Customer Reviews

The Torment of Others

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

Val McDermid's Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series has never been for the squeamish, and The torment of others is no exception. This book resisted being left on the coffee table and so I carried it around with me for the 48 hours it took me to read it. Tony and Carol are the most unusual crime fighting duo around and McDermid has had the sense to keep the romantic aspects of their relationship unrequited, a la Mulder and Scully. (You'll have to read The torment of others to find out if this is still the case.) Fans of Val's other works might think this series is too 'straight' for them, but don't be put off because there is always plenty of interest, and to admire. In short, McDermid pulls off the most difficult thing for a writer in her position, pleasing all of the readers all of the time.

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.

This is the fourth book in the series featuring Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan.
Two crimes to solve..... a past case involving two missing children and a murderer who is brutally killing women in a fashion which is identical to previous murders but with the killer already convicted and locked up.
This is one of the best books in the series, a high tensioned thriller with twists and turns along the way.

A murderer is killing prostitutes, in a very gruesome manner. The method of the murders, is identical to a series of murders committed a few years earlier. However, that killer, Derek Tyler, has been put away, and could not have been involved, with the new cases.

I found this book a rivetting read. I felt the characters, DCI Carol Jordan and Tony Hill, along with the rest of the crime investigating team, seemed quite believable, and that the dialogue between them was realistic, as well.

The storyline never got dull, and there are a few twists in it, too. It kept me interested throughout.

This is the third of Val's novels that I've read. The Mermaids Singing was fantastic and every bit as exciting as this one and The Wire In The Blood was another great book although I was disappointed by the ending.

With "The Torment Of Others" everything was fine though. It's a crime novel full of suspense and at times it is extremely, terrifyingly intense. It's the fourth in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series (apparently I missed the third one, The Last Temptation).

Carol and her team of detectives have got two cases to solve - the first one is, to find out what's happened to two little boys who'd disappeared recently within about a mile of each other. A major search of the area and dozens of interviews with local residents and worksmen has turned up nothing. It's like the ground had opened and swallowed the children without a trace. But then an image of one of the boys appears on the internet...

the second case is the intensely brutal slaying of prostitutes in Temple Fields, Bradford's red light district which leaves the working women terrified for their lives. Nobody has seen anything, nobody knows anything or is too scared to speak up. And then the police decide on a stakeout for the mysterious killer, using a young female detective for the bait. At first this seems like a good idea but then everything goes horribly wrong...

With two serial killers on the loose, time is running out fast for the detectives and also for Tony, who with his profiling work once again offers some helpful advice.

With this novel, I can see certain similarities to "The Mermaids Singing" - it is written in almost exactly the same style and has some similar elements. It is also certainly no less gory so it might not be to everyone's taste but it is definitely a great thriller and masterfully written. I'll be very happy to read some more of Val's books.

I have read quite a lot of Val McDermid's work including all of the Tony Hill series. This is by far the best. A welcome return of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan.

McDermid surpassed all my expectations with this book. Carol Jordan's return to the British police force after her harrowing experiences abroad was brilliantly written. DCI Brandon offers her the chance to head her own squad and because of their previous working relationship Jordan accepted, although not without reservation. She then feels betrayed by Brandon when he wants one of her officers to try and set up a sting to catch the person torturing and killing prostitutes as he knows how much her own experience of doing just that went horrifically wrong for her.

Tony Hill was portrayed at his best in delving into the minds of the patients at the Psychiatric Facility where he worked and the mind of the killer, while still trying to conquer his own demons.

The sexual tension between Carol Jordan and Tony Hill was at a height and you were still kept wondering 'will they or won't they', especially with Hill offering Jordan his basement to live in as a totally self-contained flat.

This story had the usual twists and turns that McDermid is great at and as usual kept you guessing as to who the real culprit was.

The plot was expertly written and the characters were all extremely well rounded and of a great variety. The career minded policeman who didn't care who he had to step on to get glory, the policewoman hiding a secret lifestyle who wanted to do the best job she could even if it placed her in extreme danger to do so, the extremely ambitious head of the Psychiatriac Facility that Hill goes to work for who doesn't want anyone to be better than him at working out what is going on in the minds of the patients, the patient who killed his own children that you actually ended up having sympathy for and of course the psychopathic killer. Nobody seems to be better at getting into the mind of a psychopath than McDermid.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading Psychological Thrillers. In my personal opinion you are better to read the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series in order though as there are common elements running through the entire series.

"The Torment of Others" is the fourth in the electrifying "Wire in the Blood," Dr. Tony Hill/Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid, a quickly-emerging writer. Like her others, it's set in Bradfield, a fictional northern English city much like Manchester, where McDermid, after graduation from Oxford, worked as a journalist for 16 experience-enriching years. McDermid's "Wire in the Blood" series has, of course, become the basis for the popular ITV television series of the same name, Wire in the Blood: Series 1 and 2 (5 Disc Box Set) [DVD] [2002], starring the toothsome Robson Green.

The author was born and raised in a Scottish mining town, and though this series is set in England's north country, she writes the toughest tartan noir going: sharp-humored and bloody-minded. In 1995, she won the Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the year. Her novel A Place of Execution won a "Los Angeles Times" book prize, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel, and was named a "New York Times" Notable Book of the Year. It has recently been made into a TV series of the same name, Place of Execution [DVD] [2008]. Mind you, McDermid frequently makes use of oft-seen plot devices. Yet she seems to break new ground with each book, always at the margins of society, where most of us have not been.

In "Torment" DCI Jordan returns to Bradfield after a disastrous German assignment, in which she did not receive the full support she needed from her superiors. Once back in the aging industrial city, she again joins forces with Hill to crack two puzzling cases. Someone is kidnapping young boys at rather long intervals. And someone is torturing and murdering prostitutes. The latter case is considered doubly mysterious because, in a familiar plot device, the town had an identical series of crimes two years earlier. Irrefutable forensic evidence brought the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man, now safely locked away in a mental institution. Is there a copycat on the loose? The desperation of local police brass to solve this case will result in their sending out another insufficiently supported young woman decoy, the aftermath of which will echo Jordan's German experience.

McDermid is always strong on forensics and police procedure. She demonstrates an appreciation of the suffering of victims of crime, and the burdens of law enforcement work. She can keep several plots spinning at a time. Further, her Dr. Hill provides stimulating psychological insights into the criminal mind. She also writes vividly and well. She probably can also write quickly: she's actually doing three series, as well as the odd standalone. But be warned, the squeamish and sensitive among you; this book, like many/most of her others, is not for you.

Whilst Carol Jordan is still trying to recover from her experiences when an undercover operation went badly wrong for her, a young woman is found murdered.
The killing is almost identical in MO to those committed by Derek Tyler, who is incarcerated in a mental institution and has become an elective mute. The discovery of this body and then a further victim appears to cast doubt over Tyler's conviction and the original enquiry and profiler Tony Hill is asked to consult on the case.
The new investigation leads the team to take the risky decision of setting up another undercover operation, but there are doubts that Carol will be able to cope after her recent traumatic experience.

This novel really shows Val McDermid at her finest. I was very disappointed with `Beneath the Bleeding' (the most recent novel) but this has really reminded me why she is held in such high regard. I have always watched the TV series `Wire In The Blood', but even so I would recommend that you read the novels: the subtleties of the relationship between Carol and Tony are far better read than watched. This book really was fantastically well written and very fast paced. Recommended.