Average customer rating:
|
Torment In Art
Lionello Puppi
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Painting
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Criticism
| History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0847814068
Release Date: 1991-10-15 |
Book Description
Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan return in the award-winning series that is the basis for the hit show on BBC America.
In a small grim room, the body of a woman is discovered, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler.
But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?
All his years of experience tell top criminal psychologist Dr. Tony Hill that there isn't-but that would make the murders literally impossible. While Hill tries to crack Tyler, DCI Carol Jordan and her team must mount a desperate undercover operation to trap the murderer-a decision that will have terrible consequences.
As the tension mounts, a mixture of psychological insight and dogged detective work leads inexorably to a terrifying climax where Tony faces one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered.
Customer Reviews:
High Five.......2007-06-01
It's always a pleasure when I take a chance on a new novelist and it pays off as well as it did here. Val McDermid is, I now know, one of our best writers and I won't hesitate to buy any book in the future with her name on the cover. In The Torment of Others, you'll get everything you want from a thriller and more : intelligent characters, gripping imagery, a powerful plot, clever pacing and just entertainment all round. The lead characters Jordan and Hill are very much individuals whose personalities and concerns are so well described that we almost feel that we know them; the key point is that we can easily believe in them. The side-plot of their 'relationship' is actually intriguing, dealt with subtle aplomb by their creator and cleverly left unfinished within the context of this story so that we can carry on where they left off in the next one. The main story line of this book is quite daringly graphic in its description without being gory for its own sake. It just leaves you wondering "Jeez, what a way to go"...and I'm not a woman! This is a writer of high intellect, vivid imagination and the bringing together of those rare skills makes for very enjoyable reading. Call me a fan.
Another great McDermid book........2007-01-24
This author just keeps doing it. How she can write book after gripping book and sound fresh, suspenseful and compelling is a wonder in today's crime fiction scene. Just read it!
McDermid is always gripping ..........2006-09-15
... and this title is no exception. The continution of the Tony and Carol saga. I highly recommend!
A lot of good can be said about this police procedural.......2006-01-23
I had not read any of Val McDermid's work before this. It seems that a lot has transpired in previous novels that were alluded to time and again, so if there is a novel that proceeds this, you might want to check out that one before starting in on `The Torment of Others'. That aside, I was immediately brought into McDermid's world as a reader. The characters Tony Hill and Carol Jordan have so many demons that are being exorcised that this does not read as though it were just another in a long line of sequels.
There are two mysteries unfolding here. Carol is found at the start of the book taking control of an elite crime fighting force and these are the two first cases that fall under her sphere. Both of these stories are complex enough that you will be left guessing and not quite sure as to where things are going until near the end. Along the way several other side characters are introduced. I think that the plurithura of first person characters that stride through this novel was a bit of a drawback. In my opinion, the fact that McDermid mines not two, but at least six (that I can recall off the top of my head) points of view is a real momentum killer. You never really get to the point where you are on the edge of your seat with this book. I always felt like a disengaged viewer lording over this unfolding event rather than as an immediate participant.
The mood that I gleamed from this book... the over all aura... was sort of like a Patricia Cornwell novel. If you have not read her yet, you are in for a treat. I would highly recommend her work and suggest that you start with her first novel. Otherwise, this book is worth reading, though by no means the best of this genre that I have come across.
Extremely gruesome and extremely hard to put down!.......2006-01-07
I read WIRE IN THE BLOOD and loved it and just finished TORMENT and will have to get everything by McDermid.
This novel is VERY gruesome but the characters and "secondary cases" are so interesting and well-written that you really can't help turning the pages.
Good stuff-- but creepy!
Book Description
David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess. Whether he is contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air; working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel; or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot—where he is provided with his very own personal manservant—rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly skewered. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Simultaneously a Wildean satire and a plea for a little human decency, Don’t Get Too Comfortable shows that far from being bobos in paradise, we’re in a special circle of gilded-age hell.
Customer Reviews:
Very Funny.......2007-09-07
This book's writer has some very humorous insights into how the luxury we all live in is often taken for granted and he finds a great way to portray that in his essays. I also like Lloyd Dangle's latest book "Troubletown" as it presents the misguided adventures of our current leadership in a humorous yet insightful fashion as well. Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us from this Mess
A quick read. Entertaining.......2007-08-10
If your looking for a book that's a quick read, light and entertaining...this is it. Some of the stories were a little too avant garde for my tastes but the book, overall, was funny and poignant and insightful.
I don't know that I would get his other book, Fraud, but this one was worth the price and the time.
Having Fun with the English Language!.......2007-07-18
I am in love with this guy's sense of humor and wit! And he tells these hysterical tales with such a mastery of the english language and sentence structure as to be absolutely AMAZING! You know those books that have one long fabulous sentence which begins in one place and ends at a particularly surprising and devastating conclusion? Well, this guy does it over and over. And by the way, get the AUDIO version. His reading, the pauses, the deadpan voice are spectacular.
Last night, I listened to his take on Paris fashion shows. His material on Chanel and Karl Lagerfield is deadly. I truly gasped. I can't believe he got away with it. I've replayed it at least 10 times.
I "discovered" David Rakoff by listening to NPR's "This American Life". This is great stuff!
