The Mermaids Singing (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #1)

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The Mermaids Singing (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #1)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 4,944 ratings · 289 reviews

Val McDermid stunned readers and critics alike with the publication of her brilliant thriller, A PLACE OF EXECUTION, which was a finalist for the prestigious Edgar Award. Now, inTHE MERMAIDS SINGING, she continues her trademark ingenuity for suspense, and introduces criminal profiler Tony Hill, who has spent years exploring the psyches of madmen. But now he's become one of...more

Paperback, 364 pages

Published June 17th 2002 by St. Martin's Paperbacks (first published September 1st 1995)

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Apr 18, 2011 Moira Russell added it

Shelves: 2011-50-new-books-challenge, underwhelmed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. There I was, plowing through this shifting-from-OK-to-mediocre-and-back little UK police procedural (don't judge me, it's how I relax, and P.D. James is apparently retiring) when all of a sudden, I was sandbagged by a plot that turned on hate for queerness. I don't know how this was quite possible, since I saw the Wire in the Blood series based on these books when it was first broadcast here, but apparently I either forgot this particular plot twist or repressed it out of dire hate.

The villain,...more There I was, plowing through this shifting-from-OK-to-mediocre-and-back little UK police procedural (don't judge me, it's how I relax, and P.D. James is apparently retiring) when all of a sudden, I was sandbagged by a plot that turned on hate for queerness. I don't know how this was quite possible, since I saw the Wire in the Blood series based on these books when it was first broadcast here, but apparently I either forgot this particular plot twist or repressed it out of dire hate.

The villain, you see, is a transsexual, only just like in Silence of the Lambs (because about half-a-dozen other references to Silence of the Lambs weren't enough -- it was 1995, after all) a failed transsexual, because apparently the only thing worse than a man wanting to be a woman is a man "pretending" to be a woman, I don't even know. So, "really," "he's" a transvestite. And I really hate this kind of dodge because it allows the author to pay lip service to the idea "of course all gay/transgender people aren't like this and gosh I would hate to be called prejudiced" while simultaneously actually appealing to all kinds of subterranean prejudices, just as how schizophrenics usually aren't that violent but they make up ninety percent of People Who Just Go Batshit and Attack You With Axes on Law & Order. Transsexuals are People, Just Like You and Me! except when they have elaborate re-created torture machines down in their basements and choose perfectly nice young heterosexual men whose broken mangled bloodless bodies then get tossed into gay cruising spots, yuk yuk. Never mind that Jeffrey Dahmer never put on a dress. I suppose if I cared I could go into detail about how much the plot reveals about the author's, and society's, apparent anxiety wrt literally policing gender identity lines, but I am just too disgusted. Disgusted, also, with the fact this particular storyline is still blazingly popular, and bought by many people, including me (even if I didn't know - I should have checked the ending like I always do). I bought several books by this author, including this one, on sale but don't know if I want to read the others now. (Doubtless someone will come along to piously tell me Depiction Does Not Equal Approval. But dammit, I'm tired of these kinds of stories. Why are people still writing them? Why are we still reading them?)

What's really sad is that the author is a woman and altho the focus of the series is a Brilliant Male Profiler Type, another protagonist is a career policewoman whom I can almost picture as a young Jane Tennison, altho not so brittle and battered. But this female Inspector casually slurs the killer with a blend of personal pronouns (yes, referring to a sexual sadist/serial killer, altho I doubt a racial slur would have been approved at that point). I like to think women are maybe a little more clueful sometimes when it comes to gender and sex discrimination. But apparently not. We can be just as confused by, and therefore hateful of, difference in others as men can be, despite whatever prejudice we ourselves might've endured at the hands of society. Not quite what one hopes for in terms of equality.

I seriously suggest everyone who's read this book donate one (1) dollar (that's a $1 bill) to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, or its equivalent in non-US countries. One dollar is about three dollars less than what we tend to spend on a fancy cup of coffee, yet these books apparently sell well enough that that might mean a nice influx of cash for them, if people really did do it.

A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (less)

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May 25, 2010 Tracey rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone that loves BBC "Wire in the Blood" series

Shelves: mystery, kook

This was fantastic. It had a little bit of this

and a little bit of that

and lets not forget this

It was nice to see men being the victims for once. It was disturbing at times, and maybe that was why I loved it.

