Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1431 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Amazon.co.uk
It seems hard to believe now, but there was a day when Val McDermid was just another crime writer. True, her Kate Brannigan novels were highly accomplished and well-honed pieces of work, and if McDermid had written nothing else, they would have assured her a solid place in the history of the genre. But Beneath the Bleeding (as with most of the other work the author has done more recently) is a much more ambitious and considerable novel, written on a grander scale, tackling pertinent social issues and (most importantly) developing two highly memorable characters: forensic profiler Tony Hill and his police ally DCI Carol Jordan.

The new book, as disturbing as it is compulsively readable, continues to add new levels to the psychological thriller -- something that McDermid seems able to do in every new book. A star footballer has been murdered in the city of Bradfield. Shortly after, an explosion rocks the town's football stadium, wreaking mass carnage. In the current climate of fear regarding home-grown terrorism, it is inevitable that suspicion falls in this direction – but is money -- or something else -- involved here? Such as a bloody working out of some kind of revenge scenario against the football team? Needless to say, this is quite a different case from those that Tony Hill and Carol Jordan have previously been involved with, and the customary relationship (swinging between confrontation and admiration) is worked out with all the rigour that we expect from McDermid. Of course, this is an author who always has more fish to fry than the simple exigencies of the crime novel, and astringent commentaries on many aspects of British society are provocatively incorporated here (always, though, inter alia -- never at the expense of a forward-moving narrative). If you're a fan of the Wire in the Blood TV series, you should do yourself a favour and investigate the original novels – such as Beneath the Bleeding. They offer a considerably more involving experience. --Barry Forshaw

Guardian
`All the craft, panache and pace that we have come to expect from this outstanding writer... Vintage stuff: unplug the phone, lock the door and prepare to read in a sitting'

The Times
`Another intelligent and absorbing offering from one of crime fiction's most consistent performers'

Customer Reviews

Takes a long time to get going and there isn't enough Tony Hill!
In `Beneath the Bleeding', Val McDermid has returned to the golden age method of murder; poisoning! As the book starts a young footballer is receiving medical attention for a suspected viral infection. Thanks to a young doctor it is discovered that he has actually been poisoned with ricin. As this is a high profile case, Carol and her team are under pressure to get results, unfortunate as Dr Tony Hill is out of action (having been attacked by an axe-wielding patient in the secure hospital where he works.) Everything finally comes together though and Tony and Carol and their supporting cast eventually get the perpetrator. There is also a sub-plot involving a bombing at the club's ground.

I can appreciate why other reviewers have given this book such a hard time and I would agree that it doesn't seem up to the usual high standard. I think that part of the problem is that it takes about a hundred pages before the plot really gets going, and even then, Tony Hill seems to only have a bit part in the action. He is largely absent through great chunks of the book, a disappointment if he is your usual reason for reading. There is also something about the method of murder which isn't quite as immediate or graphic and makes for a much slower pace. I was hugely disappointed that we weren't given more idea about the psychological motivation of the killer. It was all there, but very much as a last minute thing in the last twenty pages.

If you haven't read a Val McDermid book before then this wouldn't be the best one to start with, go back and try `The Mermaid Singing' and you'll have no complaints!

Astonishingly good
An unputdownable read....

If all crime writing was this good, I would be incredibly happy.

This is top notch plotting, writing, psychology, description, conversation and an acute insight into the (probable ) behaviour of our anti-terrorist squads.

Buy this. You will not be disappointed.

Val McDermid at her best.

Murder by numbers that doesn't add up
Val McDermid is a great writer and has written some astonishingly good books in the past, but this book isn't up to par. There is more than the slight hint of the autopilot about the writing as Tony Hill and Carol Jordan investigate two crimes involving the (fictional) Bradfield Victoria football team; the poisoning of their star striker, and a terrorist bomb at their stadium.

"Beneath the Bleeding" is readable enough and I turned the pages quickly to see what would happen, but then felt upon finishing the novel that I had rather wasted my time. Neither of the killers' motivations quite work; for some reason, McDermid decides to give us an insight into the bomber's life, but then has his attack committed for a reason that really does not add up and which contradicts other things we are told about the character. The footballer's killer is slightly more convincing, although not much, and this strand is tied up in a somewhat throwaway way near the end of the book. The inclusion of Tony's mother is a good idea but also does not ring true; she serves more as an irritant to Tony than a believable character.

All in all, passable entertainment, but not a story that stands up to much scrutiny and certain characters don't convince. The fact that the killers and their motives seem overly contrived adds to the sense that this is not a well-worked-through thriller - a bit disappointing, really.