Amusing.......2007-07-13
My wife and I listened to it on a long drive and enjoyed it. Entertaining and insightful. It is well narrated, but the sound is not ideal for our car (too great a volume range for all the wind noise we experience at 75mph.) Red states may not enjoy it.
Sit back and relax........2007-03-26
What can one say about runway models, applying for US citizenship and making creative gifts for friends that haven't been said before? Well a lot apparently. Seemingly mundane and special events are given the Rakoff touch of both humour and keen observation. I would bet that some of his insomnia-filled nights were spent refining the words to their present artisan-like state. This was my first foray into the world of David Rakoff but I doubt my last.
Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems
Average customer rating:
- Does Anyone Have an Update on Lori?
- Powerful, Uplifting (and sometimes triggering) Account Of Schizophrenia
- Inside Their Mind - Distinguishing Teen Behavior from Psychological Torment
- Excellent!
- The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness
|
The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness
Lori Schiller , and
Amanda Bennett
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Schizophrenia
| Mental Health
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Mental Illness
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Pathologies
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychiatry
| Specialties
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Day the Voices Stopped: A Schizophrenic's Journey from Madness to Hope
-
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
-
Recovered, Not Cured: A Journey Through Schizophrenia
-
Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers, and Providers (4th Edition)
-
Is There No Place on Earth for Me?
ASIN: 0446671339 |
Customer Reviews:
Does Anyone Have an Update on Lori?.......2007-09-25
I loved this book's depiction of mental illness and have re-read it several times. I am going to push a question that has been alluded to in past reviews. This book was published 11 years ago. Does anyone have any updates as to how Lori has been doing since then? Thank you very much.
Powerful, Uplifting (and sometimes triggering) Account Of Schizophrenia.......2007-09-23
The Quiet Room is a powerful account of a woman lost in her illness of schizophrenia. I was amazed at how the author, Lori, hid her hallucinations from people for so long before getting treatment. I found myself angry at her parents for denying her illness for so long and delaying treatment which she very much needed years before it was received.
It's also amazing that Lori made it through her experience of schizophrenia and was able to tell her story. During the worst of her illness, she was extremely suicidal at times and thought nothing of it (for example, playing a game of crossing the street again and again with her eyes closed and walkman blaring so she couldn't hear the cars). She could have easily died at those times and not come through to tell her story.
This book was very well written and made me feel for Lori. I couldn't put this down once I started. Although, I did give it a five star review and found it to be one of the most interesting books I've read, I don't necessarily recommend it to everyone.
At times this book was too well written, too many details and caused parts of the book to be triggering for me. I'm not schizophrenic (never have been), but I've been in hospitals for depression and other things. Lori's details of the "quiet room" (seclusion in the hospitals) and what happened to her when she was out of control in the hospitals was disturbing to me, as I've been in different "quiet rooms" in hospitals and I found myself remembering my own experiences and getting upset. Just because this was triggering for me, doesn't mean it will be for others. I'm just saying, you've been warned.
As triggering as this book was, it remains a five star for me. It was gripping, intense, real --just the way a book should be-- and I loved it. I liked the way the story was told through family members as well. It helps the reader see the perspectives of those who loved Lori. It shows how her illness affected others.
Overall, The Quiet Room is a sad book. But it's inspiring and uplifting at the end. If Lori can make it through the horrors of schizophrenia, we can make it through our day-to-day lives of work, school, and dilemmas. This book gave me hope.
Inside Their Mind - Distinguishing Teen Behavior from Psychological Torment.......2007-04-23
This book has changed my life. I am 40 years old. My mother is schizophrenic and my teenage daughter is now a hereditary statistic as she is also stricken with this terrible disease. I have always been the "informed" consumer and research everything that affects my life. Before my daughter began experiencing early onset of schizophrenia, I had dealt with my mother's illness extensively later in her life. I was with her during a psychotic break. I had the gut wrenching experience of processing a Baker Act through the courts to hospitalize her against her will. I engaged in productive and intelligent consultations with her medical providers. I thought I had this disease understood. I thought I knew...
The most unique and enlightening element of this biography is that the biographer began her life similar to my daughter's. Straight A student, gifted, very beautiful, popular, social, supportive & loving parents and an achiever in every way. So WHY does someone who has so much going for her sink so low? HOW can teachers, parents, siblings, friends distinguish symptoms of mental illness from common teen behavior and drama?
It is so easy to rely too heavily on the amazing new drugs that are currently available. We can easily, mistakenly feel a false sense of understanding and security. There is no cure for schizophrenia. There is no ONE pill that fixes ALL. There are a myriad of symptoms. There are hundreds of medications with hundreds of side affects. This book has given more insight than I could have ever dreamed in sorting all this out. After reading this book, my daughter and I are a team now. I really do understand. She is not just a badly behaved teen. She trusts me and I trust her.
She is only 14. She hears voices. They scream at her! She is being watched. She is in fear for her life.
We are in this together now with my having a clue - hearing her - perhaps for this first time.
Excellent!.......2007-03-09
I usually don't read books, but I was forced to read this one for an Abnormal Psychology class. This book kept me interested from beginning to end. It gave me a better understanding of schizophrenia. A must read for book readers.
The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness .......2007-01-10
A must read if you work in the Mental Health field or have family members with a mental illness.
