Val McDermid - An Author

Advantages: Hard back and paper back. Very good read.
Disadvantages: the need to ensure that the books in a series are read in chronological order.

...Val Mcdermid writes about crime, whether it be based on her own Private Eye - Kate Brannigan, or a forensic phychologist-Tony Hill. She writes serials that involves these characters, and another about a lesbian journalist, Lindsay Gordon. (which I have not read.) Some people may already be familiar with Tony Hill, a pyhycologist who suffers from sexual dysfunction, as some of his stories have been dramatised and can be seen on ITV or DVD box sets. Ms Mcdermid is regually nominated and wins awards such as the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger, Portico Prize for Fiction, Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and was short listed for British Book Awards 2008. The reason for all her prizes is due to her excellent writing. She crafts her stories so that you know the main caracters so well you can concider them...

aquarius2005 26.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Val McDermid

The torment of others - Val McDermid

Advantages: Easy read, hard to out down
Disadvantages: None

......

borstal 21.04.2007 · Read review
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Review of Torment of Others - Val McDermid

Torment by Wire

Advantages: A thriller as a thriller should be - thrilling!!!
Disadvantages: Some sadistic sexualnature in the book, but it is fitting with the story

... THE TORMENT OF OTHERS VAL Mcdermid For those of you who don't know, Val McDermid is the creator of the popular TV series called 'Wire in the Blood 'with actor Robson Green. This book is one of her Tony Hill books; he is a criminal psychologist and profiler who constantly finds himself helping the police to solve monstrous, heartless and often sexually motivated killings. The 'Torment of Others' isn't the first of the Tony Hill novels, and it clearly follows some major events for the characters, so maybe it would be best to read the series in order if possible. Having said that this is the first of the books that I have read and it proved that it certainly can be read on its own as it doesn't take long to work out the relationships between the characters. The story takes place in the fictional City...

oldchem 10.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Torment of Others - Val McDermid

Crack Down

Advantages: Excellent diverse story
Disadvantages: Lead character very similar to others written by this author

...Background: I have only very recently started reading novels by this crime writer after a long break from her work. Many years ago I read ?Killing the shadows? then a few weeks ago I re-newed my acquaintance with her writing with ?Final edition?. So I was keen to try another one of her books and when I saw this one on sale at half price at my local bookshop I thought I must purchase it. About the author: Val McDermid was born in Scotland in 1955. Like many successful writers her grounding was 16 years in journalism, before moving into writing books full time. So far she has writing 27 novels, five in the Lindsay Gordon series, six in the Kate Brannigan, and a further five in the Tony Hill/ Carol Jordan series. Synopsis of the novel: Kate Brannigan and her boyfriend Richard are doing some Private Investigation...

CPTDANIELS 02.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Crack Down - Val McDermid

The journalist murder

Advantages: Classic Detective novel
Disadvantages: Slow and confusing start

... Background: I had only read one novel previously by V.L.McDermid and that was several years ago. I was looking round my local book shop and I noticed a whole section of books by this author, so I thought it was about time I tried another one of her books. Especially as sadly I can?t remember anything about reading the previous one, so I?m not sure if that?s a good or a bad sign. About the author: Val McDermid was born on the East Coast of Scotland. Before turning to writing novels, she was a journalist for 16 years. Her first book was published back in 1984 and was called ?Report for Murder?. Since then she has written a further 25 novels, justification I think for her own section in the bookshop I think! This book I am reviewing was her third written in 1991. Synopsis of the book: Lindsay Gordon had...

