Rating: 
Summary: a fantastic race-to-the finish read for all!!
Review: a Brilliant, will they -or-wont- they murder mystery!
Because you know from the start who the murderer is you want everyone to know! But they don't, and it takes awhile before they do! A FANTASTIC suspenseful, and sometimes gory murder mystery, figured outin time by the great, but weird, Tony Hill!
And the equally as great Carole JordAN, who is not as pretty on camera as the books would lead you to believe! Hermione norris is good, but she should have been prettier according to the books!
Rating:
Summary: McDermid IS the best
Review: A lot of reviewers have criticised this book for being unrealistic. they fail to see the point. The whole point of the ENTIRE book is that the plot is unbelieveable, hence people dont! There is a celebrity going around murdering school-girls. No one believes Shaz Bowman's (a wonderful character) theory, because Jack Vance can't possibly be a serial killer because he's a "celebrity". And people say that the plot is unbelievable because celebrity's don't viciously murder. The whole poin tof the book is that no one believes Shaz because it's so far-fetched. I feel that people haven't got the message. this book is very different to The Mermaids Singing. but equally good in a different way. you should certainly read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Continuing a great trend
Review: Author Val McDermid must be one of the hottest writers around in the thriller stakes. I particularly like her ability to create a character in a few lines. Dr Tony Hill is once again matching wits with a deadly and dangerous opponent. A deeply flawed and anxious hero for the 21st century. Murder is no parlour game in McDermid's universe and the killings are horrific. The suspense builds until you just cannot put down the book. Her driving narrative and ability to sweep you along are tremendous. I think the Tony Hill books are some of the finest of genre and McDermid can proudly stake her claim to be one of the top thriller writers in the world today. That said, it is rather nice to go out to the garden and breath some fresh air when you have finished. McDermid creates a very nasty and black world. It occured to me that she owes a little to the gothic writers with their castles and torture chambers. And Hill is like a tortured knight bringing the evil killer to justice.
Rating: 
Summary: I Never Thought I Would be Typing This Phrase
Review: But (portentous silence) I liked the television series better than the book.
Others have mentioned the graphic scenes of torture. I have never been one to shy away from violence. However there is a point where you say, Oh, YUCK!! The most effective monsters are never seen in the glare of daylight. They exist in glimpses caught from the corner of the eye, in moonlight and in shadow. Seen in broad daylight they cease to scare and, instead, disgust.
In addition There is a lack of catharsis in the conclusion that makes this a less than totally satisfying read. Even when laying sequel bait, the conclusion to each book must be satisfying in and of itself.
Rating: 
Summary: Occasionally gritty, but predictable and cliched
Review: I picked this novel up at a cheap booksale, so it's hard to be bitter for buying it. The premise involves a celebrity, Jack Vance, who on cross-country promotional trips happens to take teenage girls, rape and kill them. Nobody links these missing girls together until Shaz Bowman, of the National Profiling Task Force, correlates these disappearances with Vance's publicity stunts. It's her job to convince everybody else of what she already knows - Jack is a serial killer. I must admit - I'm unfamiliar with Val's other work, so if clarifying information happened to be in the prequel, The Mermaids Singing, I'm sorry for having missed it. Still, I was thoroughly unimpressed with this novel, for a number of reasons: 1) Predictability. Beyond about page 150 (where a major, thoroughly unexpected event, and only truly gritty point in the novel, in my opinion), I was not once surprised or intrigued with anything that happened. I knew they were going to chase this guy. I knew what he had done. I knew they were going to catch him. As much as I was hoping there would be there was not a single plot twist or unexpected turn after this point. The conflicts they encounter along the way (disbelieving superior officers, etc.) seem just there to disguise how predictable the plot is becoming. It didn't fool me. And I doubt it will you, either. You can predict the plot fully after 150 pages. No kidding. 2) Surprise surprise: the good guys are always right, the bad guys always wrong. It's a formula - if a sympathetic character says it, it's correct. And I'm not talking about the main dilemma, either. It applies there, of course (Shaz' theory is correct), but also to a parallel arson case the group is pursuing. In other words - the good guys are just too good (which leaves little room for moral conflict, unfortunately). I didn't believe any of it. And I doubt you will, either. 3) The bad guy is too sloppy. I know he's a sociopath and all, but Tony Hill gets all of his clues from . . . well . . . from the bad guy! He's caught in his own lies repeatedly, and leaves one of his murders open for investigation. If he was intent on not getting caught, he wouldn't display his kills! It's that simple. But then Val wouldn't have a novel, so . . . I must say, though, that Val's writing is very good. She has a good style, and she excels as graphic descriptions, which are occasionally gut-wrenching. This novel also offers interest commentary on sham marriages. Best part of the novel, in my opinion. I'd recommend a novel in this one's place, but I haven't read any of her other work. If you want a look into the mind of a sociopath that is actually unpredictable and uncliched, pick up The Silence of the Lambs, but I don't think I needed to tell anybody that. ...
