The Mermaids Singing / The Wire In The Blood

Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #1-2

by Val McDermid

The mermaids singing: "A serial killer is on the loose in the northern city of Bradfield. Four men have been brutally killed by savage knife wounds. In each case, the men have been mutilated and tortured, though the mutilations are not identical and nothing obvious appears to connect the victims. Fear grips the city; no man feels safe. Clinical psychologist Tony Hill is brought in to profile the killer, to work alongside Detective Inspector Carol Jordan."

Genres: Crime

902 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Val 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.

Reviews

[Helen Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a shame that I am reading this 20-ish years on. Now we're so used to the work of the profiler, the setting of the damaged to catch the slightly more damaged (Cracker, The Fall, Wallander etc etc) and the recognition of value of Asperger's type qualities in this type of detective work ( Benedict's Sherlock) that it's hard to appreciate how cutting edge these books would have been. Nevertheless they are excellent page turners, without too much backstory to annoy those who have read them in series.
I think I don't do crime fiction and was initially worried that these books would be too scary - there's no reading equivalent to watching TV through your fingers to avoid the true horror of the gory bits! However I soon realised I obviously I do..... and can cope. V McD is good at shocking you - just when you think you've got the plot sussed.
Great reads - will continue the series.

[Alan Jennings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book, characters are well described and the setting decent. Thought the plot wasn't brilliant and perhaps my expectations were too high after reading the reviews. Will buy the next in the series and see how it goes!

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goodness there are some brutal deaths in these two books; they are not cosy mysteries. The main characters of Jordan and Hill are interesting and complex. McDermid is a good writer but it was amusing from the vantage of 2022 to see Hill plug in a phone line to dial up the internet.

[Judy Nel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Tony Hill

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Val McDermid mystery

[Book_Club_For_Introverts Rebecca Ryan Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a series to read. Keeps you interested from start to finish. I started this series with Audio books during my long commute and now I read them the traditional way. Lots of suspense, some gore etc. This review will be the same for all of the Tony Hill series, because every book was amazing.

[Khayt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fast-paced ride... fairly explicit re the freaky perverse mental serial killer with twisted proclivities!

The first McDermid I read: a little after seeing Wire in the Blood on the box. Wire in the Blood

Other books by McDermid have a tinsey bit more depth/complexity of plot (whilst still meeting criteria as brainless trashy thriller).

This and a couple of the Lindsay Gordan Series good, McDermid very good in other non-serial publications.

I recommend her for a reliable read for a relaxing, zero brain strain, sit-down, page turning session.

Could read again for the "ride".

Val McDermid

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who loves a crime and the understanding of the British Crime unit will love this book.

[Sandi Mann]

fantastic, as always

read again July 2018

[Steven Leitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are magic together!