The Mermaids Singing (Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Val McDermid (Author) "Tony Hill tucked his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling..." (more)
Key Phrases: forensic traces, gay cruising area, serial offenders, Handy Andy, Temple Fields, Damien Connolly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
This sadistic, twisted yet intriguingly ingenious thriller garnered Val McDermid Britain's top crime-fiction award, the Gold Dagger, which only proves it's not as genteel a nation as we've been led to believe. The Mermaids Singing follows a killer who thrives on finding ever more inventive ways to seduce and torture sexually confused young men and records their death struggles digitally to market them as interactive home movies. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
McDermid (A Clean Break) enters new ground with a dark tale that is more complex, more carefully crafted and far more disturbing than her Kate Brannigan mysteries. By the time the police admit that Bradfield, a fictional city in northern England, has a serial killer, four men are already dead, each tortured in a different way and then abandoned outdoors in town. Baffled by a lack of physical evidence left by the meticulous sociopath, police bring in Tony Hill, a Home Office forensic psychologist who profiles criminals. Tony, who begins each day by "selecting a persona," devours crime data with a fascination approaching admiration for the killer. The interest distracts him from obsessing over his own sexual impotence and over the "exquisite torture" of salacious phone calls he's been getting from a strange woman. DI Carol Jordan, a mercifully normal person who is Tony's liaison with the force, quickly grasps the profiling approach while keeping her policing instincts. Carol and Tony forge an uneasy relationship; but, as they pursue "the Queer Killer," a cloddish policeman undermines them, a local reporter blows the case to get a byline and the murderer closes in on a new quarry. A warning: woven into this powerful story are journal entries in which the murder discusses torture in loving detail, an aspect that makes this graphic, psychologically terrifying tale almost as off-putting as it is impossible to put down. (Dec.) FYI: This novel won Britain's Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of 1995.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (June 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312983603
• ISBN-13: 978-0312983604
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #138,112 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely first class, July 3, 2002

By	RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

As serial killer novels go, this one is first class. Certainly one of the best i have ever read, almost as good as "The Silence of the Lambs" and her very own "Killing the Shadows". In a genre in which originality is a rare commodity, this book really shines. IN many instances it does contain every aspect we would expect from a serial killer novel, but Val McDermid builds on that, giving us, as Thomas Harris did so many years ago now, an excellent all round novel, rather than just a piece of genre fiction.

The two lead characters are probably the best duo you will come across in all thriller-dom. The ... tension between the two just smoulders the pages beneath your eyes, and the rigid professionalism and determination of both adds a hard edge and hint of stubbornness to their relationship. They are both very human and very likeable. The reader warms to both Carol and Tony instantly. They are well drawn, characterised, and are immensely real.

The killer is chilling, and the murders come close to Mo Hayder's "Birdman" in terms of gruesomeness. The descriptons of the dead bodies, and how those bodies met their deaths, has great capability to turn stomachs.

The writing is packed with detail and grittiness. It is also enfused with quite a well evoked sense of place. High class prose, styled as only a master can, manipulates the reader, preparing them for a stuning final twist to the story, which has you kicking yourself whilst stunned at the same time. And the showdown between hunter and hunted is a brilliant climax to the entire book.

So, if you like good serial killer thrillers, this is definitely one of the best you could choose to read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE absolute best serial murder book I've read in years!, December 25, 2000

By	AnnaKarenina (St Petersburg, of course) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mermaids Singing (Paperback)

A fantastically well-written, gritty drama that grabs you right in - I was scared by the end of the prologue!

All serial killer books compare themselves to Silence of the Lambs. I've read dozens of supposedly good ones since by all the major crime authors, and this is the first and only book that's been just as clever, creepy and well-characterized.

I just read Messiah, a similar blend of medieval torture with modern realism, and this is much better. It's not a gentle murder mystery by any means, but the gore and rough language fit right in with the story instead of being gratuitous, like they are in most murder books.

I'd only read one Val McDermid book before, one of the Kate Brannigan ones, which I didn't like at all, and got this book just to make up my library quota. It's hard to believe it's the same author - this is honestly one of the best crime books I've read.

It looks like this book is not available in the US, so it's probably not getting the readership it deserves. If you've been wanting a book as good as the early Thomas Harris ones, then this one's worth back-ordering - I can't recommend it highly enough.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profiling In Its Infancy, January 23, 2001

By	Tim Smith (Fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mermaids Singing (Paperback)

Another winner from Val McDermid! Building slowly but relentlessly, profiler Tony Hill uses psychological maxims now accepted but at the time of the story were innovative and a novelty in the forensic pursuit of a serial killer. This story is different from other serial killer novels. It traces the profiler and his own psychological problems as well as the killer and their thought processes prior to and after each murder.

While the police are split in their acceptance of profiling, some problems remain the same and never seem to change, especially intrusion from the media. Mistakes in the media occur and they are deadly.

In the final confrontation, Hill is forced to use all his training, skills and insights. He begins to realize the perp may be hunting the profiler. The way McDermid has inserted life into the usually predictable tales of death has once again made my skin crawl. Even as I write this and remember, the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I need to turn around to assure myself no one is there. Read "The Mermaids Singing". You won't be disappointed.