Book Description
In a world of swift and sweeping cultural transformations, few have seen changes as rapid and dramatic as those experienced by the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea in the last four decades. A remote people never directly "missionized," the Urapmin began in the 1960s to send young men to study with Baptist missionaries living among neighboring communities. By the late 1970s, the Urapmin had undergone a charismatic revival, abandoning their traditional religion for a Christianity intensely focused on human sinfulness and driven by a constant sense of millennial expectation. Exploring the Christian culture of the Urapmin, Joel Robbins shows how its preoccupations provide keys to understanding the nature of cultural change more generally. In so doing, he offers one of the richest available anthropological accounts of Christianity as a lived religion. Theoretically ambitious and engagingly written, his book opens a unique perspective on a Melanesian society, religious experience, and the very nature of rapid cultural change.
Customer Reviews:
Very helpful.......2005-10-13
My wife loved the book and has found it very informative. She was not aware that she knew so much through our trial and error methods, but now more errors....just more fun.
Mistress enjoyed this book.......2005-09-14
I Purchased this book for my Mistress. She read it entirely in one sitting! She very much enjoyed the look on my face as she described what she had read.
Why Didn't Anyone think of this before?.......2003-04-10
Let's get all the cliches out of the way first. "The Family Jewels" is a gem. It is precise, finely cut to spec and invaluable. In fact, the first time I laid eyes on it, my first thought was, why didn't anyone think of this before?
Hardy Haberman has filled a void in the SM literary canon that not only give tips to the experienced edge player, but to beginners as well. There are also a few chunks of anecdotal scene evidence to add the touch of hard-on reading that any book of this nature needs to keep the entertainment value at a maximum.
You may not be familiar with Mr. Haberman, who considers himself a "Pain Technologist." He specializes in CBT and has an unusual fondness for clips, clamps and clothespins, as well as more exotic SM play. I recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in learning about esoteric genital play.
Got male parts or play with them? This book is for you!.......2002-11-28
When we hear or see the term CBT we think "torture" and that usually makes us all cross our legs. But Haberman's book is really focused on creating intense or simply pleasureable sensations for male genitals in ways that do not involve intercourse. The book has four main divisions: anatomy, safety (please don't skip over this one), basics & toys of CBT, and finally a collection of nine short stories to demostrate the first three sections. The stories aren't really arousing, they are more instructive. If CBT is something you've thought about but know little about, this is a great place to get information. Read it with your partner and you can figure out what he is interested in.
Handy Guide for CBT Play.......2001-12-06
Being in the computer field, for years I thought CBT was an acronym meaning something other than Cock and Ball Torture. While those three words might make the average man cringe or instinctively cover their groin, there are those men who enjoy it immensely and other men and women who enjoy doing CBT to them! It is for these two groups of folks that this book is primarily written for.
Among the topics Haberman covers here include basic male anatomy (and there's quite a bit to know about it!), negotiation and safewords, play benefits and risks involved, safe sex play and cleaning CBT toys, all very important subjects to cover.
There's also a chapter devoted to various CBT toys, including clamps, ball stretchers and spreaders, cock rings and electrical toys just to name a few. There are also diagrams included on how these toys are to be used, as well as several diagrams on tieing up the proverbial cock and balls. There's even a chapter on CBT "recipes," guaranteed to give the proverbial Dom/me lots of ideas!
While CBT may not be my idea of a good time, I fully support those who do enjoy it. I enjoyed the book because it covers the topic well and Hardy's easy-going style makes reading this book fun and enjoyable.
Customer Reviews:
If I could give this 0 stars, I would........2007-02-16
What a disaster! This is probably the worst comic I've ever read. I have the non-trade paperback series of this and having read it very recently I can honestly say it's terrible. The fact that they even put this abortion into TBP format is laughable. Todd McFarlane is over-rated. Granted, his writing of the series did get better (Perceptions, Sub-City), but to start the series off with such a lackluster story is criminal. Todd is used to drawing Spider-Man, and I'll give him this, pretty well. But never buy into your own hype. As a previous reviewer said earlier, McFarlane's one-sided, egotistical thought that "people buy this book for the art" exemplifies why the industry almost tanked in the mid-90s. Comics are meant to be read, not eyeballed. The art is a vehicle for the story, not vice-versa. 2.5 million copies of this bird-cage liner were sold over something like 5 different covers (I'm still scratching my head over the "Platinum" cover and the "why would I waste my money?" price tag that goes with it). Comics increase in value because they are rare, and if you flood the market and charge the sky, sooner or later, those issues end up on the $.50 table (where I got mine). As far as the actual story goes, it's a train-wreck. WARNING SPOILERS: Spider-man gets scratched by Lizard who is awoken by Calypso and he gets buried under rubble. That's it! That's the whole story! This could have been done in a single issue, and be forgotten, but no. It's stretched over 5 DOOM filled issues of Spider-man pretending to be Batman, "rising above it all" to bore everyone unfortunate enough to have read and thought "this has to get better". Wrong! Please, to everyone reading this thinking "I'll give it a chance"; don't. Save your money, buy "Kraven's Last Hunt" or Frank Miller's Spider-Man TPB. Leave this forgotten.
