Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5874 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Gold Dagger Award winning serial killer thriller introducing Tony Hill, criminal profiler and now hero of 'The Wire in the Blood', the hugely successful TV drama series. 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

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.

Graphic but gripping
As with all books by this author the descriptions of the killing methods are graphically detailed and only for those with a strong constitution.

However, all the books in the Tony Hill series are excellent and as long as you don't read them whilst you're eating they are well worth the cover price!

For fans of the thriller genre - you will not be disappointed. But be prepared to buy all her books once you've finished the first one - addictive stuff.