CPTDANIELS 11.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Final Edition - Val McDermid

I'd prefer not to be under the blood

Advantages: another great book from this author
Disadvantages: only if you dont like her work

...Once again the books in the Supermarket decided I simply had to own them and a few weeks ago I came home with a double pack of Val McDermid books, this her newest publication and an older book. So never one to read things in order I picked this one off my to read pile first. We dive straight in to the plot with a patient at the Bradfield Moor Secure Hosptial deciding that now is the time to start taking people to Him, unfortunately this patient has been cunning enough to avoid taking his medication and its calming effect has worn off. Tony after this is stuck in hospital himself, and Carol has been handed a case which is firmly in the media glare. A local football star has died and it looks like he has been poisoned. But there is no obvious motive for this man to be killed. Tony stuck in his hospital bed finds out that another...

scuba_angel 04.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Beneath the Bleeding - Val McDermid

The return of Hill and Jordan

Advantages: Clever plot, good writing
Disadvantages: Lacks the psychological angle that makes her books so good

...'Beneath the Bleeding' is the latest in Val McDermid's series of crime fiction novels featuring psychological profiler Dr Tony Hill and Detective Inspector Carol Jordan. If you haven't read any of the novels, you may have seen some of them used as the basis for the television series 'The Wire in the Blood' starring Robson Green and Hermione Norris. It's not essential to have read the previous books but past incidents are referred to quite often through the course of this novel and do shed light on how the relationship between Tony and Carol has reached the strained point the reader finds in 'Beneath the bleeding'. If you haven't seen the television series or read any of the other novels, the basic premise is this: slightly odd but highly insightful psychologist Tony Hill works for the Home Office and when he's not assessing...

fizzytom 24.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Beneath the Bleeding - Val McDermid

Gravely missing something

Advantages: McDermid is undoubtedly a great writer, and it shows
Disadvantages: Just a few too many flaws to be a great boo

...The Grave Tattoo. ~ About the Author ~ Val McDermid began her writing career as a journalist, before turning to writing novels, and is without a doubt the UK's best known female writer of thriller books. Even those who might not have read her books, are likely to know her for her best known series - Wire in the Blood, which has been made into a TV series featuring Robson Green, and currently Simone Lahbib. The Grave Tattoo was first published in 2006. ~ The Book synopsis ~ After unusual amounts of rain, a body is uncovered in the peat hillsides of The Lake District. It becomes apparent this is a fairly old body, but its even more intriguing to find that it is covered in a variety of tattoos. Meanwhile in London, local Lake District lass Jane Gresham is barely surviving her time in the capital. Her home consists...

runetune 29.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid

TORTUROUS TORMENT

Advantages: Gripping, compelling, gut wrenching, exciting thriller
Disadvantages: You'll lose sleep not wanting to put it down!

...~~~INTRODUCTION~~~ This is my third experience of Val McDermid. I have previously read and reviewed "A Distant Echo" and "The Mermaids Singing". I had been initially attracted by the fact that she is a fellow Scot and that she wrote in my favourite genre - that of the psychological thriller. She is now firmly placed on my favourite author's list even though I was fairly critical of some of the weaker aspects of The Mermaids Singing. ~~~THE AUTHOR~~~ Even now it amazes me that I'd never discovered this author before. She grew up in Kirkcaldy, a town on the East Coast of Scotland, its most famous "son" being the Adam Smith (the philosopher and economist) and the town itself being well known for the production of linoleum. McDermid became the first woman from a Scottish state school to be accepted at St Hilda's in Oxford to...

fantasybeliever 28.03.2005 (15.04.2005) · Read review
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Review of Torment of Others - Val McDermid

A FAIR TRIAL .... WITHOUT A BODY?

Advantages: Chilling, gripping, compelling tale
Disadvantages: All the characters smoke excessively!

...~~~INTRODUCTION~~~ I buy a lot of books from charity shops - after all they're cheap, accessible, tend to have an impressive range of genres available and at the same time you're supporting a good cause in a way that offers a benefit to you as well as the organisation concerned. I found myself in the local Oxfam shop a couple of months ago. Recently refurbished, it holds a remarkable collection of books, organised by author making it easy to see what's on offer. I was delighted and surprised to see an early Val McDermid book on sale for the princely sum of £1.50 and in almost pristine condition, so of course, I had to have it. This is my fourth Val McDermid experience and sometimes when you've read a few books by an individual author in quick succession there's a danger of becoming bored with their style, tone or formulaic...

fantasybeliever 13.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of A Place of Execution - Val McDermid