Good but not the best
|
This latest installment from Val McDermid was eagerly anticipated. However, I found that unlike all her other books, I didn't race through it as I usually do. There simply wasn't that anticipation and suspense of whodunnit? for me.
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, and I liked certain aspects of it, such as the look at Tony Hill's past and how Val used topical crimes. She's still a darn good storyteller though so I'm not too disappointed.
However I felt that there we didn't get to 'know' the serial killer very well. There was no insight into his mind at all and all felt a bit rushed at the end.
Perhaps what I'm missing is the blood and gore?! There was none here, and none of Val's usual intricately woven plot.
I won't be reading it again, but Val left lots of loose ends so will defiantely be looking forward to the next one!
|
|
Good old page-turner
|
After slamming the last book I read shut in disgust, I picked this next Val McDermid eagerly off the shelf and hurried home. I needed to read something I knew would grip me and that I would look forward to picking up. I was not wrong.
This is the 5th book in the Carol Jordan / Tony Hill series (for those unfamiliar with this series, Jordan is a feisty DCI who runs the Major Incident Team and Hill is a Criminal Profiler who helps the police). In this latest installment (there is no need to read in order by the way - I started with the 4th and then went back), there are 2 cases running parallel - one is the death of a premier club footballer and the other is the bombing of the football stadium. As ever, there are twists and turns and surprises gallore, and while I did find this book as unputdownable as her others, I felt that there was something lacking in this story. We never really got a sense of the killer and his motives (infact I found the end abit of a cop out in this respect).
I have given this 4 stars, as it did what I wanted and kept me hooked and you can't beat a Mcdermid for a good old page-turner. I have held a star back though as I came away feeling a little short changed by the ending.
|
|
|
topical and interesting but a little below par
|
As usual pacy and well written by McDermid. The development of Tony's character has been a long time coming and adds substance to the novels. It also moves them away from being books of TV programme, as most viewers think TV programme came first!!
The footballer theme was well developed, interesting and gripping . It also gave ithoughtful insight into that elitist lifestyle for a non football fan.
However the "terrorist" angle didn't really work in parts, with the exception of the effect on bombers family and how community was affected by the carnage glossed over.
The hospital scenes were not terribly accurate but could be ignored as content added to plotting. Also felt finale a little tenuous involving the "bombers" identity and motives.
Mind you, was a great read despite these faults, I eagarly await next Tony Hill novel, and hopefully with a return to form
|
|
Val always keeps you reading
|
|
If you're a fan of Val McDermid you will love this one too! A real page turner.
|
|
|
Above the Average
|
Val McDermid has written some wonderful crime fiction tales in her time but she is probably best known for the series involving psychological profiler Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan, based in the fictional Yorkshire city of Bradfield. Expectations are bound to be high for this, the fifth in the 'Hill-Jordan' collection of novels so far, following hot on the heels of the fifth in the associated Wire in the Blood TV dramatisations. In effect there are two stories running in parallel with each other, one the hunt for a serial killer and the other the search for a mass murderer, each person displaying very different methods but sharing an obsession for careful planning and forward thinking.
Knowing that the author herself recently went through considerable pain and discomfort as a result of major knee surgery, I cannot help but regard her decision to place Tony Hill in a hospital bed recovering from - guess what - major knee surgery for very nearly the entirety of this story's time span as something of an indulgence on her part, possibly a gesture of thanks to those who treated and cared for her, I don't know, but I got the impression that this strand of the plot was slightly at odds with everything else that was going on. It did however enable the author to introduce Tony Hill's mother in a thread that promised interesting developments but ultimately faded into insignificance. On the other hand it did offer an insight into the complicated personality of Dr Hill, and in that respect the mission was successful. Of course, anyone who has seen the Wire in the Blood series on TV will visualise actor Robson Green as Tony Hill in this book, personally I did not find this a distraction at all as the actor plays the part very convincingly.
The modus operandi of the serial killer is compared to a hypothetical character in an Agatha Christie novel, something of a cop-out in my opinion, so as to confess to such an analogy before the reader can make such an accusation. But the thoughts, emotions and objectives of the bomber are by comparison absolutely contemporary, relevant and described with chilling effect. It is almost uncomfortable to read at times as it feels like a peep into the mind-set of individuals responsible for suicide bombings (successful or otherwise) which is of course very much a happening-right-now issue in the world we live in.
Beneath the Bleeding is described on the back cover as 'The new Tony Hill thriller' but I consider that almost unfair, as in this, just as in the previous four in the series, Carol Jordan plays an equally important and leading role. At the end we are hardly any the wiser as to the status of their personal relationship, one which was rather strangely tested to the limit in this latest outing. I felt that Carol's animosity towards Tony for the majority of this story, in response to his efforts to solve the two murder hunts, lacked any real foundation. Carol and her team, despite their best efforts, continually made no progress at all while Tony was putting forward suggestions that Carol should have taken more seriously, based on their long-running professional respect for one another.
Hand on heart this is not quite up to the brilliant standard of THE MERMAIDS SINGING (the first in the Tony - Carol series, published in 1995) but no fan of Val's will be disappointed, she continues to demonstrate a highly professional approach to story-telling and she will surely gain many new admirers for her writing skills, especially in the crucial area of characterisation.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada