; I feel like the book could easily have worked without it. Other than that, a strong effort as always.
(oh, and a word of friendly advice: never begin a McDermid book before bed. If you're anything like me, you won't be able to sleep until you know what happens next.)
December 14, 2022
FEVER IN THE BONE, the sixth entry in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series, is one book that I knew I would remember even if I postponed my written review for a few months.
Tony Hill was somewhat of an enigma during the first four books in the series—a forensic psychologist who was as mentally maladjusted in some ways as the killers he profiled. There were hints, although never discussions, suggesting that Tony’s mental distraught arose from childhood trauma. These hints were finally given a solid foundation when Tony’s mother, Vanessa Hill, was introduced in book five. But she played a background role in that novel. In FEVER IN THE BONE, both Vanessa and Tony’s biological father, Edmund Arthur Blythe, are described in detail, and this goes a long way towards explaining the origin of Tony’s psychological issues.
Of course, as in all of the Hill/Jordan novels, there is also a serial killer. This one is killing teenagers and mutilating their genitalia. Early in the story, Carol Jordan’s team discovers that these victims are being targeted through an online social network. Much later, we see a thin tie between the killer’s motives and Tony’s story. There is a slight link between the two segments of the narrative—Tony’s background and the serial killings—that isn’t obvious until Carol and her team begin to close in on the rationale behind the murders and, finally, the actual killer is revealed.
I bought a seven-book bundle and now have read the first six. They were all good novels, some a bit better than others, but all satisfying, even though they were written several years ago. Next year I will continue on through the Hill/Jordan sequence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reviews for other books in this series:
The Mermaids Singing (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #1)
The Wire in the Blood (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #2)
The Last Temptation (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #3)
The Torment of Others (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #4)
Beneath the Bleeding (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #5)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony Hill was somewhat of an enigma during the first four books in the series—a forensic psychologist who was as mentally maladjusted in some ways as the killers he profiled. There were hints, although never discussions, suggesting that Tony’s mental distraught arose from childhood trauma. These hints were finally given a solid foundation when Tony’s mother, Vanessa Hill, was introduced in book five. But she played a background role in that novel. In FEVER IN THE BONE, both Vanessa and Tony’s biological father, Edmund Arthur Blythe, are described in detail, and this goes a long way towards explaining the origin of Tony’s psychological issues.
Of course, as in all of the Hill/Jordan novels, there is also a serial killer. This one is killing teenagers and mutilating their genitalia. Early in the story, Carol Jordan’s team discovers that these victims are being targeted through an online social network. Much later, we see a thin tie between the killer’s motives and Tony’s story. There is a slight link between the two segments of the narrative—Tony’s background and the serial killings—that isn’t obvious until Carol and her team begin to close in on the rationale behind the murders and, finally, the actual killer is revealed.
I bought a seven-book bundle and now have read the first six. They were all good novels, some a bit better than others, but all satisfying, even though they were written several years ago. Next year I will continue on through the Hill/Jordan sequence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reviews for other books in this series:
The Mermaids Singing (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #1)
The Wire in the Blood (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #2)
The Last Temptation (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #3)
The Torment of Others (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #4)
Beneath the Bleeding (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #5)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 31, 2019
Serial Killers and mutilated bodies, yeah, I'm in. So I jumped in without realizing it's a part of the series. No harm done though. I enjoyed it.
Interesting writing, quite a good plot and well structured. Bit of hiccups here and there but it's a pretty original idea. Not a tiring book. Enjoyable and relaxing despite of the subject matter.
Interesting writing, quite a good plot and well structured. Bit of hiccups here and there but it's a pretty original idea. Not a tiring book. Enjoyable and relaxing despite of the subject matter.
