Wire in the Blood [Paperback]

Val McDermid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 1998

Taut, suspenseful and ferociously readable thriller featuring psychological profiler Dr Tony Hill. 'A terrific chiller from Manchester's answer to Thomas Harris' Guardian Nobody moves around inside the messy heads of serial killers like Dr Tony Hill. Now heading up the recently founded National Profiling Task Force, he sets his team an exercise: they are given the details of thirty missing teenagers and asked to use their new techniques to discover whether there is a sinister link between any of the cases. Only one officer, Shaz Bowman, comes up with a concrete theory, but it is ridiculed by the rest of the group until someone murders and mutilates one of their number. Could Bowman's outrageous suspicion possibly be true? For Tony Hill, the murder of a member of his team becomes a matter for personal revenge. Aided by his previous colleague, Carol Jordan, he embarks upon a campaign of psychological terrorism -- a game of cat and mouse where the roles of hunter and hunted are all too easily reversed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Compelling and shocking' Minette Walters 'Gripping, intelligent stuff' Mail on Sunday 'A deliciously gruesome serial killer thriller... Ms McDermid finds new ways to shock and revolt us' New York Times 'Terrifying but stylish, cruel and compassionate' Mail on Sunday

From the Publisher

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE GOLD DAGGER AWARD-WINNING NOVEL THE MERMAIDS SINGING

'Stunningly exciting, horrifyingly good' - Ruth Rendell

'Ye Gods, She's Good' - Colin Dexter

'Terrific chiller from Manchester's answer to Thomas Harris' - Lucretia Stewart, Guardian

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (April 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 000649983X
• ISBN-13: 978-0006499831
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,032,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Complex and imperfect, but still worth reading, February 20, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: The Wire in the Blood (Hardcover)

Val McDermid is one of the most adventurous current crime writers, a welcome change from those whose every new book is a gradually less profitable clone of their previous one. This story, a sequel to the excellent 'The Mermaids Singing', is actually not much like it at all. The main characters return, but that's where the similarity ends. The Mermaids Singing focused in on several ghastly serial murders and the efforts of criminal profiler Tony Hill to get a grasp of the killer's mind, while battling the personal demons that seem to afflict every fictional police psychologist.

In 'The Wire in the Blood', girls are disappearing and dying and we guess quite early on who's responsible - the book details the efforts of the police to link the killings and determine the killer's identity. There are many stories in this book, and in the hands of a less skilled writer it could easily have fallen apart. Even with this writer's talent, there's a lot going on to keep track of, we're introduced in detail to a huge crowd of individuals in the first few chapters and there are lots of threads to follow.

The centerpiece of the plot is the return of Tony Hill, this time teaching a class of baby profilers, who all bond together and function as a forensic profiling collegiate ensemble when one of their own number disappears after getting too close to the truth. As well as heaps of information about profiling itself, the book offers insight into how territorial turf wars and the resentment by old-time beat police of the 'mumbo jumbo' of psychological tools can impact effective crime fighting - unlike his fictional FBI counterparts, Tony Hill does not ride in on a white horse as much as bang on the door and beg to be heard. Like many of Ms McDermid's books it's populated with strong females, with a nod of approval to gay women.

This isn't a perfect book - there are patches of coarse writing, some things are a bit hackneyed (hidden basement full of custom torture equipment...), the symbolism of the victim's injuries is over the top, and Dr Hill is only able to feel fully understood once his beloved, a Police Officer, also has 'blood on her hands'... hmmm. But it's interesting, touching on things most crime books don't, and is far better than many much better known best-sellers.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Competent but Gruesome, March 21, 2002

By 

M. A Michaud "michael_michaud" (Dulles, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wire in the Blood (Hardcover)

Val McDermid is a well-practiced author of British police procedural mysteries. This book is one of a series centered on the profiler Tony Hill, whose methods are mistrusted by more conventional police officers. In this case, the serial killer is a high-profile public personality described as the third most trusted person in England. McDermid's descriptions of the hunt for this murderer, including the tangents and false leads, are well done. On the down side, the reader may have trouble keeping track of the many characters with common English names. McDermid's graphic portrayals of the killer's brutality may churn some stomachs.

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One can smile and smile and be a villain., February 22, 2003

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wire in the Blood (Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Val McDermid's "The Wire in the Blood" is not a whodunit. It features a psychopath whose identity is never in doubt. He is so devoid of compassion that one wonders if he is human at all. Jacko Vance is, to his adoring public, a saint on earth. After losing his lower right arm while attempting to save several victims at the scene of a terrible car accident, Jacko becomes a famous television personality and a tireless charity worker. What no one knows is that this seemingly kind and selfless man is hiding a monstrous secret.

Jacko's adversaries are Dr. Tony Hill, a skilled psychological profiler, and DCI Carol Jordan, Hill's former lover and someone whose judgment and skills he still values. What begins as an exercise in profiling turns deadly serious when one of Hill's young students is found brutally murdered and mutilated. Hill and Jordan pull out all the stops to find the serial killer whom they believe is responsible for the disappearance of a number of teenaged girls as well as the murder of the young police officer whom Dr. Hill was training.

Val McDermid's writing is not for the squeamish. She depicts Jacko's sadism in great detail and she doesn't shrink from killing off likeable characters. I think that McDermid went a little overboard in making Jacko Vance almost too expert in his manipulation of the public and the police. The author unfairly paints the police as naive bumblers, needing Hill and Jordan to do their sleuthing for them. I doubt that real police officers would be as vulnerable to Vance's charm.

At approximately five hundred pages, the book is a bit too long. It could have been more concise with no loss of plot or character development. A secondary plot about a serial arsonist adds little to the novel. However, McDermid keeps the suspense at a high level throughout the book and her writing is always skillful and hard-hitting. All in all, "The Wire in the Blood" is a reasonably good, but not extraordinary, psychological thriller.