The Torment of Others

This is the kind of mystery that is my absolute favourite. It's a police procedural with a psychological underpinning. Carol Jordan has been brought back to Bradfield to head up a major crimes unit in the police. The last job she had involved an undercover assignment that went bad and she was raped which has affected her confidence and judgment. Tony Hill, a psychologist and profiler, has also returned to Bradfield. The two are close but have never had a sexual relationship but now they are sharing a house and working together. The story involves two major crimes. One is a cold case in which two young boys were abducted and never found. The other is a series of gruesome murders for which someone was charged two years ago but the exact show more same method has now been used to murder two prostitutes. Against her better judgment Carol puts one of her officers on the street to try to lure the killer and trap him. But the undercover operation goes terribly wrong and the officer is abducted. At the same time, the cold case has caught a break and the bodies of the two boys have been found. The perpetrator is one of a few people but, although he was in police custody, he is mistakenly released. The suspense builds until the very end.

Carol and Tony and all of the major characters are well-developed with human frailties. The writing is crisp and the conclusion is believable.

Do Carol and Tony finally get together? Read the book to find out. show less

I'm loving this series. As other reviewers have written, the thing that elevates McDermid above other gritty procedurals is her empathy and respect for those on the bottom rungs of society's ladder. This is mirrored in Tony Hill's empathetic treatment of the "nutters" [McDermid's word, not mine] he deals with. Looking forward to the next!

Normalerweise ereignen sich in Krimis Verbrechen, die von mehr oder weniger tollen HeldInnen aufgeklärt werden - nicht so jedoch in diesen beiden Kurzkrimis von Val McDermid.
In der ersten Geschichte nimmt man teil an den Planungen und Überlegungen eines Schriftstellers, ohne allerdings zu wissen was er damit bezweckt. Er baut eine virtuelle Beziehung auf die in jede Richtung eine derartige Intensität gewinnt, dass die Lust auf das reale Gegenüber so groß wird, dass sie nicht mehr zurückzudrängen ist. Die Virtualität wird verlassen - und die ZuhörerIn ahnt was kommt. Dennoch bleibt es bis zum Schluss spannend.
Der zweite Krimi (wenn man es überhaupt so nennen mag) ist von gänzlich anderem Charakter. Hier erzählt ein show more Berufsverbrecher auf ausgesprochen charmante Art und Weise von seinem Werdegang und seinem Versuch, einen Job zu finden und ein anständiges Leben zu führen. Man erfährt, dass Diebe und Einbrecher ein Berufsethos haben, ebenso wie ihnen Würde und Familie wichtig sind. Letzlich wünschen auch sie sich nichts anderes als der normale Durchschnittsbürger. All dies wie sein erfolgreiches Bemühen auf unkonventionelle Art und Weise wieder zurück auf den Pfad der Tugend zu kommen, ist amüsant erzählt wie auch vorgelesen.
Schöne Unterhaltung für zwischendurch. show less

Carol Jordan hasn't been back to work since her rape while undercover. I don't thing she was really planning on it till she was offered a premo job in charge of a major crime team. All the team members would be Inspectors she new with one exception from vice.

The team gets 2 tough cases, one was the murder of 2 young boys that went nowhere when a member of the team worked it previously. The other is the murder of some of the working girls on the street.

I really liked the way each team member has a history, problems and are treated as individuals not brushed over because they are not one of the 2 main characters.

These are complicated cases with not a lot of clues and the story keeps you turning pages throughout especially with both cases show more going on. Carol Jordan is working through her demons from her last case and trying to keep a hold on them as well.

Very well developed plot and characters. This is the first one I read of the series but plan to read more. show less

I have read two other books with the same main characters. I still remember enough about the backstory to not make the hints tedious. I quite liked the story. It's what I wanted for my holiday reading and pretty much what I expected.
And here come's the spoiler:
I once said the difference between American and Scandinavian thriller writers is that the latter are not afraid to kill off one or more of the good guys. Val McDermid wasn't afraid to do that, either. Unfortunately she did it at the completely wrong moment of the story - you don't have time to grieve for the nice, good character, which makes the ending less satisfactory than it could be. (And this coming from me, who *hates* happy endings..)

Tony Hill back in action - still the sexual tension, inconvenient-yet-reciprocated attraction between him and DCI Jordon (who is beginning to re-find herself after the traumas from book #4). I had trouble putting this down, losing sleep, staying up far too late to see how Tony & Carol would pull this off yet again.... one of the most enjoyable series, I think.

Another good addition to Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series. The suspense builds throughout the story as the case progresses. By the end of the book you don't trust anyone because he or she could be the villain. I could not put the book down.