May 19, 2014
Shaping her sixth novel, McDermid seeks to take the reader into the depths of social media and the role it plays in the lives of youths around the world. When adolescents with no apparent connection begin disappearing, DCI Jordan is ready to bring the MIT into the case with all her resources. However, with a new commanding officer bent on cutting corners, the MIT will no longer require the services of Dr. Hill and his pricey profiling. When all the adolescents are found to have been using the same social media site and made plans to meet a fellow user offline, Jordan is forced to use a sub-par recent graduate, whose ineptitude is matched only by his inability to connect to the team, to make any sense of things. With nothing keeping him in Bradfield, Dr. Hill agrees to consult on a murder case in another jurisdiction, curiously in the same area his recently-deceased father lived. While probing into his father's past in hopes of piecing together why he was abandoned, Hill gets ensconced in some trouble of his own, but has few leads. After discovering the deceptive side of Hill's mother while the fine doctor was still in the hospital, Jordan does some probing of her own. Peeling back the proverbial onion to discover more about the Hill mystery, going so far as to confront Hill's eccentric mother. Hill and Jordan see their cases progressing and, in a twist of fate, melding together in such a way that their working together cannot be denied. Will the Hill-Jordan reunification lead to a solution, or is this killer a little too cunning, with a power over adolescents that no one can sever and a 'secret' that propels the meetings into happening? Add to the mix a cold case surrounding a slain woman and her baby and the MIT has little time to rest will multiple killers on the loose. Fabulous reading that forces the series regular to step back and examine the entire Hill-Jordan relationship from a new perspective.
McDermid outdoes herself (again!) and keeps the reader begging for a few more crumbs. With her great banter amongst the MIT (thankfully the third novel working with this collection of experts) and many personal story lines advanced amidst the greater plot, the story moves forward at a rapid pace. Great victimology that leaves the reader wondering the rationale behind those chosen and why they were mutilated keeps everyone on their toes and makes the book a little more interesting than a mere knifing or shooting. I dare any series regular to put this book down for any length of time... can't do it, can you?
Kudos, Madam McDermid. I am addicted and want more. Thankfully you have a few more novels to offer up. Keep 'em coming!
McDermid outdoes herself (again!) and keeps the reader begging for a few more crumbs. With her great banter amongst the MIT (thankfully the third novel working with this collection of experts) and many personal story lines advanced amidst the greater plot, the story moves forward at a rapid pace. Great victimology that leaves the reader wondering the rationale behind those chosen and why they were mutilated keeps everyone on their toes and makes the book a little more interesting than a mere knifing or shooting. I dare any series regular to put this book down for any length of time... can't do it, can you?
Kudos, Madam McDermid. I am addicted and want more. Thankfully you have a few more novels to offer up. Keep 'em coming!
March 27, 2025
Could not put the book down. This is an excellent psychological thriller with Tony Hill and Carol Jordan investigating teenagers being brutally murdered and mutilated. Tony is also coming to terms with finding out about his father and how evil his mother Vanessa is.
The murder investigation also faces the challenge that the new Chief of Police wants to disband Carol’s team and use police profilers rather than Tony. The story deals with the internet and teenagers being trapped by predators and killed.
I really could not put the book down. 500 pages flew by and the twist at the end was a good one.
The murder investigation also faces the challenge that the new Chief of Police wants to disband Carol’s team and use police profilers rather than Tony. The story deals with the internet and teenagers being trapped by predators and killed.
I really could not put the book down. 500 pages flew by and the twist at the end was a good one.
May 14, 2022
Val McDermid has written some cracking serial killer thrillers (The Mermaids Singing, Killing The Shadows), and the other books in this series have been good. But this sixth installment is sadly just another bog standard, plodding police procedural, and it bored me rigid.
Carol Jordan's squad has a new boss, and he doesn't want them spending money on profiler Tony Hill, so they're forced to go it alone when a couple of teenage boys turn up dead with their genitals removed. As for Tony, he's consulting on a case in which a teenage girl has had her genitals mutilated.
It takes more than 300 pages for the detectives to even connect these crimes.
Most of this book is actually concerned with Tony Hill reconnecting with the father he never knew, who has died and left Tony with some considerable wealth. Carol Jordan spends a great deal of time investigating and uncovering the life of Tony's father to help him out. Time that she could have spent on her murder inquiry, you know? No wonder it takes so long for them to connect all the deaths.