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Sep 28, 2008 Gail rated it 3 of 5 stars

Agatha Christie meets a sadistic serial killer. Taking place in the north of England, Tony Hill is a profiler and Carol Jordan is a police lieutenant in a very sexist police department. They are asked to work together on a series of murders, where the victims seem to be gay and the murders involve torture with sexual overtones. The narrative moves between the killer's diary, Tony's perspective and Carol's. Wonderfully well written, gruesome and an excellent mystery. The first outing in a series...more

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May 14, 2013 Michael Drysdale rated it 5 of 5 stars

Profiler Tony Hill and police detective Carol Jordan work together on a series of murders where the victims seem to be gay and the murders involve torture with sexual overtones. The book’s point of view alternates between Tony Hill, Carol Jordan and the killer. The latter point of view is in the form of a diary and I liked the way the description of each murder always followed the description of the discovery of the victim by the police.

The book is very well written and the serial killer is real...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Hazel McHaffie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I went to hear Val McDermid speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year, so I thought I ought to dip into her writing before too long a time elapsed. My chance came when I found The Mermaids Singing in a secondhand bookshop on Pitlochry railway station.
It's very well written, tight, tense, balanced and certainly had the pages turning for me. The bodies of four young men are found brutally tortured and mutilated. The clinical psychologist brought in to profile the killer is h...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Patty Teague rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had become enamored of reading the series, from the excellent Bristish T. V. series, "Wire in the Blood" I love how tony Hill, While brilliant, could have almost been a killer himself, as he understands killers so well, and can understand the choices they would make. There is also hint of a difficult early life for him. which it does not dwell on, but gives clues as to why he might beable to match a killer's thinking. This is Quite a brutal book. The subject is very intense. That said, I think...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first in Val McDermid's series featuring criminal profiler, Tony Hill, and Bradfield police detective, Carol Jordon. The novel is set in the early 1990's in a fictional northern England city, and it occurs just when the concept of criminal profiling had gained popularity in the United States. Tony Hill is trying to set up a national criminal profile database in England as a serial killer begins targeting young men in the gay subculture in the city of Bradfield, England. And, this is...more

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Jul 28, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very good. Bigoted coppers. Murder of men in gay areas. It has it all, and the literary introduction of Tony Hill and Coral Jordan.
the premise of the story is good, someone is murdering and torturing young men and dumping their bodies in area frequented by gay men. The local police force won't/don't want to use the serial killer words. Till their head decides to bring Hill. Then it snowballs when the fourth body is copper.
One of the coppers leading the investigation is very old-fashioned in his...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Sylvia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After reading Beneath the Bleeding I knew I had to consume as many of these books as possible, so I continued onto The Mermaids Singing and finished it around 4 o' clock in the morning, having been so engrossed I completely lost all sense of time.

McDermid has a strong grasp of human psychology and her characters are realistic, down-to-earth and with all the gritty, dirty bits that make up a human life. Each and every character seems to breathe from the page, whether they're in the book for two...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Ishmael Seaward rated it 3 of 5 stars

Okay read, if you like a familiar plot: serial killer is on the loose, thick-headed police don't connect the dots, protagonist pursues the serial killer, police wake-up, killer targets the protagonist, ending with...(no spoilers).

This book introduces Tony Hill, a psycologist specializing in criminal profiling. With 4 murders displaying similar characteristics, it is an uphill battle to convince the powers that be that there is a serial killer on the loose. It is also difficult to convince them t...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Tahmeena rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very violent and gory. Not for the squeamish!!!

I watched the TV show a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. I had been meaning to read the novels for a while now and finally got around to it a couple of months ago. The story is almost identical to the first episode of the show. Since I already knew the story, the suspense part was lost on me. However, it was a really good read even with the suspense factor out.

I enjoyed reading about the slightly "different" version of Tony Hill in the...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Jenni Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Mermaids Singing is a shocking and compelling book. This book is exciting, a rapid-fire, and a satisfying descent into the territory of a twisted mind. The book pulled me in right away. There was not a second where I was uninterested in this book. It’s very interesting to read because you literally are reading out of a mind of a serial killer. The only thing I had a problem with, was that the book was way too graphic for me. But also, the book became psychologically terrifying. The words in...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller, library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I started reading this one a few years ago but stopped about 30 pages in when it became apparent the killer would be honing 'his' torture skills on a german shepherd. I read plenty of grisly and disturbing crime fiction, but animal torture is where I draw the line (and is the reason I've never been able to bring myself to finish the Stephen King short story 'Apt Pupil'). I decided to revisit this one, though, after finishing Beneath the Bleeding, because I wanted to have all the pieces of the pu...more

