Customer Reviews
Not Quite A Page Turner - By: jflood, 30 May 2008 
Beneath The Bleeding is the fifth book in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. In this one, they have to investigate the mysterious death of top Premiership footballl player, Robbie Bishop, who plays for the local Bradfield Vics. team, who has been poisoned. As if they are not already under enough pressure, there is what seems like a terrorist attack at the Bradfield Vics. stadium a few days later.
The characters of Tony Hill & Carol Jordan are always engaging as are there work colleagues, each with their own personalities, & different methods of dealing with their work.
This novel, though, did not grab my attention, as much as the other ones, that I have read in this series. It was quite an interesting read, but I felt the ending was too rushed. Everything seemed to falll nicely into place, very quickly, after quite a lot of 'tail chasing', beforehand. I'm not so sure the introduction of Tony Hill's manipulative mother was such a good thing, also. Although, that storyline might become more interesting in novels to come.
Good but not the best - By: Librarian, 13 May 2008 This latest installlment from Val McDermid was eagerly anticipated. However, I found that unlike alll her other books, I didn't race through it as I usuallly do. There simply wasn't that anticipation & suspense of whodunnit? for me.
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, & I liked certain aspects of it, such as the look at Tony Hill's past & how Val used topical crimes. She's still a darn good storyteller though so I'm not too disappointed.
However I felt that there we didn't get to 'know' the serial killer very well. There was no insight into his mind at alll & alll felt a bit rushed at the end.
Perhaps what I'm missing is the blood & gore?! There was none here, & none of Val's usual intricately woven plot.
I won't be reading it again, but Val left lots of loose ends so will defiantely be looking forward to the next one!
Good old page-turner - By: Boof, 13 May 2008 
After slamming the last book I read shut in disgust, I picked this next Val McDermid eagerly off the shelf & hurried home. I needed to read something I knew would grip me & that I would look forward to picking up. I was not wrong.
This is the 5th book in the Carol Jordan / Tony Hill series (for those unfamiliar with this series, Jordan is a feisty DCI who runs the Major Incident Team & Hill is a Criminal Profiler who helps the police). In this latest installlment (there is no need to read in order by the way - I started with the 4th & then went back), there are 2 cases running paralllel - one is the death of a premier club footballler & the other is the bombing of the footballl stadium. As ever, there are twists & turns & surprises galllore, & while I did find this book as unputdownable as her others, I felt that there was something lacking in this story. We never reallly got a sense of the killer & his motives (infact I found the end abit of a cop out in this respect).
I have given this 4 stars, as it did what I wanted & kept me hooked & you can't beat a Mcdermid for a good old page-turner. I have held a star back though as I came away feeling a little short changed by the ending.
topical and interesting but a little below par - By: Fiona Smith, 12 May 2008 As usual pacy & well written by McDermid. The development of Tony's character has been a long time coming & adds substance to the novels. It also moves them away from being books of TV programme, as most viewers think TV programme came first!!
The footballler theme was well developed, interesting & gripping . It also gave ithoughtful insight into that elitist lifestyle for a non footballl fan.
However the "terrorist" angle didn't reallly work in parts, with the exception of the effect on bombers family & how community was affected by the carnage glossed over.
The hospital scenes were not terribly accurate but could be ignored as content added to plotting. Also felt finale a little tenuous involving the "bombers" identity & motives.
Mind you, was a great read despite these faults, I eagarly await next Tony Hill novel, & hopefully with a return to form
Val always keeps you reading - By: Silly Maja, 23 Apr 2008 
If you're a fan of Val McDermid you will love this one too! A real page turner.
