The Torment of Others (Tony Hill and Carol Jordan): Book 4

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Despite the lousy characterization, a thriller can definitely redeem itself by having a rolling and twisting plot. To my surprise, it's not the case in this book. The dual plot lines strangely not intertwine in the end and the case about the missing child is just nothing more than a boring filler lasted for nearly half of the book. Another half concerning the serial hooker killer is comparatively more compelling considering there are more actions and development, but its pace oddly slows down in the middle of the book and given the distraction of the excruciating other half, its satisfactory ending just comes too little too late. McDermid’s Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series tends to be on the dark and rather gruesome side of crime. Even well-written crime series that go on for more than a few books start to become a bit Midsomer Murders-esque. How many seriously damaged serial killers can one British city really contain? But then again, this is fiction and McDermid is a skilled and very successful writer. There must be enough people who can suspend belief and cope with the violence. Clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan face the toughest challenge of their careers when they are confronted with an 'impossible' series of murders. I get that in 2005, we weren't as big about things like computer metadata as we are today. But where did this absolutely horrific, incorrect bit about the brain come from? I mean... what was that garbage?

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The identity of The Voice was a surprise to me, and I think to most readers. It was the unmasking of this criminal that kept me reading until 6 a.m. Then there were a few details to tie up, mostly involving members of Carol’s team. Also, the murder of the two missing young boys was solved, although not without some additional heartbreak for the team. The Torment of Others by Val McDermid is the 4th of her Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan series and the 2006 Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award winner. The Torment of Others is a crime novel by Scottish author Val McDermid, and is the fourth entry in her popular Carol Jordan and Dr. Tony Hill series, which has been successfully adapted into the television series Wire in the Blood. The novel was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger, and won the 2006 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. As with her other novels in the Tony Hill series, the title is an extract from a poem by T. S. Eliot. The latest outing for Hill, The Torment of Others, also features McDermid's other richly realised creation, DCI Carol Jordan, and the author carries her familiar protagonists into truly unsettling new areas. This time, Hill is coping with a return to practical clinical profiling after a frustrating spell as an academic. And there's another major complication for him: his ex-partner Carol Jordan is no longer sure she wishes to be in charge of a team after the brutal sexual assault she suffered during undercover work. But she is persuaded to do so--and realises that one of her main tasks will be to create a cohesive unit.Hypnotic mind-control, sexual trauma overcome by a roll in bed with a good-looking hunk, and dead ends jump-started by fortuitous computer photos make McDermid’s latest exercise in serial murder (The Distant Echo, 2003, etc.) less than compelling. The Mermaids Singing, The Wire in the Blood, The Last Temptation, The Torment of Others, Beneath the Bleeding, Fever of the Bone, and The Retribution

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As I continue my expedition through the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series, I was happy to discover that Book 4 returned to the high-quality plotting of the first two novels after a slight dip in Book 3. Again the spotlight is slightly more on Carol; the first two books focused more on Tony, the third more on Carol. Stunning new psychological thriller featuring Tony Hill, hero of The Wire in the Blood, from one of Britain’s bestselling novelists: ‘Val McDermid has become our leading pathologist of everyday evil… The subtle orchestration of terror is masterful. Hill is easy to find, because he is now working part-time at Bradfield Moor. His new life as a professor at a university does not quite have the interesting moments he has become used to, such as treating Tom Storey, a hospital inmate that because of a brain tumor smothered his children. Storey didn't realize he might have a tumor, but instead blamed his left hand that was out of his control. Hill's diagnosis is Alien Hand Syndrome, a problem caused when the two halves of the brain do not communicate when the delicate corpus callosum is damaged. However, Jordan and Hill are soon to discover returning to Bradford means all kinds of uncontrolled alien and alienated hands are disturbing the peace of Bradford citizens. I know authors have to make things difficult for their characters but the way the police bundled a sting operation to catch the killer didn't ring true. And, of course, the telling. How often the action stops so we can be told things--things that aren't endearing, aren't flattering, aren't pleasant. And the constant explaining and info dumps destroy any tension that's building around the cases.Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Carl rapes Paula, Carol and her team hunt for Paula, and Tony suspects that a police officer is controlling Derek and Carl as only someone involved with this sting could have sabotaged it. Tony confronts Sergeant Jan Shields, who has been using mind manipulation to make others kill because she's a control freak.

The Torment of Others - McDermid, Val 9780312936099: The Torment of Others - McDermid, Val

What about “the odd couple”? It is quite obvious that Carol and Tony work well together when they are teamed up to catch criminals. It is also pretty clear that they love each other. They question is, what, if anything, will they do about it? Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan return in the award-winning series that is the basis for the BBC television show. It’s hard to know what to praise first here: the impeccable plotting or the sharp social relevance of the narrative (a McDermid speciality). Most of all, though, it’s the relationship between her two central characters that makes THE TORMENT OF OTHERS work so well. This is a real, adult relationship; complex, combative and nuanced.

Top criminal psychologist Dr Tony Hill is prepared to think the unthinkable – this is not a copycat murder but something much stranger. While DCI Carol Jordan and her team mount a desperate and dangerous undercover police operation to trap the murderer, Hill heads towards a terrifying face-off with one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered… Tony and Carol work together to solve the crimes but their relationship is complicated by a handsome geologist(!!) who gets involved with Carol as well as a theory of the case that Toby develops that he feels he can’t reveal to her. The Torment of Others is a salutary reminder what an asset to British crime fiction Val McDermid is. Her first books with journalist Lindsay Gordon as heroine gave hints of the talent that was to mature so impressively--and the subsequent series with the resourceful private eye Kate Brannigan demonstrated a sharper eye for the harder edges of society. But the best was just around the corner. McDermid's third sequence with clinical psychologist profiler Tony Hill was something of a quantum leap: as well as forging one of the most memorable figures in contemporary crime fiction with mildly eccentric Hill, McDermid added a degree of psychological acuity that made the earlier books seem like warm-ups for the main event. But it is, by its very nature, extremely freaky. The descriptions of the crimes that take place are far too graphic for most I suspect. And the nature of the crimes (sexual homicide) are far outside what most folks would want to read about. Condition: Very Good. Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.