Aptly Named.......2006-03-23
The book was aptly named as reading it was indeed a torment. What the heck kind of story was that? Todd McFarlane should just stick to drawing (although the art wasn't all that good in this book either) and not write the stories. It was boring boring and boring... not like Spidey at all. Don't waste your money on this...
Reading this book was "Torment"...........2005-07-31
When "Spider-Man #1" was first released in 1990, it sold 2.5 million copies. That number is a bit misleading, since there were about 5,000 different cover variations that collectors just had to snap up. Todd McFarlane, Marvel's Golden Boy, had just been given a plum assignment: Write, pencil and ink his own Spider-Man comic book, far away from the constraints of drawing his pretty pictures over someone else's plots and scripts. It was a match made seemingly in heaven: McFarlane, who had taken "The Amazing Spider-Man" out of the doldrums and turned it into the #1 selling comic, handling the character that had made him the hottest artist around.
To say that McFarlane failed in his first assignment as a writer is an understatement. "Torment", the five-part opening arc to the series, is a disaster of unparalleled magnitude. Gone are the witty musings of previous Spider-Man scribes, replaced by the repetitive rantings of an artist who was ill-equipped to handle the plotting and writing of so complex a character. The book opens with Spider-Man lurking in the shadows and stopping a robbery (in the process calling the robber a punk, like some third-rate Dirty Harry-ripoff). Unfortunately, that can pretty much be considered the highlight. The entire series goes downhill from there. I can describe the entire five-story arc in a few sentences: Calypso raises the Lizard from the bottom of the East River (don't ask what the Lizard was doing there; Todd never bothers to explain it) and conjures some voodoo spells to torment Spider-Man (hence the title). The Lizard scratches Spider-Man with his claws, which are poisoned courtesy of Calypso. A delirious Spider-Man spends the next four issues whining and complaining about Calypso attacking him for no reason. That's it. That's the story. Oh, I forgot, Mary Jane goes clubbing, too. Because that's just SO super-heroic.
Part of the problem is McFarlane's melodramatic, disjointed and overly redundant writing style. Instead of the happy-go-lucky Spider-Man that preceded, McFarlane's Spider-Man is some weird Batman wannabe, patrolling the melodramatically darkened streets of Gotham Ci.... err, New York. This is probably due to the fact that 90% of the story takes place at night in the shadows. McFarlane seems more content in drawing splash pages that serve no purpose except to show that, wow, Todd has mastered the art of drawing Spider-Man. As such, he seems to consider the story secondary, as he draws out page after page after page of non-action over five issues. The end result is a story that could have been wrappd up in two issues with a better writer. Instead, we get five issues of NOTHING. It gets so absurd that the final issue takes place over the span of five minutes, Marvel time. That's right. FIVE minutes. Todd just had no concept of how to pace and plot a story, and it shows.
The second problem is the choice of villain to kick off the series. Calypso? What happened to Doctor Octopus? The Green Goblin? The Sandman? The Rhino? Heck, I would have even taken Hydro-Man. Instead, we get a third-rate villain in the enigmatic Calypso, and the more fearsome of the villains, the Lizard, is reduced to a mindless lapdog for the scantily-clad voodoo priestess. Editor Jim Salicrup stated that when the time came to pick the villain(s) for the premiere issue, most of Spidey's usual rogue's gallery already had plots sketched out in upcoming issues. But STILL. I'm sure they could have come up with someone better than Calypso. It's obvious from Todd's handling of the character that he just didn't know what to do with her, save for casting a spell on Spidey and drawing it out for five issues. Lame.
Maybe we should have gotten the hint when, in the letter columns of the book, McFarlane admitted that he didn't really feel the story was as important as the artwork, that people picked up a book for the art and not for the story. Unfortunately, he decided to follow his inner muse and put this abomination on paper. To be fair, his writing would improve, and one need look no further than the "Perceptions" storyline to see that Todd finally "got it" and started understanding that, hey, maybe the plot and writing ARE important. And once he left Marvel and formed Image, his writing and artwork on Spawn was light years ahead of anything he did at Marvel.
Anyone who wants to see what the big fuss was about McFarlane's handling of Spider-Man would be wise to pick up the "Spider-Man vs. Venom" trade. David Michelinie does a great job scripting, and Todd's artwork just leaps off the pages, something that was sorely lacking in "Torment". "Torment" is a car-wreck, and is recommended only to those who like to watch the aftermath of such a thing.
Overrated, and that's overrating it!.......2005-02-25
Todd MacFarlane is not a bad artist. I have to disagree with the people who said that he is. His art works very well in the slightly more realistic style he used in Spawn (as opposed to the ultra-cartoony Spider-Man look) and he drew some Hulk stuff I loved when I was a kid.
The problem with Torment is the story. Or its total lack thereof. First, the general idea is clearly a poor attempt to capitalize on the dark, moody, conflicted, horror-not-superhero writing style of the excellent Fearful Symmetry: Kraven's Last Hunt. The trouble is, J.M. DeMatteis tells a complex story of an insane and yet sympathetic villain, a deranged, cannibalistic, and yet pitiable monster, and a flawed and troubled, yet ultimately heroic protagonist. He also brilliantly depicts Mary Jane and Joe Robertson, two key supporting characters of Spider Man canon. He also manages to explain the whole story as it unfolds. You know what is happening better than the characters do, you can sympathize with each of the three central characters. You can even root for the troubled, drug-addicted Kraven when he faces the psychotic, man-eating Vermin.