Events are padded out with a completely pointless, unrelated subplot involving a cold case of a woman and her missing child. Why was this even here?
My other pet hate was that tropetastic police procedural norm of learning all about the life and thoughts of a character, who exists merely to discover a dead body, who is then never heard from again! Padding out the word count or what? It's so pointless!
McDermid is better than her peers in regards to showing rather than telling when it comes to her characters and what they're good at. The book is well-written. Tony and Carol have a complex, strange, yet oddly believable relationship.
But that's all for naught when there's so little on offer. The plot moves at a snail's pace, one subplot is completely pointless, and the other seems to be of as much focus as the actual serial killings themselves. There are no real suspects in the crimes, and zero red herrings, so there's no fun in trying to pick out the killer yourself or trying to tie it all together yourself. The characters just blather around for 400 pages until someone uncovers a vital clue. I had absolutely zero stakes in anything that happened here.
Feverishly dull.
Carol Jordan's squad has a new boss, and he doesn't want them spending money on profiler Tony Hill, so they're forced to go it alone when a couple of teenage boys turn up dead with their genitals removed. As for Tony, he's consulting on a case in which a teenage girl has had her genitals mutilated.
It takes more than 300 pages for the detectives to even connect these crimes.
Most of this book is actually concerned with Tony Hill reconnecting with the father he never knew, who has died and left Tony with some considerable wealth. Carol Jordan spends a great deal of time investigating and uncovering the life of Tony's father to help him out. Time that she could have spent on her murder inquiry, you know? No wonder it takes so long for them to connect all the deaths.
Events are padded out with a completely pointless, unrelated subplot involving a cold case of a woman and her missing child. Why was this even here?
My other pet hate was that tropetastic police procedural norm of learning all about the life and thoughts of a character, who exists merely to discover a dead body, who is then never heard from again! Padding out the word count or what? It's so pointless!
McDermid is better than her peers in regards to showing rather than telling when it comes to her characters and what they're good at. The book is well-written. Tony and Carol have a complex, strange, yet oddly believable relationship.
But that's all for naught when there's so little on offer. The plot moves at a snail's pace, one subplot is completely pointless, and the other seems to be of as much focus as the actual serial killings themselves. There are no real suspects in the crimes, and zero red herrings, so there's no fun in trying to pick out the killer yourself or trying to tie it all together yourself. The characters just blather around for 400 pages until someone uncovers a vital clue. I had absolutely zero stakes in anything that happened here.
Feverishly dull.
December 12, 2023
I think if I was a police person I would welcome DCI Carol Jordan as my superior. She is dedicated (sometimes to the point of obsession) driven, and yet trusting of those within her department who display the same attributes. She is super efficient at managing a small team, allowing her most trusted sufficent latitude to get the job done, but woe betide anyone who takes advantage of this trust as they will become the focus of her extreme wrath.
A teenager is found murdered, and mutilated in the most horrific fashion causing great concern and worry that the perpetrator remains unchecked. In the meantime psychotherapist Tony Hill is empolyed to help an adjoining police force when a similar incident occurs. As the body count rises Tony and Carol realize that this barbarous killing is not random, and they must work together efficiently to ascertain just why an apparently unconnected group of young people are being targeted.
Carol has a newly appointed superior: Chief Constable James Blake, a pedantic and fussy little man more concerned with data and cost saving than actual crime solving. In the meantime Tony is unravelling the mystery that was his father Edmund Arthur Blythey, and what he discovers is not quite what he expected.
This is crime writing at its best, yes it doesnt get any better than this! The Carol Jordan books are a little more gritty, and graphic than the DCI Karen Pirie series, but such descriptions are limited and essential if we are to fully understand the great mind and deductive skills of Tony Hill. A truly brilliant read that grips the reader from the start and once again shows Val McDermid as the queen of crime :)
A teenager is found murdered, and mutilated in the most horrific fashion causing great concern and worry that the perpetrator remains unchecked. In the meantime psychotherapist Tony Hill is empolyed to help an adjoining police force when a similar incident occurs. As the body count rises Tony and Carol realize that this barbarous killing is not random, and they must work together efficiently to ascertain just why an apparently unconnected group of young people are being targeted.
