Product Description

Stunning psychological thriller featuring Tony Hill, hero of The Wire in the Blood, from one of Britain's bestselling novelists For some, there is nothing so sweet, so thrilling, as the torment of others ! A dead girl lies on a blood-soaked mattress, her limbs spread in a parody of ecstasy. The scene matches a series of murders which ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of one Derek Tyler. But Tyler's been locked up in a mental institution for two years, barely speaking a word -- except to say that 'the Voice' told him to do it. 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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20500 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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.

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

Review
Praise for The Torment of Others 'One of McDermid's finest, which is saying a lot' Marcel Berlins, The Times 'Val McDermid is an intelligent, supremely talented novelist and with this latest tale, she is writing at the height of her power' Allan Laing, Glasgow Herald 'Complex, combative and nuanced' Barry Forshaw, Express 'Val McDermid, as ever, is adept at engendering irresistible suspense' Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement 'There are some terrific twists: just as the reader feels something has been securely settled, that we can identify a perpetrator to our satisfaction, McDermid gives a new jerk to the storyline and the chase is on again' Jane Jakeman, Scotland on Sunday 'No one compares to McDermid when it comes to the deviant side of human nature' Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian 'This is McDermid on top form -- pass the valium' Daily Mail Praise for The Torment of Others 'One of McDermid's finest, which is saying a lot' Marcel Berlins, The Times 'Val McDermid is an intelligent, supremely talented novelist and with this latest tale, she is writing at the height of her power. It may not be comfortable, it may be neither pretty nor pleasant, but it is utterly compelling' Allan Laing, Glasgow Herald 'Serial killers, though meat and drink, to crime writers, are thankfully rare. It is a tribute to the power of Val McDermid's imagination that she made this one seem so believable' Daily Telegraph 'Complex, combative and nuanced' Barry Forshaw, Express 'Val McDermid, as ever, is adept at engendering irresistible suspense, as the fearsome attractiveness of the ever more benighted and bloody predicament works its effect on readers' Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement 'There are some terrific twists: just as the reader feels something has been securely settled, that we can identify a perpetrator to our satisfaction, McDermid gives a new jerk to the storyline and the chase is on again' Jane Jakeman, Scotland on Sunday

The Times
'A disturbing, high-tension book, unstinting in its portrayals of psychological distress. One of McDermid's best, which is saying a lot'

Customer Reviews

High Five
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.

The Torment of Others, Val McDermid
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.

More mayhem from McDermid
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.