In Torment, none of this subtler style of storytelling exists. Instead, we are assaulted by images... and repetitive images at that. You can tell this was Todd's first writing job. It really shows. It's really like a Golden Age story. Fun to read when you're a kid, but it doesn't hold up when you grow up. The attempt to make things mysterious makes them confusing.
In short, MacFarlane is thinking like an artist in this book. Not a writer. He improves. The first dozen issues of Spawn are awesome. Torment, however, is painful to read.
Torment - I couldn't have said it better........2005-02-21
Todd McFarlane needed to have his head examined before he launched this series in 1991. In Spider-Man's first confrontation with a thug, McFarlane has Spidey calling him a punk. Spider-Man also hangs from his web in the shadows, like a mysterious creature of the night.
Later, Peter Parker recalls the incident with his wife. He doesn't see how the thug thought he had a chance of killing Spider-Man with a revolver. He points out he's had years of experience fighting crime against super villains.
Parker even tells Mary Jane, "Not to be cocky, but..." Too late. And get me a trash can. I think I'm going to be sick!
Please. This is not Spider-Man. Todd, leave the shadows to the Batman, the tough guy act to the Punisher and the trash-talking on the basketball court.
McFarlane, both the writer and artist during his 16-issue run, drew Spider-Man with huge, exaggerated white eyes in his mask. His Spidey also was slightly too muscular for my tastes. I think Parker's physique was certainly enhanced after he was bitten by a radioactive spider. The scientist and photographer is "cut" without being a body builder. Spider-Man is no Superman, Hulk or Thor.
It's no wonder McFarlane left Marvel to form McFarlane Comics. This is the same guy who told Marvel's editors he only wanted to return to the Spider-Man universe if he could do both the art and story. He said in his editorial he didn't want to seem too "cocky." Sure.
Stick to making KISS toys, Todd. Leave characters like Spider-Man to writers who can handle the legacy.
Average customer rating:
- The Torment of Others
- McDermid finally gets the writing and the creepiness just right
- Adding Val to my favorite crime thriller authors!
- Losing a Little Steam
- Different Plot
|
The Torment of Others
Val McDermid
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Psychological & Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
McDermid, Val
| ( M )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
( M )
| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Psychological & Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Last Temptation: A Novel (Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan Mysteries)
-
The Mermaids Singing (A Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Mystery)
-
The Wire in the Blood (A Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Mystery)
-
The Distant Echo
-
A Place of Execution
ASIN: 0312936095
Release Date: 2006-08-29 |
Book Description
THE VOICE SEEPS LIKE BLOOD...
Two years ago, Derek Tyler confessed to a sickening quartet of murders. Now the convicted perpetrator remains locked away, as do the gruesome, inimitable details of his crimes, which is precisely why this can’t possibly be happening all over again—but it is.
SOOTHING, CAJOLING, PRAISING, COMMANDING...
One by one, mutilated corpses are turning up, each marked by the unmistakable calling card of the same warped killer. Still shattered in the wake of her own unbearable trauma, Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan is called in to make sense of the implausible scenario, with criminal psychologist Tony Hill on hand to complicate matters at every turn.
AS IMPOSSIBLE TO SILENCE AS IT IS TO DEFY.
As a seasoned profiler, Tony is convinced that the new murders aren’t the work of a copycat killer. Together, he and Carol prowl the mist-shrouded alleyways of tawdry Temple Fields, tracking a cunning serial killer who seems to be safely locked away yet somehow simultaneously on the loose, preparing to strike again...
Customer Reviews:
The Torment of Others.......2007-10-06
A really good mystery, as usual with Val McDermid. I read deep into the night. I would really recommend this.
McDermid finally gets the writing and the creepiness just right.......2007-08-18
With apologies to anyone who is reading this as a duplicative review, I am going to review all four of Val McDermid's Dr. Tony Hill/Carol Jordan novels in one place and copy the reviews individually.
I've now read seven of McDermid's books. She's not a great writer but she's a fabulous storyteller and her Tony Hill/Carol Jordan mysteries are the best of the bunch. The first two books aren't written terribly well, but the writing gets better as the series goes on. You may know these characters from the BBC series "Wire in the Blood" starring Robson Green. As an aside, while I generally find film and television adaptations to be far less satisfying than the source material on which they are based, the BBC series is really an exception. While the books have some detail that doesn't make it to the t.v. series, the television program really brings the characters to life and improves on the writing while staying true to the novels, although only the fourth book's plot actually made it to the screen.