Carol has a newly appointed superior: Chief Constable James Blake, a pedantic and fussy little man more concerned with data and cost saving than actual crime solving. In the meantime Tony is unravelling the mystery that was his father Edmund Arthur Blythey, and what he discovers is not quite what he expected.
This is crime writing at its best, yes it doesnt get any better than this! The Carol Jordan books are a little more gritty, and graphic than the DCI Karen Pirie series, but such descriptions are limited and essential if we are to fully understand the great mind and deductive skills of Tony Hill. A truly brilliant read that grips the reader from the start and once again shows Val McDermid as the queen of crime :)
April 13, 2010
Sometimes picking up the latest book in a series without ever reading one before can be like tuning into a soap opera for the first time. I recall that sage of the twenties Bertram Wooster tying himself in knots trying to work out the best way to summarize before a new adventure. Val McDermid clearly takes the approach that no summary is necessary, and so the new reader is thrown in to either swim or drop like a stone to the ocean floor. To be fair there are a lot of hints to the back story as you work your way through, but because they’re only hints it does mean that some of the characters – particularly the police officers – seem depth-less. No doubt more rounded portrayals exist in other books and the regular reader just needs to leap back in to know them well.
Teenagers are murdered after being contacted on a Facebook-esque website. There are budgetary issues on the team investigating and so their resident expert Tony Hills is working on a murder case elsewhere. It’s only gradually that he and the team realise that their cases are connected.
If I was sniping then I’d say that the amount of time it takes to connect these murders is absurd. Yes, the team is not allowed to speak to Tony Hill about it, but these are high profile crimes with plenty of press attention – surely somebody would have noticed? (And what’s the point of a sensationalist tabloid press if they won’t make connections like that themselves?) But on the whole this is a good and well worked thriller whose twists are teased out expertly.
Teenagers are murdered after being contacted on a Facebook-esque website. There are budgetary issues on the team investigating and so their resident expert Tony Hills is working on a murder case elsewhere. It’s only gradually that he and the team realise that their cases are connected.
If I was sniping then I’d say that the amount of time it takes to connect these murders is absurd. Yes, the team is not allowed to speak to Tony Hill about it, but these are high profile crimes with plenty of press attention – surely somebody would have noticed? (And what’s the point of a sensationalist tabloid press if they won’t make connections like that themselves?) But on the whole this is a good and well worked thriller whose twists are teased out expertly.
May 17, 2025
Fever of the Bone is the sixth novel in the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series, and my second book by the author.
Tony Hill is a criminal profiler and Carol Jordan is a Detective Chief Inspector. Horribly mutilated bodies of missing children are being discovered but Carol Jordan's boss is absolutely against taking Tony's services.
It is difficult to review this book without mentioning aspects which might be viewed as spoilers. Nevertheless, I shall try to present my thoughts in a concise manner.
I found the story to be quite engaging from the beginning. The writing is smooth and you can read it pretty fast. The author did not slow down the story unnecessarily and did try to flesh out the characters in the story. My only issue with the book is that it ended a bit abruptly. This is my personal opinion. Some people might have a different perspective.
Overall, a decent thriller. If you enjoy serial killer thrillers then you might want to give it a try.
There is a little bit of description of the mutilations inflicted on the children. If such things disturb you, then you take the call.
Tony Hill is a criminal profiler and Carol Jordan is a Detective Chief Inspector. Horribly mutilated bodies of missing children are being discovered but Carol Jordan's boss is absolutely against taking Tony's services.
It is difficult to review this book without mentioning aspects which might be viewed as spoilers. Nevertheless, I shall try to present my thoughts in a concise manner.
I found the story to be quite engaging from the beginning. The writing is smooth and you can read it pretty fast. The author did not slow down the story unnecessarily and did try to flesh out the characters in the story. My only issue with the book is that it ended a bit abruptly. This is my personal opinion. Some people might have a different perspective.
