Beneath the Bleeding (Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, Book 5) - Softcover

McDermid, Val

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007243278 ISBN 13: 9780007243273

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007

Synopsis

The Number One bestselling crime series featuring Dr Tony Hill, hero of TV’s Wire in the Blood. The award-winning Val McDermid is at the height of her powers in this tense masterclass in psychological suspense.

The race is on to uncover the identity of a murderer with nothing to lose – and everything to kill for.

When Robbie Bishop, star midfielder for the Bradfield Vics, is poisoned by a rare and deadly toxin, profiler Dr Tony Hill and trusted colleague DCI Carol Jordan have their work cut out for them. Robbie was adored, so the public want answers – but the answers aren't coming, and trails are running cold.

Then a bomb explodes in the football stadium, causing massive casualties – and another man dies from poisoning. Is there a link between the cases? And what are the motives for these crimes? The clock is ticking for Tony and Carol – and the death toll keeps rising...

About this title

Review:

It seems hard to believe now, but there was a day when Val McDermid was just another crime writer. True, her Kate Brannigan novels were highly accomplished and well-honed pieces of work, and if McDermid had written nothing else, they would have assured her a solid place in the history of the genre. But Beneath the Bleeding (as with most of the other work the author has done more recently) is a much more ambitious and considerable novel, written on a grander scale, tackling pertinent social issues and (most importantly) developing two highly memorable characters: forensic profiler Tony Hill and his police ally DCI Carol Jordan.

The new book, as disturbing as it is compulsively readable, continues to add new levels to the psychological thriller -- something that McDermid seems able to do in every new book. A star footballer has been murdered in the city of Bradfield. Shortly after, an explosion rocks the town's football stadium, wreaking mass carnage. In the current climate of fear regarding home-grown terrorism, it is inevitable that suspicion falls in this direction but is money -- or something else -- involved here? Such as a bloody working out of some kind of revenge scenario against the football team? Needless to say, this is quite a different case from those that Tony Hill and Carol Jordan have previously been involved with, and the customary relationship (swinging between confrontation and admiration) is worked out with all the rigour that we expect from McDermid. Of course, this is an author who always has more fish to fry than the simple exigencies of the crime novel, and astringent commentaries on many aspects of British society are provocatively incorporated here (always, though, inter alia -- never at the expense of a forward-moving narrative). If you're a fan of the Wire in the Blood TV series, you should do yourself a favour and investigate the original novels such as Beneath the Bleeding. They offer a considerably more involving experience. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Australian praise for ‘Beneath the Bleeding’:

‘In a word: twisting’ Herald Sun

‘McDermid has delivered another winner' South Coast Register

‘Grips like an anaconda’ Adelaide Review

‘Fast-paced and clever’ Good Reading

‘A fine cop drama... over almost too soon’ Cairns Post

Praise for the Tony Hill thrillers:

'No one compares to McDermid.' Guardian

'One of McDermid's finest, which is saying a lot.' The Times

'This is McDermid on top form – pass the Valium.' Daily Mail

'Gripping, intelligent stuff.' Mail on Sunday

'Val McDermid is an intelligent, supremely talented novelist and with this latest tale, she is writing at the height of her power. Utterly compelling.' Glasgow Herald

'Serial killers, though meat and drink to crime writers, are thankfully rare. It is a tribute to the power of Val McDermid's imagination that she made this one seem so believable.'
Daily Telegraph

'Complex, combative and nuanced.' Express

'Val McDermid, as ever, is adept at engendering irresistible suspense, as the fearsome attractiveness of the ever more benighted and bloody predicament works its effect on readers.' Times Literary Supplement

‘Stunningly exciting, horrifyingly good.’ Ruth Rendell

'Compelling and shocking.' Minette Walters

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0007243278
• ISBN 13: 9780007243273
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416