As noted by some other reviewers, these books are not for the squeamish. McDermid doesn't pull any punches in writing about vicious psychopaths who commit sex crimes and the books may well be disturbing to many. The second book in particular (more below) actually gave me nightmares. McDermid, however, really gets into the heads of her twisted antagonists and she seems to have done a tremendous amount of research. Most importantly, both Dr. Hill, a clinical psychologist who consults with the police as a profiler, and Carol Jordan, the police officer with whom he works most closely, always feel like real people with investigative abilities and compassion that are easy to admire and foibles that are easy to relate to. They have serious difficulties in forging personal relationships which makes their relationship all the more poignant. Each book focuses on two stories -- a main investigation involving a psychopath and a secondary case that is generally no less compelling, while also following the relationship that develops between the two protagonists. If you've never read any of the books in this series, I would recommend taking them in order. The fourth book is the best, the third the worst, but it's worth reading them in order for the character development (although you could easily skip the third). If you really think you only want to read one, or aren't sure and don't care about spolers, just go straight to the last one. Some people who have read the entire series have found the fourth book repetitive, but it's the one that really works on all levels. Overall, the series gets 4 stars, but here are my individual assessments:
SPOILER FREE REVIEWS
1. The Mermaids Singing - 4 stars
The first of the series is really the only one that delves in any great detail into the personal lives of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, who come together to investigate the brutal torture and slayings of four men in northern England. McDermid's Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books all deal with issues of sexual identity, but this one does is particularly focused on that as the police suspect a gay man of killing heterosexual men. McDermid shares the thoughts of the killer as well as those of Dr. Hill, who relates all too well to the motivations of the subjects he is asked to profile. The writing in this book is kind of clunky, but the insights of the author into how and why someone sets out to cause maximum pain and humiliation still make it a riveting, if disturbing, read.
2. The Wire in the Blood -- 4 stars
In this second book in the series, teenaged girls are being abducted and brutally raped and tortured to death. We are introduced to an extremely smooth and charismatic character, Jacko Vance, a television celebrity and former star athlete, that Dr. Hill and Carol Jordan called upon to investigate. This is the hardest of the series to read, probably because the killer's victims are all extremely young, naive and female, with no chance whatsoever of fighting back. This book deals with charisma and celebrity as well as sexual deviance and although the writing is still somewhat awkward, it's generally a more compelling novel than the Mermaids Singing.
3. The Last Temptation -- 3 stars
This is the weakest book in the series. On the plus side, McDermid decides to branch out from northern England and take the reader into continental Europe, particularly Germany, where Carol Jordan has gone as an undercover operative to investigate a drug dealer/slave trader. Tony Hill is also in Europe, helping the police solve a series of murders in which psychologists are the victims. McDermid brings to light some of the darker deeds of the Nazis that are generally not known and discussed and for this she should be commended. The writing also starts to improve with this book and the secondary protagonists, two female, European police officers who develop a long-term relationship with each other, are the best of any of the books. There are some serious problems with the novel, however, that make it the weakest of the bunch. First of all, in the other books McDermid is writing about the North of England, which she clearly knows like the back of her hand. The locale in the other books is really the third character after Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. The European locations never quite come to life in the same way. But the biggest problem with The Last Temptation is that McDermid tries too hard to force a particular ending. In order to get where she wants to go, she has to have Carol Jordan do something completely out of character and, frankly, she doesn't do a good job of convincing us of the reason. The whole book feels a bit contrived. Kudos to McDermid for trying something different instead of just writing variations on a theme, but the theme is one she does really well and this effort is a bit disappointing.
4. The Torment of Others -- 5 stars
There's a reason this is the only story that got used in the BBC series. By this point, McDermid had started to write really well, and she'd really gotten the hang of tying the two story lines together. In the main story, someone is killing prostitutes with the m.o. used by a man currently in an insane asylum. How does the killer know exactly what the prior murderer did? The mystery is more satisfying than that of the prior novels and the sub-plot, involving kidnapped boys, also intrigues. There's not much to learn at this point about Dr. Hill, but while the third book didn't entirely work, the aftereffects of that novel's events on Carol Jordan are all too real and bring the characters' relationship to a new level.
If books on criminal profiling and psychological forensics are your thing, you'll probably really enjoy McDermid's work. If someone has recommended her writing to you and the Dr. Hill/Carol Jordan mysteries sound like they are too gruesome, check out the Grave Tattoo, which is a neat, little literary mystery.
Adding Val to my favorite crime thriller authors!.......2007-08-08
I'm a big Dennis Lehane fan, but now that I've read all his books, I went looking for another crime-fiction author that would be as edgy and page-turningly exciting as his books were for me. Well I think I've hit paydirt in Val McDermid! I started with this 4th in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series since I'd found it as a sale book, and I've now bought the others in this series to start it from the beginning. Wow. Flawless plotting, edge-of-your-seat storyline (to say the least!), fully realized characters, a book that kept me up into the wee hours reading! Me being a "Yank", there was some British wording I wasn't familiar with, but it in no way detracted from my reading experience since it was part of scenarios I fully understood. I am soooo glad I picked up this book, and if you like your crime thrillers, well...thrilling...I'd highly recommend this one. Can't wait to see what awaits in the rest of the series!
Losing a Little Steam.......2007-07-19
I'm definitely a McDermid fan, but a picky one. In general, I think her stand-alones are stand-outs, but I find Kate Brannigan and her sidekick annoying, and the Lindsay Gordon series is uneven. Up till now, the Hill/Jordan series has been quite strong, but the formula is starting to wear out in "Torment of Others." (Which is not all McDermid's fault, of course; such is the nature of even the best fiction formulae.)
For starters, the plot rises rather high on the implausibility scale; I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief when it comes to fiction, but there's a limit, and this book surpasses it. And maybe I just read too much, but the "inside-the-killer's-head" narrative strategy is becoming a little threadbare, too.
