Fever Of The Bone: (Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, Book 6) (original 2009; udgave 2009)

For a long time one of my favorite series was the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan police procedurals by Val McDermid. For some reason, I have not read one of these books in quite some time and recently when I was sorting through my various series, I realized that I needed to get back to this series by reading number 6, Fever in the Bone.

Although it’s been some time since I have read this series, I found it easy to jump back into the lives of psychological profiler, Dr. Tony Hill and his police supervisor and best friend DCI Carol Jordan. Carol is dealing with work changes that a new Deputy Chief Constable has brought, among them the ruling that she is not to use Dr. Hill but instead turn to in-house profilers. She and her team become involved in a particular nasty serial murder case, one involving the deaths of a number of teenage boys. Tony on the other hand has accepted an assignment with a different police force and it takes some time before Carol and Tony come to realization that they are both working different ends of the same case.

The investigations are interesting, well plotted and the story moves quickly. Along the way the reader is able to catch up with most of Carol Jordan’s team members as well as Carol and Tony themselves. There is a decision made at the end of this book that looks to bring about some major changes to the series. I will certainly not let this series slip through the cracks again as I am looking forward to number 7 and finding out where these characters are heading. ( )

Another enjoyable if routine romp in the world of Tony Hill the emotionally-damaged psychologist and feisty detective Carol Jordan. Somebody is picking off apparently random teenagers by grooming them on a social networking group and then luring them to a messy demise. DCI Jordan is forbidden from consulting Dr Hill by her new Chief Constable and in any case Tony has been summoned to another part of the the country on an apparently unrelated case. But will they be able to work their magic together?

I have to say that, on the basis two pieces of information both available to Carol Jordan, I'd accurately done my own bit of profiling before much more than a hundred pages were up, but it took another 400 pages for Tony and Carol and her team to come up with a denouement. I have a strong sense that the author is hoist with her own petard; she intended Tony Hill to be a one off in The Mermaids Singing and by her won admission she'd said everything there was to know about Tony in that first book, but it's this series that brings the money in via television. The feeling of strain here is palpable. The dark and disturbing goings on of Mermaids is missing; our killer doesn't do torture but rather gives the victims a painless death before mutilating them. The focus is less on the murders and much more on the interactions and relationships between the investigators, and there's a clear leaning towards the much gentler Lindsay Gordon lesbian romance mysteries. There's a heart-warming if unconvincing subplot for Tony Hill, who feels more and more like an awkward extra in his own series, and there's a forgettable cold case to be resolved without adding anything to the whole. The whole caboodle is about 250 pages too long and I'm sure this is more a reflection of the marketing department's demands than Val's qualities as a writer.



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Another enjoyable if routine romp in the world of Tony Hill the emotionally-damaged psychologist and feisty detective Carol Jordan. Somebody is picking off apparently random teenagers by grooming them on a social networking group and then luring them to a messy demise. DCI Jordan is forbidden from consulting Dr Hill by her new Chief Constable and in any case Tony has been summoned to another part of the the country on an apparently unrelated case. But will they be able to work their magic together?

I have to say that, on the basis two pieces of information both available to Carol Jordan, I'd accurately done my own bit of profiling before much more than a hundred pages were up, but it took another 400 pages for Tony and Carol and her team to come up with a denouement. I have a strong sense that the author is hoist with her own petard; she intended Tony Hill to be a one off in The Mermaids Singing and by her won admission she'd said everything there was to know about Tony in that first book, but it's this series that brings the money in via television. The feeling of strain here is palpable. The dark and disturbing goings on of Mermaids is missing; our killer doesn't do torture but rather gives the victims a painless death before mutilating them. The focus is less on the murders and much more on the interactions and relationships between the investigators, and there's a clear leaning towards the much gentler Lindsay Gordon lesbian romance mysteries. There's a heart-warming if unconvincing subplot for Tony Hill, who feels more and more like an awkward extra in his own series, and there's a forgettable cold case to be resolved without adding anything to the whole. The whole caboodle is about 250 pages too long and I'm sure this is more a reflection of the marketing department's demands than Val's qualities as a writer.



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gek., geh. Auch mit diesem Hörbuch bin ich sehr zufrieden, die Geschichte durchläuft ein roter Faden, aber man errät bis zum Schluss nicht, wer der Mörder ist. Auch geht es um verschiedene Fälle die bis zum Schluss viel Raum für Spekulationen lassen und einen nach der Auflösung mit einem erstaunten "ach so war das" aus dem Buch entlassen. Die Hauptpersonen kommen als mehr oder weniger normal bis skuril daher, aber nicht nervig. Manches ist natürlich sehr überzogen, dafür ist es aber trotzdem spannend und unterhaltsam. Mehr will ich nicht, dafür lese/höre ich. ( )

I've loved Tony Hill & Carol Jordan since day one with The Mermaids Singing. Her other series & stand alone novels I enjoy, but not AS much.
This story has growth for all characters, introduces some new faces that I hope stick around, gives Tony some real insight into his half-truth-filled past.

There might be better psycho-crime authors, but not for me!

An aside, since this isn't a tv site - the series Wire in the Blood with Robson Green & Hermione Norris is quite good, at least seasons 1 - 3. I've not been able to make the switch in season 4 to a "different" tough female detective. Closed-minded, yes, I know. ( )