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Jul 31, 2010 Hobart rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-reads

I've been watching (read: obsessing over) the BBC's Wire in the Blood over the last couple of weeks, and but haven't been terribly inclined to read the source material -- which is more than a little odd for me, I normally have to immerse myself in that kind of thing. Something about the stories and the way they were being told kept me from it. On the whole, I'm not a big serial killer fiction kind of guy--I'll dip into that type of thing occasionally, but generally if it's from an author I follo...more I've been watching (read: obsessing over) the BBC's Wire in the Blood over the last couple of weeks, and but haven't been terribly inclined to read the source material -- which is more than a little odd for me, I normally have to immerse myself in that kind of thing. Something about the stories and the way they were being told kept me from it. On the whole, I'm not a big serial killer fiction kind of guy--I'll dip into that type of thing occasionally, but generally if it's from an author I follow (I'm a little more inclined to handle the subject on TV than I am in movies or in print, but even then...)It was an aside in a blog entry by Lee Goldberg, contrasting TV series adapted directly from books vs. those based on the character/franchise that gave me the necessary push. I thought I knew what he was getting at, but wanted to see it in practice.

The Mermaids Singing is the first installment in the novel series (which was also the first story adapted for TV), the setup is essentially this: Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan and her the Assistant Chief (who's name I can't recall atm because the book's already back at the library) are convinced that a series of murders are the work of a serial killer, despite the outright (and seemingly blind) hostility Jordan's immediate supervisor has to the idea. The Asst. Chief recruits a local psychologist, Dr. Tony Hill, to work out a profile of the killer--luckily, he's heading up a nationwide task force to profile killers of this sort in an effort to help the police. Jordan's assigned to liaise between Hill and the investigation. As they work together, the two recognize kindred spirits and a shared idea for how a profiler can best assist the police in their investigations (both for this case and others), and a friendship--and partnership--develops between the two.

McDermid's point of view keeps jumping from character to character -- primarily between Hill and Jordan, with a handful of supporting characters getting their moment in the sun -- with journal entries from the killer in between chapters. Normally I'm not crazy about this technique, but on the whole, I thought it worked here -- particularly as a way of focusing on the two methods of tracking the killer: the police procedure (seen through Jordan's eyes) and the psychological profile (Hill's). Hopefully as the series progresses we lose the voice of the killer, while we see Jordan's and Hill's voices become stronger.

The killer's work is highly sexual in nature, but not even the densest copper needs Hill to tell him that. McDermid makes a lot of hay along these lines -- almost, but not quite, going overboard. Not just with the killer's sexual problems, but with one of her protagonists as well. The thematic link here worked well, but I hope that's not something that's dwelled upon in future installments.

It's not an equal partnership, by any means, Jordan's in the driver's seat, and she's not too intimidated or outclassed by Hill's expertise. I think a little of that is lost in the TV series, where it almost seems that the detectives are but means for Hill to gather information that they are clueless when it comes to interpreting. In fact, it's solid police work that saves the day--police work guided by the profile, no doubt, but police work nonetheless.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, I think I see what Goldberg was talking about: as an adaptation, the TV show captured the essence of the core of characters, and did a fantastic job of bringing 85+% of the novel to screen. The changes in plot were small, and the one new character introduced helped the adaptation into a better set up to an ongoing series than the novel did. That character also toned down the least appealing feature of Hill's character, making him palatable to TV.

As a novel, it worked well (even without reference to the TV series), the relationship with Hill and Jordan will easily lead to further cases together, and character development. McDermid's style, and the cleverness of her plot, definitely create a desire to see further adventures with the pair, and it's easy to see why this is a series that's lasted over a decade.(less)

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Jan 02, 2010 Jennifer Klenz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An engrossing read over the xmas holidays. The entries written by the killer going into nasty detail about how they tortured, filmed, killed and subsequently used video software to create personal sex fantasy snuff films were rather much, but fit with the persona of the serial killer. Fortunately I liked the characters of the profiler and the detective enough to not let it put me off all together. I am, however, a little queasy to look into other books with these characters if they exist. As thi...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Eccentrika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, crime, series, thriller

"Il canto delle sirene" è un thriller avvincente, quasi 450 pagine divorate in due giorni: è una di quelle letture ipnotiche dalle quali è davvero difficile staccarsi! Come tipo di thriller è strutturato in maniera classica, con un'ambientazione prevalentemente poliziesca e con accurate indagini a seguito di terribili delitti seriali molto molto crudi. La variante interessante è che il lettore, oltre a seguire la storia dal punto di vista della squadra di polizia, potrà anche accedere ai pensier...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I got my hands on this from a friend who knew my absolute adoration for anything psychology related and my morbid obsession with anything a bit weird and gory. This novel hit the spot.