Then there are the main characters, who have lost a lot of their former complexity. It's as if McDermid has gotten tired of developing them and instead allows one or two traits to serve as a sort of shorthand for the more-fully-realized characters of yore. Tony, the psychological profiler, has become practically infallible, never making a professional misjudgment. His leaps of intuition are always right on the money. Carol, the maverick, is now erratic in ways that are only partly explained by her current psychological situation as a recovering rape victim -- too often her character seems sacrificed to the needs of the story. Carol is supposedly a crack professional, top-notch in her field, yet she overlooks things that can be spotted even by a reader like me, whose knowledge of police work comes solely from reading detective novels. For instance, when Carol & Co. decide to use a cop as a decoy prostitute to suss out the killer, I said to myself, "A decoy? But it's clear that the killer knows the Bradfield red-light district intimately; he'll spot her instantly as a suspicious newcomer." Yet pages and pages elapse before this idea occurs to Carol (or to anyone else except, of course, Tony). And not even an amateur would overlook the possibility that, if one child murder victim is found buried in an out-of-the-way spot, the body of the other victim might be in the same area. Yet Tony has to point this out to Carol, who figuratively smacks herself in the head and says, "Why didn't I think of that?" Why? Perhaps because plot has been allowed to trump character.
One element of the Hill/Jordan series that I really like, however, is the presence of gay and lesbian characters whose sexuality is not the point of the story; they are just part of the milieu, the way they would be in life. A few other Amazon reviewers have complained about this presence, seeing it as too heavy-handed, as evincing too much of an "agenda" on McDermid's part. But most novels have no gay characters at all; I wonder if these same Amazon reviewers think such books are promoting a heavy-handed *heterosexual* "agenda." If homosexuality seems too prominent in "Torment of Others," I fear that's a flaw of this particular difficult-to-swallow plot; it doesn't indicate any problem with representing gay characters as such. To my mind, the more visible they are, the better. So rock on, Val.
Different Plot.......2007-05-28
Val McDermid creates a new twist on a murder mystery. It is a plot that goes down many allies and keeps the reader guessing. Fourth in a series of returning characters, McDermid takes Carol one step further into a healing process that can be nothing but challenging for a detective. However, in spite of the plot, McDermid is still weak on developing her characters, so readers interested in a fully enhanced relational quality while also solving a mystery will be disappointed. Nevertheless, the plot is a page turner that will keep you enthralled.
Book Description
Something horrible lurks in Cabal City.
In the pit-fighting arenas, a Cabal dementia caster enters a trance. Deep in the recesses of his mind skulk horrors and unimaginable nightmares, and no longer do those monstrosities wait until dark to come out.
Customer Reviews:
A series book better than the first!.......2005-10-14
What a great book! One of the few books that I have ever read and literally not been able to put down. Think it took all of about three hours to read this for me I was so enthralled. The entire series is good, but Torment is a shining example of how a rough sketched story can be turned into a true literary gem by a talented writer.
Great, captivating tale.
One of the best books I've ever read.......2004-11-21
That's not saying much considering I don't read a lot, but this book is awesome. The parts with Llawan and Laquatus are kinda boring but they don't ruin it by any means. I didn't really like the ending, but overall the book was 5/5 for me. This is one of the few magic storylines I've actually given a crap about. (The other being weatherlight.)
Even though the Odyssey cycle has been gone for over 2 years, you should definately still pick this book up.
Excellent Read! .......2004-09-09
This was a superb read. It is, by far, the best of the three Odyssey block books.
In a nutshell, the first half or so covers the same timespan as Odyssey, just from Chainer's point of view. While Kamahl is off chasing the Mirari, Chainer is developing his magical skills and is rapidly ascending the ranks as the Cabal's best dementist. With the aid of the Mirari (he is the only person so far who has been able to control it), he seems virtually unstoppable. The view into the Cabal's dark intentions is quite entertaining, as we learn more and more about the mysterious Calchexas, the Cabal Patriarch. The book ends in a big climax and leaves readers with an excellent starting point for Judgment.
This book earns a well-deserved 5 stars.
Chainer is the man!.......2003-10-20
This is my 2nd favorite book I have ever read in my life. This is the 3rd Magic book that I read, and after this I was captivated by the MTG novels, I have now read over 10 of them in only 4 weeks, and these are great books, Torment is my favorite so far. From beginning to end, it is AWESOME. There are a few boring parts when it follow Empress Llawan, but they are all worth it because they lead up to make a valuable point. I reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys fiction, such as Harry Potter or MTG, it also reminds me of LOTR a little bit.
Great Book!.......2003-07-08
This is a great book from beggining to end! After I read this book, I got really hooked on to magic after I read this book.
Download Description
"I've a feeling you'll soon rue this day. . . ." These were the fateful words Sarah Markham's father uttered after she threw herself between the convict lashed to the ship's mast and the captain's whip. Transported to Australia for crimes against the Crown, Dominic Gallagher had been labeled a troublemaker. No humor lightened his handsome face; everything about him looked dark, deliberate, and dangerous. But independent, feisty Sarah couldn't bear to see any man flogged to death. Instead she insisted her father buy this young Irish rebel and bring him back to their ranch. Soon a forbidden passion began to blossom between the indentured man and his mistress in this lush, primitive land. A twist of fate swept them together amid betrayal and intrigue as a man faced risking everything for freedom and a woman faced risking everything for love.