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not bad at all!!!
Review: I quite enjoyed this book. It is a bit slow in the beginning but once you get into it you won't want to put it down! If this book is any indication I'd love to read more by the same author. Great book overall!
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect the same quality as in "The Mermaid Singing" !!
Review: I suppose my opinion is coloured by the previous read of "The Mermaids Singing". You find yourself longing for a reuniting with its main characters, only to find them mingled in an irrealistic and a bit over-the-top plot. If you were thrilled by "The Mermaids Singing", don't expect to find the same quality here. What is surprising about this novel, though, is that despite of the fact that the killer is known after the two very first pages (notice his ridiculous name, which irritated me throughout the whole 400 pages), the introduction of a few new characters, such as Shaz Bowman and Donna Doyle, manages to intrigue you and drag you along the storyline. Never mind that the identity of the killer is proposterous, that the sideline-plot is bound to put you to sleep and that the main characters are charicatures of themselves in the Mermaids... This alone makes this novel worth a neutral stance : ** (I wouldn't want to be too positive and give it *** !!). If you haven't read "The Mermaids...", you might this novel remotely interesting. If you have, try not to think about it!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent cat and mouse game
Review: In THE MERMAIDS SINGING, Val McDermid introduced her readers to Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Sergeant Carol Jordan. They had teamed up to track down a serial killer who brutally tortured his victims before killing them. They respected each other and worked well together. However, the case took a lot out them and they started to drift apart. Several months have passed since this horrifying case. Carol Jordan has been promoted and now she is Detective Chief Inspector and in charge of her own group of detectives in the town of Seaford. They are currently working on a case involving a series of arson fires happening around town. Jordan's squad is reluctantly investigating the case until one person dies. Jordan shows them no mercy and works them hard in finding out who is responsible of creating those fires. She will take this case very personally before, during, and after the suspect is arrested. When we first met Dr. Hill in THE MERMAIDS SINGING he was heading a task force studying the viability of using profilers in police investigations. It was decided that the project is a go and Tony is training a special group of police officers in investigative profiling techniques. The author introduces each one of the students and explains the reason why they decided to become profilers. One day Dr. Hill gives them an exercise involving the unsolved disappearances of several teenage girls all around the United Kingdom. Tony invites Carol to the class to see if she would lend her technical expertise to the class discussion. Most of the students take this project as regular assignment but one of them sees it as much more. She analyzes every single aspect of their disappearances and tries to find a unifying factor. What she discovers is so outrageous that she discusses it in the class. She is ridiculed but undeterred. It is not until someone in her class is brutally murdered that Tony decides to do his own investigation. The reader learns the identity of the kidnapper and killer earlier on in the book before any of the other characters. We learn why he is how he is and why he does what he does. McDermid evens spends the time in giving developing the characters and learning what they are thinking to some of the victims before they are brutally murdered. It might be considered to be a bit sadist but just because they are characters in the book it does not mean that they cannot be disposable. Some readers might be upset with this but it helps to strengthen the plot. Tony Hill, Carol Jordan and the students all have a personal stake in bringing the murderer to justice. He thinks that he is invincible. Eventually at the end of the book there is a showdown and the bad guy is stopped. The villain is one of the most evil characters in books right now probably second to Hannibal Lecter. The author opens the possibility of bringing this character back. It will be a pleasure to learn about the repercussions of this book in her next Tony Hill/Carol Jordan booked called THE LAST TEMPTATION. Even if the villain does not return it will be nice to find out what happened afterward even if it is only a few sentences.
Rating:
Summary: Val's my new pal!
Review: This is my third book by Val McDermid. What a book! I'm surprised anyone gave this book less then a 4 star rating. This book is excellent, intelligent, interesting, etc... The book is a bit slow at the beginning but I really got into it anyways. And (SPOILER ALERT), I love when writers can kill off a "main" character and not bring it back (Patricia Cornwell, anyone?). I admit the character that dies was just introduced in this book but still, I had grown to like her and she was well developped in the book. I am for sure going to get the TV series based on this book and others by McDermid. (...)
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but plot a little far-fetched.
Review: This one is well worth the read, although the thought of a nutter like Jacko Vance getting to the top was harder to swallow than the plot of the excellent prequel "Mermaids Singing". I would think about a local crowd-pleasing celeb on TV here being a serial killer, which made it hard to go along with. I also would have liked to read more about what Jacko was getting up to in his spare time. That he would become so unhinged based on his experiences was also a little bit of a stretch, but I have dwelled on the bad and not mentioned the good. Excellent writing style, and the main characters were nicely subdued and not over-the-top, as seen in many similar novels that come out of the States, as opposed to UK.
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