Val McDermid

Until a couple of months ago, I had never thought to read a book by Val McDermid, then I got "The Mermaids Singing" as the book for my book club. I really enjoyed this, discovered I had the third in this series in my extensive collection of books I've bought but never opened, and got the second, fourth and fifth books absurdly cheap in WH Smith. So I'm on a bit of a run with it.

I've never watched Wire in the Blood, so I am unfamiliar with the stories and characters although having said this, I am aware that Robson Greene and Hermione Norris play the main roles. I don't picture Robson Greene when reading about Tony Hill, but I completely see Hermione Norris as Carol Jordan. Interestingly, I am now on the fourth book (The Torment of Others) and I am guessing that this was written after Robson Greene became Tony Hill, because in this one he is Robson Greene all over and I can only assume that the author is picturing him as she writes.

I do find these books gripping and fast paced, I have read the first three relatively quickly, but there's rather too many similarities for them to be read consecutively like this. She has a formula whereby Tony Hill puts himself in a situation where he is certain to die at the hands of the killer, only to be saved by some brilliance on his part or on the part of his colleagues. Also, the personal life of the author has little bearing on the content of the book and as such, I find the number of characters that are lesbians to be entirely unnecessary (NB there is no action, just feelings), and not representative. To be fair, the sexuality of the characters is often a vital plot device, but I'm starting to wish she'd use another plot.

I do like the way that she takes a different approach for each novel, sometimes we know who the killer is, sometimes we simply see their thoughts and it turns out to be another character, sometimes we know exactly who it is but just don't have a name. I also like the developing relationship (or not) between Carol and Tony, this is well written and does feel realistic.

Once I've finished this fourth book in the series, I'm going to take a break. I've got "Things I Want my Daughters to Know" by Elizabeth Noble to read, which I think qualifies as chick-lit, but I like her previous books very much. Then I've got to read "Saturday" by Ian McEwan (someone else I've not read anything by, and probably should have), then I'll return to the fifth and latest installment in the Tony Hill series.

Unless, of course, I get diverted, which is extremely likely. I may stick to Poppy Cat.