The Wire in the Blood

A Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Mystery, Book 2

By: Val McDermid

Narrated by: Michael Tudor Barnes

Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Across the country, dozens of teenage girls have vanished. It's the job of criminal profilers Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan to look for a pattern. They've spent years exploring the psyches of madmen. But sane men kill, too. And when they hide in plain sight, they can be difficult to find.

He's handsome and talented, rich and famous - a notorious charmer with the power to seduce... and the will to destroy. No one can fathom what he's about to do next - until one of Hill's students is murdered. Now, of all the killers Hill and Jordan have hunted, none has been so ruthless, so terrifyingly clever, and so brilliantly elusive as the killer who's hunting them.

©1997 Val McDermid (P)1998 ISIS Publishing Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Fine, intelligent, gripping." ( The New York Times Book Review)

"A superb psychological thriller." ( Cosmopolitan)

"Shocking... stunningly exciting, horrifyingly good." ( Ruth Rendell)

Dark, Terrifying, and AWESOME!!!

This is an awesome series. I loved the BBC TV show named after this book and I love the books even more. They are really dark and the violence is a bit over the top but they leave you a bit breathless in your race to find out what's going to happen next.

Unfortunately, I just looked for the next book in the series only to find that the next TWO are unabridged.

Audible - please, please get these books reproduced in their entirety!

good

h7ggu c ue ii 87vrecj. uuu ddhyr5 iiii6ytdev bbbbbbb iiiioooo. dffgggybhh iiii ddeeuhhuuu rf gg

Great Series

I like to follow series. This is probably the most consistent in quality story to story. Thus far not a dud in the lot. I gave this one a 5 and the remainder 4s but for me they all come very close to 5 stars. I highly recommend this series for extended reading.

Bloody

Would you try another book from Val McDermid and/or Michael Tudor Barnes?

Yes

If you’ve listened to books by Val McDermid before, how does this one compare?

I liked Beneath the Bleeding best

What about Michael Tudor Barnes’s performance did you like?

Good voice for such graphic material

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes and BBC has made an excellent adaptation with Robson Green

Any additional comments?

For once the videos are easier on the mind than the books. First two books leave nothing to the imagination regarding gory details.

Couldn't quit listening!

As of this review I am sure I've read over a hundred novels about serial killers. What makes this one stand out is the focus is on a newly formed team of profilers. They are experienced cops, but entirely new to profiling. They are led, however, by a very prominent physcologist who specializes in criminal profiling, Tony Hill.

The integrity of this group is immediately challenged by a police force unimpressed with any use of physcology and this prejudice is continually exacerbated by an extremely manipulative killer. I learned a lot more about profiling than most any other book I've read.

The suspense kept me engrossed throughout the novel.

Very Disappointed

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The first book was awesome... then this one just dashed my hopes. No where near the quality of a story as the first book.

Even better than the first in the series

Any additional comments?

A popular TV personality is killing fans — revealed right at the start. The cops can't believe the beloved star could possibly do such a thing. Meanwhile, a group of smart cops are brought together to train with profiler Tony Hill and a serial arsonist is at work in detective Carol Jordan's jurisdiction. Everything ties together. An excellent example of the serial killer crime procedural, with subtle commentary on celebrity and gender politics. Bechdel test: pass.

The narrator is excellent.

Implausible story, stereotyped characters

I enjoyed the first book in the series but this one is a mess. Women, lesbians, and blacks are stereotyped and the story is so implausible I had to quit listening several times. I would have quit the book and returned it, but I was short on other options.

People aren't always what they seem

What made the experience of listening to The Wire in the Blood the most enjoyable?

I love the way the characters are built - you really feel like you know them. The good ole boy circuit wants to do things their own way - so like the real world.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Multiple stories working together to build the plot. Plus you get a peak at behind the scenes of show business and the secrets they keep.

Which character – as performed by Michael Tudor Barnes – was your favorite?

I liked the Sharon "Shaz" Bowman character. Tough but fragile and dedicated to her job. She was doing well in her new job and even had a man who was interested in her.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The parts about Shaz Bowman back at her flat.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the book. And have already downloaded the next Tony Hill and Carole Jordan mystery in the series.

I think I get McDermid now: Kate Millet of crime?

but I prefer to get her in print, where I can skim/skip the violent detail. I don't think Wire in the Blood is anywhere close to as gritty as Mermaids Singing (and that goes for the three subsequent in the series that I "read" with text-to speech or Kindle as well) - but I'm still too squeamish to hear a good narrator get into the minds and hands of her killers. I think, however, the violence is not gratuitous: She's speaks to the violence done unto the vulnerable in our world, and how, as Alice Miller would say "All evil is reactive." I prefer that served up in a Soc text. but along the way she weaves such good stories, and her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan characters are anything but cookie-cutter cops. During each novel, I thought I'd read no more from her, but I found myself going back to the series for the story and characters. I'm getting adept with the fast-forward function, as much as skipping pieces of a book go against the grain for me.