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Val McDermid has constantly reinvented herself as a crime writer over the past 20 years, so if one series doesn't appeal to you, there will be another and/or a standalone along soon. The series featuring dysfunctional profiler Tony Hill and damaged DCI Carol Jordan has been the most successful for McDermid, and BENEATH THE BLEEDING is an incendiary (in more ways than one) addition that will keep you engrossed. McDermid's talents lie in her stark writing and absolutely rock-solid plotting. And she excels at creating communities you believe you either live in or know, and the northern English town of Bradfield is no exception. Robbie Bishop is Bradfield's midfielder. Doctors think he's got a chest infection, until one sharp-eyed young quack does some investigating and reckons he's been poisoned – and there's nothing any medical expert can do to prevent the soccer star's death. The football theme continues as an explosion rips through the club's stadium, killing dozens and injuring many more. Carol Jordan and her team are investigating the incidents (until the big boys lumber in and assume command of the explosion case) and can't work out if they're linked. A terrorist bomb, given the present climate, looks the most likely, but does someone have a vendetta against the football club? For most of the book Tony Hill is in hospital, after a run-in with an axe man at the psychiatric hospital. OK, so of course he's not going to recuperate quietly but ends up doing his investigations on the quiet with a laptop for company. And McDermid brings his mother into the equation for some added grit and to throw more light on his strange, screwed-up life. I'm a big fan of McDermid, who could re-write the phone book and make it gripping. My slight gripe with this series has been the character of Tony, who at times seems to teeter on the edge of implausibility – and I find it very difficult to get the picture of Robson Green, the actor who plays him in the TV versions, out of my mind. Suffice it to say he wouldn't be my choice for the role! But BENEATH THE BLEEDING is one of the best in this series. Its only weakness is the stadium plot thread which is signalled from a long way off so when it does arrive lacks a little oomph, so to speak, and seems to be over far too quickly. And I still can't decide how effective the resolution of this strand is – it's difficult to be specific without giving too much away, but the rationale behind it bothered me. The poisoned soccer player story is the stronger of the two (and I am feeling smug for picking up on the clues and predicting where it was going). As usual there's tension between Tony and Carol. I trust McDermid implicitly but pleasepleaseplease never marry them off to each other! And there's a message there for the way the police force is moving – Carol and Co are not a bit enamoured of the 'Storm Troopers' who are called into handle the explosion enquiry. You can always rely on McDermid to lay on a fast-moving page-turner, to plot like a dream, and to provide the unexpected at the end. BENEATH THE BLEEDING ticks all those boxes.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, August 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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