Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106265 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Award-winning psychological crime thriller from Val McDermid, 'Manchester's answer to Thomas Harris' (Guardian) You always remember the first time. Isn't that what they say about sex? How much more true it is of murder...Up till now, the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one's different -- this one's on the loose. In the northern town of Bradfield four men have been found mutilated and tortured. Fear grips the city; no man feels safe. Clinical psychologist Tony Hill is brought in to profile the killer. A man with more than enough sexual problems of his own, Tony himself becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive. A tense, brilliantly written psychological thriller, The Mermaids Singing explores the tormented mind of a serial killer unlike any the world of fiction has ever seen.

About the Author
Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years, spending the last three as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. She is now a full-time writer and lives in South Manchester

Customer Reviews

Disturbingly good
If you're a fan of crime novels and you've never read anything by Val McDermid before, this is a great place to start. McDermid is pretty well known these days since the TV drama 'Wire in the Blood' featuring Robson Green as the criminal profiler Tony Hill became popular. Tony Hill was created by McDermid and this is the first in a string of books featuring him. The novel of 'The Wire in the Blood' follows straight on from this, and I'd recommend readings 'The Mermaids Singing' first, as you get a good deal of background information on the character as he is introduced.

'The Mermaids Singing', winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Fiction, is set in the northern (and fictional) town of Bradfield where four men have been found tortured and killed. The city is in a panic and so the police bring in clinical psychologist Tony Hill to help catch the murderer. This is the first time Hill has been involved in an active police investigation, as he has previously spent his time studying killers who have already been caught.

Hill is a complex character who is very well portrayed, with all his strengths and weaknesses revealed for us by McDermid. He is a truly three dimensional character who we become quite involved with as readers. His own sexual problems and his anxiety over them make him seem very human. The tentative flirtation between him and Inspector Carol Jordan is nicely conveyed as well.

One of the things that makes this book original is the fact that the reader is allowed into the mind of the killer. At the beginning of every chapter, we are shown a few pages from the killer's journal. These can be disturbing, but they are an interesting device and very well written, and they give the book that little bit of edge.

I won't say too much about the plot so as not to ruin it for you, but it is exciting and well developed and definately worth a read. Personally I prefer the second in the series, 'The Wire in the Blood', but this is great to set you up for that.

The Mermaids Singing
This introduces an excellent team of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. The author establishes a good rapport between them. The book is well plotted and paced. A twist towards the end is perhaps guessable but this doesn't detract from the book's success as a good crime thriller. I look forward to the next Hill/Jordan investigation.

It's a killer!
Highly recommended! The plot is clever and well thought out and the writing is very pacy. I was gripped from the very start of the book and I loved watching the skewed relationship develop between Carol and Tony. This subject matter is dark and distubing but McDermid has a way of involving you so you feel that you are fully immersed in this macabre world. This is the first McDermid book that I have read and I feel that she is out and out fore runner in crime fiction. Looking forward to devouring her back catalogue.