Overall, a decent thriller. If you enjoy serial killer thrillers then you might want to give it a try.
There is a little bit of description of the mutilations inflicted on the children. If such things disturb you, then you take the call.
February 12, 2018
Having never read any of McDermid's fiction, only her non fiction book on Forensic science, I thought it was high time to try one. Perhaps the choice of this book, which I now realise is quite well into a series, was not the best. Although I could see accomplished writing here, I found it hard to differentiate the various police forces who were investigating the murders and to emphasise with Tony Hill, a major character. Although he is damaged, having been brought up by a terrible mother and feeling abandoned by his, now deceased, father, it seemed a bit cliche to have this trope yet again - he is a great crime profiler because he is so messed up himself? I also had no patience with his prevarication about looking into his father's life, and the legacy left to him.
It also takes a stunningly long time for the police to realise the connection between the main murder cases. Agreed that the lack of joined up systems between forces would hamper things, but given the nature of the crimes, they would have been front page news and you would expect the media at least to link them. Given that Jordan's unit is comprised of supposedly creative and lateral thinking individuals, it does make them come over as rather dense to say the least.
Some of the minor characters are well developed such as Paula, one of the task force led by DCI Carol Jordan, and Ambrose who is on another force but is drawn into the main case. However, given the main role of IT in this, a lot of the key clues - such as the villain using approach and use computers in different locations - comes across as curiously old fashioned. The author is definitely wise to invent a social media site given what ends up happening under its auspices, but even in 2009 surely there was software which could obsfucate internet addresses? The development seemed slow in places although it picks up towards the - to me, not that convincing - denoument, so not a keeper for me.
It also takes a stunningly long time for the police to realise the connection between the main murder cases. Agreed that the lack of joined up systems between forces would hamper things, but given the nature of the crimes, they would have been front page news and you would expect the media at least to link them. Given that Jordan's unit is comprised of supposedly creative and lateral thinking individuals, it does make them come over as rather dense to say the least.
Some of the minor characters are well developed such as Paula, one of the task force led by DCI Carol Jordan, and Ambrose who is on another force but is drawn into the main case. However, given the main role of IT in this, a lot of the key clues - such as the villain using approach and use computers in different locations - comes across as curiously old fashioned. The author is definitely wise to invent a social media site given what ends up happening under its auspices, but even in 2009 surely there was software which could obsfucate internet addresses? The development seemed slow in places although it picks up towards the - to me, not that convincing - denoument, so not a keeper for me.
April 17, 2020
Quick deaths + minimal gore makes the fact that the victims are minors not so bad, allowing one to focus on puzzling out who killed them and why. I quite enjoyed watching all the detectives I've finally grown fond of work together as a cohesive team. I also enjoyed the personal aspects, especially the focus on Tony finding out more about his father. I reveled in every detail of the visit to the latter's impressive house. And I LOVED the ending. I'm gonna pretend I don't see any storm clouds gathering in the distance and just live in the happy potential of the moment.
January 19, 2023
Wow! Just finished seconds ago and
I can hardly catch my breath. Someone's killing teens and leaving them to be discovered easily. Tony and Carol have their work cut out with a serial predator.
I can hardly catch my breath. Someone's killing teens and leaving them to be discovered easily. Tony and Carol have their work cut out with a serial predator.
June 2, 2018
Audio
Not very mysterious and McDermid is too good of a writer to keep inserting her liberal politics when it really does nothing for the plot.
Not very mysterious and McDermid is too good of a writer to keep inserting her liberal politics when it really does nothing for the plot.
June 13, 2019
I have to start by recognising a bias. I am a huge admirer of Val McDermid and her work. Wire in the Blood is one of my favourite TV crime drama series. That said, not all the books in the series have been equally strong. But this one is right up there.
