The Wire in the Blood

The book was represented as used but was in such good condition, it looked like new. I was very pleased.

I watched the BBC series and thought I would try the author -she is brilliant!I recently ordered 4 more of her books-I am a new fan.Highly recommend !

I happen to love British mysteries. I read the books & have followed some mystery series on BBCA. Wire in The Blood was part of a series & I made sure I was home to see it every week. The book fleshed out the characters with whom I was familiar, but it also is more comprehensive than any TV show or movie can hope to be. It has a complicated plot (or in this case we should say plots) that keeps you reading when you ought to be doing chores or maybe hitting the sack. I kept making time to read another bit.

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

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.