Customer Reviews:
Swept Away by Dark Torment!.......2006-07-04
I adored this book; the heroine was what particularly struck me about Dark Torment. She was brave and feisty without being annoying and belligerent. She was strong and funny and Robards just wrote her in such a way that if Sarah were real, I'd love to be her friend. She's kind and compassionate, but that doesn't mean Sarah isn't practical. She's very nice and polite to the convict staff in her home, but, and as bad as this may make Sarah sound, it is at least very realistic, she is also aware of the gulf that separates the high-born from the convicted. She saves Dominic from being flogged, but she is aware of how difficult a relationship between them would be. And that scene after she and Dominic chase off those bad guys...hahaha - had me laughing for years.
Dominic is as sexy as all get out and totally someone I could imagine drooling over! Their love scenes were totally hot and heavy if you're into that kind of thing, but more importantly, the plot moves quickly without losing atmosphere. The book had a unique setting as well, for a historical romance. I enjoyed Dominic and Sarah's barbed remarks to each other and how they relished getting a rise out of one another.
This was a totally thrilling book and I still read it over and over and over because it's just that wonderful. Trust me, pick up this golden treasure and you will not be disappointed.
Another great Robards read!.......2005-08-13
Dark Torment was a book that I just bought simply because I had read a lot of other Robards historical romances and thought it would be a safe buy. But I ended up enjoying this book far more than I thought I would.
I won't bore my readers here with another synopsis of the story line, but the story was very intriguing indeed! Sarah was believable as an almost Cinderella-like character. And she made the reader empathic of her innocence and curiosity. And the character of Dominic was sexy and heart-warming. This book is heated with an abundance of sexual tension and passion. It totally wraps you up in a world that few of us know about. Karen Robards describes historical Australia as a place of danger and intrigue, which makes it all the more suited for this particular story.
I thought that the ending could have been more detailed - as there is a large gap that leaves you wondering, but overall this was a great read and I would definitely recommend it! It will stay in my collection and I'm sure I'll pick it up again.
Liked it, but not the best. .......2005-01-27
I have read many of Karen's books and although I liked this book, I have read better by her. This was a heart pounding, whip you along, fast paced story. There was lots of action, great dialouge and chemistry between the characters. Sarah was a very strong girl when it came to Dominic, but very weak with her family. Even though she had alot of control in the house. I did not care for her character in the middle of the book. I know why she acted the way she did, but I thought she was really rough on Dominic when it was her own actionsand feelings that made her so mad. After that was resolved she was quite likeable again.
Dominic was on the hard side. He had it rough, and was not going to take it any more. I thought there was a few too many holes in time. Example, she is riding her horse to get away from someone, then its two months later. Hello? What happened. Then when they took Dominic, you did not hear anything until he came back. none of this ruined anything, but if it was different, it would have been much better in my opinion. Otherwise this story has all of Robards usual eye holding action. I did enjoy this novel and would recommend it.
Absolutely wonderful.........you'll love it........2004-09-24
The Australian outback lents itself beautifully to this tale of a wrongly accused/convicted man who escapes death by becoming indentured to a sheep grower. His plain, no-nonsense daughters saves the convict "gallagher"'s life. He resents her for it as he doesn't want to be "beholden" to anyone esp a woman. The overseer wants to marry 'sarah' for her inheritance and makes every effort to beat and kill Gallagher once he sees that Sarah
befriends the man. Filled with adventure and action, love and hate, ruthlessness and tenderness and all the emotions in between, this is really enjoyable. You come to love gallagher and his sapphire eyes and hope he and sarah find the love they both deserve despite the obstacles. It was hard to put down and I was sorry when it was over.
This book was and will always be awesome!!!.......2003-03-16
I have recently began reading romance novels this past year and I have read over 200 novels already, but none captivated me more than "Dark Torment". I have read many of Karen Robards' books, (each of them are thrilling onto themselves)but none captured my attention and held it to the very end as this work of utter perfection! The character's are well thought out, the dialogue is interesting and the descriptions are thorough. I enjoyed every minute of the love affair and then marraige of the shy miss and the criminal.
Books:
- Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games
- Valley of Silence (The Circle Trilogy, Book 3)
- Voyage of Slaves: A Tale From Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
- When God Winks at You: How God Speaks Directly to You Through the Power of Coincidence
- Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
- Winter of the Wolf Moon: A Mystery (An Alex McKnight Novel)
- Without Cloak or Dagger : The truth about the new espionage--
- X-Men Visionaries: Jim Lee TPB (X-Men Visionaries)
- 101 French Proverbs
- 15 Books in 1: L. Frank Baum's Original "Oz" Series. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl Of Oz, Little Wizard Stories of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, The Scarecrow Of Oz, Rinkitink In Oz, The Lost Princess Of Oz, The Tin Woodman Of Oz, The Magic of Oz, and Glinda Of Oz.
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
- Polaroid Manipulations: A Complete Visual Guide to Creating SX-70, Transfer, and Digital Prints
- Horseman, Pass By : A Novel
- Jane's Chem-Bio Handbook
- History: Fiction or Science
- Organic Chemistry
- Japan: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary
- Heintz Art Metal: Silver-On-Bronze Wares
- Free and Unequal: The Biological Basis of Individual Liberty
- Guidebook on Trading with the People's Republic of China