The story line is unusual, because Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are working on separate cases, and for much of the book there is little direct interaction between them. It is when Tony makes the connection that Carol's team start to make real progress towards halting the murders and bringing the serial killer to justice. As we have come to expect from Val, there is consideration of the victims and the devastating impact of the murders on their families. The dialogue, the plot line, the conduct of the investigation and the office politics at work behind the scenes are all well-written. The reader is given access to the information available to the team, and is allowed to follow the various strands of the police investigation. A top notch example of the police procedural, with a strong dash of psychological thriller.
For readers who don't like stories that involve violence towards children, this might be one to avoid. Although the victims are teenagers, rather than younger children (and who among us can honestly say that the thought of murdering a teenager has never crossed their mind).
The story line is unusual, because Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are working on separate cases, and for much of the book there is little direct interaction between them. It is when Tony makes the connection that Carol's team start to make real progress towards halting the murders and bringing the serial killer to justice. As we have come to expect from Val, there is consideration of the victims and the devastating impact of the murders on their families. The dialogue, the plot line, the conduct of the investigation and the office politics at work behind the scenes are all well-written. The reader is given access to the information available to the team, and is allowed to follow the various strands of the police investigation. A top notch example of the police procedural, with a strong dash of psychological thriller.
For readers who don't like stories that involve violence towards children, this might be one to avoid. Although the victims are teenagers, rather than younger children (and who among us can honestly say that the thought of murdering a teenager has never crossed their mind).
March 17, 2017
I seem to have veered away from suspense/police procedural/thrillers lately. I will always make time for Val McDermid though. Her books are more than the killing of victims, the investigation, gruesome crime scenes. The reader knows the investigators and everyone on the periphery. The characters have lives, emotions, fallibilities. Some that make you want to smack them upside the back of the head, hug another and be relieved when the killer is caught. The reader becomes involved in the story.
This one hit close to home as the victims are young teens and I have a child near the same age. I can only imagine the agony, the not knowing.
I can definitely recommend this book and any book by Val McDermid.
This one hit close to home as the victims are young teens and I have a child near the same age. I can only imagine the agony, the not knowing.
I can definitely recommend this book and any book by Val McDermid.
December 17, 2019
Dit was niet echt een boek voor mij helaas. Het duurde erg lang voordat ik echt in het verhaal zat en het mij echt interesseerde. Meerdere keren overwogen om het definitief weg te leggen maar dit vind ik dan weer erg jammer. Uiteindelijk dus doorgezet vooral omdat het plot mij wel leuk en spannend leek. Helaas viel het einde ook wat tegen.
April 25, 2020
The Audible narrator kinda ruined it for me, but 3 stars nonetheless.
June 23, 2021
Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book on Audible. It was very interesting storyline about a serial killer killing teenagers and the subplot about Tony Hill and Carol Jordan was fascinating. I was totally engrossed in listening to this book.
Highly recommended
Highly recommended
August 14, 2023
Forgotten how much I enjoy Val McDermid books
October 26, 2024
Fast paced serial killer novel. Great ending
August 26, 2024
Slow start
I had a hard time at the beginning trying to get into it. A girl was found dead with a bag over her head and she had been mutilated. It was quite graphic and it grabbed your attention but then it kind of went on and on about the characters in the story. Unfortunately this was in a series but I never read the prior stories. I think that would have helped me more. About 30% in I was hooked and I stayed up extremely late to finish it. I have never read this author before but i.will definitely read again. This is quite dark with the teenagers being killed and sexually mutilated but it was not what you'd think. It was very twisty and while I thought I knew there was still a twist I didn't see coming.
I had a hard time at the beginning trying to get into it. A girl was found dead with a bag over her head and she had been mutilated. It was quite graphic and it grabbed your attention but then it kind of went on and on about the characters in the story. Unfortunately this was in a series but I never read the prior stories. I think that would have helped me more. About 30% in I was hooked and I stayed up extremely late to finish it. I have never read this author before but i.will definitely read again. This is quite dark with the teenagers being killed and sexually mutilated but it was not what you'd think. It was very twisty and while I thought I knew there was still a twist I didn't see coming.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 558 reviews