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Book Review: The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid

The wire in the blood is another addition to the Tony Hill-Carol Jordan series by the terrific Scottish author Val McDermid.

The story starts off with the killer identifying his next victim and charming her so expertly that she agrees to meet him alone without telling any living soul. The only problem is that the readers know who the killer is. The author herself reveals the perpetrator in the first few pages and the novel turns out to be a thriller instead of a whodunit. Dr Tony Hill is heading a newly formed department within the police which goes by the name of National Profiling Task Force. Dr Tony Hill is still reeling from the after effects of a previous case in which he almost died.

New interns are hired to work under Tony Hill and the task force must prove itself to the higher authorities so that the force is taken seriously. The task force is not given any high-profile cases to begin with and so they are forced to work with cold cases to impart training to the new interns. Shaz Bowman is the brightest of all the interns and Tony Hill identifies that in the first meeting. A cold case involving missing teenagers is given to the newbies and they are asked to come up with a theory. Shaz Bowman comes up with the most outrageous theory which links all the missing teenagers to the suave charming serial killer.

She is ridiculed by the group and even Dr Tony Hill doesn’t take her seriously. Determined to prove herself right, she sets off after the serial killer, and gets brutally killed in the process. The case becomes personal for Tony Hill and he sets off with his novice team after the murderer, armed with only circumstantial evidence. DI Carol Jordan Tony Hill’s ex flame too joins hands with him to prove Shaz Bowman’s theory. The question is will they succeed?  This time the sinister killer is much more intelligent than Tony Hill alone can handle.

The psychological games between the hunter and hunted give the readers the required amount of thrill. Shaz Bowman’s intuitive prowess by which she nails the villain is fantastic and realistic. The torture scenes are gory and not for the faint hearted. The language used is poetic and the reader can easily visualise the victim being tortured. There are a few lose ends left in the novel which the author has failed to explain. All in all, it is a nice thriller, but recommended only to die-hard Val McDermid fans. You are left wondering how the book would have turned out had the author written it like her usual whodunits. Alas we can’t get the answer to that question. For others, who are looking for a whodunit to blow their minds away, kindly then opt for ‘A Place of Execution’ or ‘The Mermaid’s Singing’ by the same author.

Though it’s a very good read, still it pales in comparison to the author’s previous works. Nothing less than extra ordinary is expected from the author, but this novel fails to rise to the high standards set by the author herself.

Contributed by Praneet Dabral, the Author of Forever and a Little More

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