Available:*
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Adult Mystery Fiction Book Hardback | 120791001478778 | M MCD | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan return in the award-winning series that is the basis for the hit show on BBC America.
In a small grim room, the body of a woman is discovered, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler.
But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?
All his years of experience tell top criminal psychologist Dr. Tony Hill that there isn't-but that would make the murders literally impossible. While Hill tries to crack Tyler, DCI Carol Jordan and her team must mount a desperate undercover operation to trap the murderer-a decision that will have terrible consequences.
As the tension mounts, a mixture of psychological insight and dogged detective work leads inexorably to a terrifying climax where Tony faces one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The latest addition to McDermid's dark and gritty police procedurals, which have become even more popular thanks to the BBC America TV program The Wire in the Blood, finds the series' usual main protagonists, psychologist/profiler Dr. Tony Hill and Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan, joined by DI Don Merrick, elevated from the ranks of supporting players. Topping their docket are two serial killers: a child molester who murders and hides his young male victims and the Creeper, who tortures and slays prostitutes using the identical modus operandi of a killer firmly ensconced in a mental facility. McDermid's strength is the engaging and multidimensional characters he creates on both sides of the law. The book was a finalist for the CWA's 2004 Gold Dagger Award, but this audio abridgment is more interested in story than in character. There are several effective set pieces, notably an undercover sting that goes bad, resulting in the abduction and torture of a novice policewoman, and Merrick's life and death struggle with the child predator. At these points, Doyle's competent but undistinguished performance rises to the challenge. But by trimming away the novels' strongest element-its vibrant characters-the abridgment highlights the novel's weakest element: the less than credible sequences leading to the identity and capture of the Creeper. Simultaneous release with St. Martin's/Minotaur hardcover (Reviews, May 2). (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
In the latest in the series starring forensic psychiatrist and criminal profiler Dr. Tony Hill (which has become the basis of a TV series on BBC America), Hill, finishing out a teaching appointment at St. Andrews, finds himself relieved to leave academia for a real case. The Bradfield Metropolitan Police once again seek his advice, this time regarding two missing children, a murdered seven-year-old kidnapped 15 months earlier, and a newly kidnapped eight-year-old. At the same time, a murder victim is discovered, killed in the same fashion as the victims of a man who has been in a mental institution for two years. McDermid is unusual in her ability to keep the suspense high while constructing social mysteries that are far-ranging in their implications--for example, she touches on the societal forces at work today (such as the lack of true neighborhoods) that make it easier for kids to be victimized. One of the most compelling features of this latest entry is the torment that returning Bradfield DCI Carol Jordan (brutally assaulted in the last mystery) feels as she and her team track down the current murderer while she struggles with the memory shards from the last case. McDermid brings to her mysteries an unusual capacity for compassion, both for victims and for the detectives whose lives are shattered tracking down the killers. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2005 Booklist
Guardian Review
A long-awaited return to the scene of the crime for Dr Tony Hill, the fascinating hero of three earlier novels, now best known for being quirkily impersonated by Robson Green in the TV series Wire in the Blood . Hill is a clinical psychologist whose assistance is often sought by DCI Carol Jordan, with whom he conducts a hesitation waltz of the "will they, won't they?" variety. The mutilated body of a prostitute has been found; a blood-soaked reconstruction of a similar series of murders that occurred two years before, for which Derek Tyler was convicted. Tyler is of course now locked up, and cannot be the culprit. Is there a copycat killer at large? Hill visits the mental institution where Tyler is kept in an attempt to break through the assumed murderer's silence, while Jordan sets up a dangerous undercover operation. No one compares to McDermid when it comes to the deviant side of human nature. Caption: article-crimshorts.3 A long-awaited return to the scene of the crime for Dr Tony Hill, the fascinating hero of three earlier novels, now best known for being quirkily impersonated by Robson Green in the TV series Wire in the Blood . - Maxim Jakubowski.
Kirkus Review
A serial killer and a pedophile overtax the Bradfield Metropolitan Police. Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan, returning to work after her rape seven months ago, heads a Major Incident Team that includes one closeted and one declared lesbian, one man promoted beyond his abilities, another so competitive he snoops through co-workers' garbage, one by-the-book copper and the obligatory computer whiz. Profiler Dr. Tony Hill, who loves the sexually frozen Jordan, helps the team track down (1) two missing boys presumed dead at the hands of a pedophile and (2) the copycat killer of two prostitutes whose signature matches that of Derek Tyler, a nutter sequestered in Bradfield Moor Secure Hospital. While they canvass the working girls' neighborhood and roam Internet child-porn sites for glimpses of the vanished boys, Hill grapples with the voice that apparently instructed Tyler to kill. Several unconvincing red herrings, including hospital director Aidan Hart, fall under suspicion. To entice the serial killer, Det. Paula McIntyre goes undercover as a prostitute, almost ending her life and Jordan's career. The team and Hill effect a last-minute rescue, but Det. Insp. Don Merrick is less fortunate in his confrontation with the child molester in the wilds of Scotland. Hypnotic mind-control, sexual trauma overcome by a roll in bed with a good-looking hunk, and dead ends jump-started by fortuitous computer photos make McDermid's latest exercise in serial murder (The Distant Echo, 2003, etc.) less than compelling. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In this novel, McDermid pits detective chief inspector Carol Jordan and Dr. Tony Hill against an apparent copycat serial killer. As a clinical psychologist and criminal profiler, Tony says that this type of copycat crime is impossible, but this would mean the Bradfield police have locked up the wrong man. The award-winning author continues to keep this series (e.g., The Mermaids Singing) interesting through developing the relationships among the characters and providing nonstop action and edge-of-the-seat suspense. Gerard Doyle's narration is superb. McDermid proves that British authors are familiar with the violent world of serial crimes and can certainly write gripping and entertaining psychological thrillers. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.