I found the plot of this to be very rich, and I love the way the killer is revealed, and who it actually is.. I kind of guessed but not really, and i'm usually good at that!( That doesn't really make much sense until you read it, but i'm not going to spoil it for you!)

I am slowly working my way through this serie...more

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May 23, 2012 Kathryn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery

I've watched the first four seasons of "Wire in the Blood", the TV show that was based on Val McDermid's books, and I was a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book more. Being uncomfortable with how the characters were just slightly off from their TV counterparts faded after the first few chapters, and the book IS well-written and a page-turner (at least the last few chapters are). I think I would have given the book an extra star except for the fact that a) TV, movie, or book, I ALWAY...more

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Oct 07, 2009 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

“The Mermaids Singing” is the first book in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series and the basis for the first episode of the British crime drama “Wire in the Blood.” After watching four seasons of the television series, I was compelled to read the books if for no other reason than I wanted more of Tony Hill, as I find him to be one of the intriguing characters I’ve ever watched (“Wire in the Blood” beats CSI by a few miles in my opinion).

When the police finally admit that the bodies that keep turni...more “The Mermaids Singing” is the first book in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series and the basis for the first episode of the British crime drama “Wire in the Blood.” After watching four seasons of the television series, I was compelled to read the books if for no other reason than I wanted more of Tony Hill, as I find him to be one of the intriguing characters I’ve ever watched (“Wire in the Blood” beats CSI by a few miles in my opinion).

When the police finally admit that the bodies that keep turning up in the city’s gay district may be the work of a serial killer, they bring in Tony Hill to profile for the department. Carol Jordan is the police liaison working with him to solve them crime. As a clinical psychologist who works with murderers, Tony’s mind is geared to this direction, making him valuable in the search. It probably also helps that his background has shaped his own psyche to be more empathetic to the thoughts of the off-balanced.

As the story progresses, the reader is also given first person glimpses into the world of the serial killer, who builds torture devices for his victims and records their murders for his own pleasure. The story also follows the strange relationship Tony builds with a prank caller and Carol’s attraction to Tony that he fights to not reciprocate.

I was impressed with how closely the book matched with the show, and I enjoyed the extra insight about Tony in the print version. I will say that the book gives Carol Jordan a little more intelligence. She’s a good character in the show, and I like her, but she comes across as the hardcore cop who has to ride Tony’s coattails of intelligence (in my opinion). Of course this is only book 1 which may only correspond to episode 1, so a better assessment may come after reading a few more books in the series.

I think I may have also been thrown off by the British slang a little bit too if I hadn’t already watched the show and had some background context. Not that this should deter anyone. It’s still a good book and I enjoy the characters a lot. I’m excited to read more from this author, though I'll need to read something light before diving back into something this dark. (less)

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Jan 20, 2012 Jonetta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The story opens with the murder of a man whose body was found outside a bar in a gay district. He happens to be the fourth of a series of murders with similar characteristics. The police superintendant is reluctant to classify these as connected to one serial murderer but is forced to do so when the DCI brings in a profiler. Tony Hunt is a criminal psychologist is asked to work with Carol Jordan, a recently promoted Detective Inspector. They work together to marry the profile with police work.

Th...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up after watching the first four seasons of Wire in the Blood, the British cop drama based on the series. The books might edge out the show in terms of quality, and that is an impressive feat. Reading Carol Jordan made me realize how perfect Hermione Norris' depiction of her is. Too bad she's being equally badass on MI-5 now.

Tony Hill is truly a flawed hero. Not an antihero, although McDermid flirts with making him irredeemable. Before his "problem" becomes clear, I was a little w...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Mebhe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

C'est le premier volume de la série "Tony Hill et Carol Jordan", respectivement profileur du ministère de l'Intérieur - en train de monter une unité de profileurs - et inspectrice de police.

