The Mermaids Singing

By: Val McDermid

Narrated by: Graham Roberts

Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage - or the power - to stop it....

©1995 Val McDermid (P)1996 ISIS Publishing Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Complex...powerful...psychologically terrifying...impossible to put down." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Exciting, rapid-fire...a satisfying descent into the territory of a twisted mind." ( Booklist )

"Compelling and shocking…." (Minette Walters)

Dark Torture with Light Moments

Whew! I'm glad that the book has ended. I listened to it in audible and the narrator put so much evil into his voice that you felt like you were part of the torture. Very dark and hard to listen to BUT exceptionally well done. I got hooked on McDermid when I read her recent novel about Karen Pirie, female detective. I found out that she had a series with a psychological profiler partnered with a female detective inspector and wanted to find out about the series with the first book. It's a good thing I started with the beginning. I expect future books are not quite as dark as this one but serial killers are nutters and this particular one has the murder squad running around with no clues. That is until Dr. Hill finishes his profile. Then the interesting stuff begins. Who is his phone sex caller? Will he and Carol, the inspector, become a couple? Will they track down the killer? Wow! This is a powerful story BUT be sure you are up for dark and specific torture scenes. Like the torture used in the inquisition. McDermid is a powerful author who uses her words to describe whatever she is writing about with exquisite detail. She is terrific.

Graham Roberts is a terrific narrator. His voices are truly evil but his accents capture the essence of the killer, the cops, and Tony. He is what made the words thrum with malice.

Graphic suspense

As with all the McDermid books, there is an interesting story, plausible characters, and twists you don’t see coming. However, just be aware- this does contain extremely graphic sexual content and descriptions of torture.

Not for the squeamish but a good story.

It is a very graphic novel. I was not sure I could finish it but I got easier (or I got numb). But it had a surprise twist and I enjoyed.

Torture warning

The plot is intricate and suspenseful, but I couldn’t deal with the torture scenes. I skipped through them. Not sure I’ll ever do another by this author. On the plus side, I guess, the writing was vivid enough to bring the torture to life. Too vivid for me.

Did listening change the experience?

I had never read any of Val McDermid's novels before. Someone recommended The Mermaids Singing, since I love murder mysteries where the more people who die (gruesomely) the better. I guess the title is an allusion to a line in T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock about luring men to their deaths. But wasn't it the Sirens who did that?

But to the book itself. Unlike many other reviewers who found the subject matter too distasteful to continue reading, Graham Roberts' narration softened the blow for me. Yes, the serial killer is into torture of the most gruesome kind, having learned so much about medieval methods of torment from visiting a museum of torture while on holiday in Italy, But Roberts' villain sounded too much like the actor/playwright Alan Bennett for me to take them seriously.

That's not to say I won't read other books in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. Indeed, the Home Office's psychologist Hill - fascinated by the minds of real nutcases - is an interesting and very different character to ones usually depicted in these kinds of thrillers. A damaged man himself, he makes sense of the old adage that psychologists need plenty of therapy themselves.

The only other "negative" point I would make about this novel - and perhaps as a consequence of the sheer horror depicted so graphically by Ms. McDermid - was that I never found myself emotionally engaged with any of the characters. Perhaps that's also one of the problems when a reader knows that a novel is the first in a series. Even when things looked very dire for Tony Hill, it was obvious (spoiler alert) that he was going to survive.

Overall: not for the faint-hearted!

Didn't Have to Be So Graphic

What did you like best about The Mermaids Singing? What did you like least?

I'm all in for the violent murder. I watch true crime on TV and most of what I listen to here involves a murder. But this was unnecessarily sick. Shock value to make up for average writing? I think the title was more intriguing than the book.

And the mystery wasn't that great a mystery. I also wondered why the narrator often said he when she was the correct pronoun. At first I found it confusing, then I thought maybe it was a reference to all the gender bending. Then I decided I might be losing my mind. I still have no clue.

I'd say there are loads of better books out there. No need to subject yourself to these really gross descriptions of sadism and torture.

Excellent profiling story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The characters are really well developed

Have you listened to any of Graham Roberts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Excellent narration

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No over several days while driving

It's rare that a book leaves me on the edge of my seat

And even more rare that the story is enhanced by the narrator. This book definitely did both of these things for me.

Difficult to keep track

This book was disturbing to me for a couple of reasons. The first being how graphic the torture scenes were written. I found it hard to listen. The other issue I had was the narration. I found it difficult to determine which character was speaking I listen to a lot of British narrations and don't have a problem distinguishing characters. This narration was a constant effort to determine who was speaking.

What a twist!

Great book and narration could not stop listening. Can't wait to listen to his second book in the Carol Jordan & Tony Hill series!