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Amazon.co.uk Review
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.
A dead woman discovered in a sexual position on a bloody mattress, appears to be the victim of a killer the team knows all about: the monstrous Derek Tyler, who had carried out similarly bloody work two years before. However, forensics have landed Tyler in a mental institution--does this mean that Hill and Jordan are searching for a murderer who is copying the techniques of the psychotic Tyler?
While this may not be the best starting point for those new to McDermid, enthusiasts will find all the key elements are firmly and satisfyingly in place. --Barry Forshaw
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Torment of Others, Val McDermid,
By
This review is from: The Torment of Others (Hardcover)
The Torment of Others is McDermid's fourth novel starring duo Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, who are, along with Stephen Booth's Ben Cooper and Diane Fry, the most interesting pairing in crime fiction. It is also, possibly, the very best. Not least because it's quite a bit shorter than many of her books - the result is a slightly slimmer, more tight, incredibly tense and suspenseful piece of work. Two plots run parallel here: the disappearance of two young boys, which itself fades a little in importance when prostitutes begin turning up brutally murdered in grotty rooms. After her ordeal in Berlin, Carol Jordan has been off work in London, but is gradually tempted back to Bradfield by her boss John Brandon, to head a special team that will target particularly high-profile murder cases. Tony Hill, meanwhile, is also back in Bradfield, his stint as a lecturer at St Andrews University having come to an end. The job simply wasn't right for him. He much prefers to indulge in his work in the messy heads of the mentally ill. It is where he feels most at home, and is where he's most effective. He's taken a job at the local mental hospital. The prostitute murders have particular resonance for the new murder squad, in that they mirror exactly a series of four murders from a few years ago. However, the culprit, Derek Tyler, is now incarcerated in the hospital where Tony now works. Tony's reluctant to accept the possibility of a copycat (they're sexual murders; each perpetrator has very differing needs and desires, thus the patterns of killing should very rarely, if ever, be the same), but what other explanation is there? The general opinion seems to be that this is McDermid at her strongest, and I would probably agree. It may not be A Place of Execution, but that is a work that, as some reviewers say, "transcends the genre", so I am discounting it. In terms of the Hill/Jordan series, it is every bit as thrilling and inventive as the first, with the added bonus of having a veritable feast of the protagonists emotional turmoils to indulge in. The tension between the two is marvellous, their relationship is an absolute gem. All series detective novels, when taken as an entire unit, are essentially a love story (I think). In this regard, this series of McDermid's is the finest, all the better for that she doesn't fill books and books with it - just one every few years. The Torment of Others is a very suspenseful, tense, thrilling read. The writing's excellent, very atmospheric, and the climax is exciting and shattering. Definitely so. Excellent work, Val; excellent.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High Five,
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This review is from: The Torment of Others (Hardcover)
It's always a pleasure when I take a chance on a new novelist and it pays off as well as it did here. Val McDermid is, I now know, one of our best writers and I won't hesitate to buy any book in the future with her name on the cover. In The Torment of Others, you'll get everything you want from a thriller and more : intelligent characters, gripping imagery, a powerful plot, clever pacing and just entertainment all round. The lead characters Jordan and Hill are very much individuals whose personalities and concerns are so well described that we almost feel that we know them; the key point is that we can easily believe in them. The side-plot of their 'relationship' is actually intriguing, dealt with subtle aplomb by their creator and cleverly left unfinished within the context of this story so that we can carry on where they left off in the next one. The main story line of this book is quite daringly graphic in its description without being gory for its own sake. It just leaves you wondering "Jeez, what a way to go"...and I'm not a woman! This is a writer of high intellect, vivid imagination and the bringing together of those rare skills makes for very enjoyable reading. Call me a fan.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advice: Read it!,
By Claudia (Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Torment of Others (Paperback)
I am young and new on the murder story scene and having only recently finished 'The da vinci code' I was not looking forward to searching for a book to match it. 'The torment of others',however, was recomended to me by a friend not long ago and this problem seems to be reoccurring! I find that many books suffer from an exciting and gripping first chapter only to be followed up by a really tedious 300/400 pages. Val's book isn't like this. A gripping first chapter, followed up by 552 pages of pure brilliance. Good murders, good plot, exciting twists.As I said, I'm only young, but at only 15 I really can't recommend a more exciting, 'don't-speak-to-me-until-I'm-finished' thriller for all ages.
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