Le lecteur passe tour à tour dans la tête d'un tueur en série particulièrement pervers, maniaque et doté d'une intelligence hors norme (le parfait psychopathe) puis dans celle du profileur et de son équipière nommée pour l'affaire. L'Ecossaise Val McDermind nous balance dans l'univers de la prostitution et d...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Emrys rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was introduced to this series via the BBC show, "Wire in the Blood." I love the character of Tony Hill. He's one of the more interesting and eccentric personalities I've seen on television, and in some sad-pathetic-kinda-cool way, I can sympathize with him.

Unfortunately, I like the Tony Hill portrayed in the television series a little bit more than the one present in this book. I know, I know, it's terrible since the character belongs to Val McDermid and the television show was modeled after...more

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Oct 07, 2010 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked "Wire in the Blood" when it aired on BBC America (before I ditched my overpriced cable package, an extra 100$/mo isn't worth one television channel, I don't care how good the programming) but I'd never read the McDermid series. I figured a bit of creepy serial killers and profiling would be a good kick-off to October.

The book is very interesting, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are very well-developed characters and unique in their backgrounds/motivations (at least to me, since I don't...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Jacqueline O. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: british, mystery, fiction

Val McDermid's Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan books are not for the faint of heart or young readers, however, for the rest of us this is a fascinating, well-written, tightly narrated novel that moves at a quick pace WITHOUT running into the problem of "I'm running out of pages let's reveal the ending now" that too many books seem to have these days.

I'd first heard of Val McDermid's series when I saw "Wire in the Blood" on BBC America (cable/satellite TV). I didn't however see that series from th...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Jerome Parisse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow. The Mermaids Singing is the second book by Val McDermid that I read, and iI found as good as the first, if not better. It's not for the faint-hearted. A number of supposedly gay men are tortured and murdered by a serial killer, their bodies left washed and naked in the streets of Bradfield. The whole community is on edge, and the police too, who is using the services of a profiler, Tony Hill. Carol Jordan is an inspector who is taking part in the investigation, and her character adds to the...more

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Nov 11, 2010 Jerry rated it 3 of 5 stars

In deciding to try a new author, we picked out McDermid's first novel to feature psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and police Homicide Inspector Carol Jordan. Shades of John Sandford, a horrid serial killer is on the loose, whose idea of fun is constructing medieval torture machines to pull apart (or otherwise desecrate, to say the least) the bodies of his victims as part of their murders. Some sort of sexual theme incites his sadism, and his habit of leaving the bodies posed in various gay community s...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Beth rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, read-on-kindle, january-2011

Oh, yuck, this book.

I have quite a strong stomach. It's not that impressive or anything, but I'm not incredibly easily shocked. This book, however, was more than I could bear. I like books and TV that take a look at the darker side of life, but the torture scenes were unneccessary and extremely gratuitous (sp?). It seemed like McDermid wrote it to shock. The killer lacked nuances and did not interest me in the slightest; s/he may as well have had a mustache to twiddle. There was no depth to thei...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Lightreads rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, lgbt, mystery

The books on which Wire in the Blood is based. British clinical psychologist teams up with copper to profile serial killers. All expected elements present and accounted for – hostile police brass, sexual "tension," personal issues.

Yawn. And that's pretty impressive, considering books featuring a maladjusted trouble-magnet who does criminal profiling are a huge weakness of mine. But I don't think my emotional needle so much as quivered, except for occasional flickers of annoyed disgust at the vi...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anybody in search for a page turner

Recommended to Mark by: Goodreads

Shelves: dark-tales, detective, mystery-adventure, english-writer

I have heard of the tv show never did watch it though, perhaps a bit tired by the serial killer movies and tv shows at the time. Due to some interesting remarks about the writer I decided to give her books especially on dr Tony Hill a try. And it certainly did not dissapoint enter the choice of having men being the victim. Which is an interesting choice as well as using the killers pages of his diary to give insight into his thinking and actual deeds. Which are somewhat visual overwhelming I wou...more

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About Val McDermid

Val McDermid was born and schooled on the east coast of Scotland and then Oxford Universtiy after which she became a journalist.

Her first book, Report for Murder was published in 1987 and since then she has gone on to have 25 more books published.

She lives in Manchester and Northumberland with 3 cats.

Series:
* Tony Hill & Carol Jordan
* Lindsay Gordon
* Kate Brannigan

More about Val McDermid...

Books by Val McDermid

The Wire In The Blood (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #2)

The Torment Of Others (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #4)

Fever Of The Bone (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #6)

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