Beneath the Bleeding

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

Reader Reviews:

disappointing one from Val (1/3 people found this helpful)

A die-hard McDermid fan I was eagerly anticipating the next installment in the Tony Hill/ Carol Jordan series. Unfortunately Beneath The Bleeding, depsite the great title, does not stand up in comparison to the previous books in the series. The style, literary panache and psycholgical insight are all down a level in Beneath the Bleeding. All in all it provides an average unmemorable read.
I will continue to read Val Mcdermid's books as when she is at her best she is unrivalled, but I hope her next book provides a return to form. This one felt a bit like she had to write it quickly without caring too much about the style or the characters.

anti-climax (0/0 people found this helpful)

I am a big fan of the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series and after all the waiting for the latest installment have been left disappointed. Instead of both of them being strong characters who excel in their particular fields 'Beneath the Bleeding' has Carol taking a distinct back seat. She doesn't come up with more than a couple case breaking ideas which Tony seems to have all the answers. It takes away much of the 'when profiling meets police work' feel of the first few novels in the series where both fields got equal weighting and had to learn how to merge.
The cases being worked aren't Ms McDermid's usual blood and guts type stuff but are different. I must admit, as much as I don't think the balance was wrong the psychological analysis stuff was pretty interesting.

A disappointment but I shall still be looking out for the next one in hope of a return to greatness...

Just as good as usual but a bit different (1/1 people found this helpful)

Val McDermind's crime output is very varied coving simple (though not simplistic) who-done-its to very gory thrillers. Some reviews seem to suggest that this book is below par compared to the other Wire in the Blood books, but I found it just as engrosing and satisfying as ever - I think some of the dissatisfaction expressed is because this is far less gory than the other Wire in the Blood books and more in the vein of Val's other books.

This stoy lifts off where the Torment of Others leaves off and I had to run quickly over the plot of that book to be sure of all the references the characters make. Again people have commented that the characters, in particular Tony and Carol, are not progressing particularly quickly - however moving things along any faster would not be true to the cautious, damaged and workaholic characters of this pair.

One note of caution, the cover blurb contans a spoler that I would have been happier to avoid.

Not Val's best (0/2 people found this helpful)

I like Val's insight and descriptions and they were present here but not as i expected. There were so many issues that she could have discussed and analyzed and it could really make a difference in poeples minds. The srory line goes well and it is a double mystery, each could have been a book in itself. The pychiatric approach was weaker than expected though it being a psychological thriller, needing more depth. All in all its OK but I have read better from Val.

Above the Average (13/13 people found this helpful)

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.

Val McDermid

Editorial Review: