The Mermaids Singing (A Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Mystery)

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This sadistic, twisted yet intriguingly ingenious thriller garnered Val McDermid Britain's top crime-fiction award, the Gold Dagger, which only proves it's not as genteel a nation as we've been led to believe. The Mermaids Singing follows a killer who thrives on finding ever more inventive ways to seduce and torture sexually confused young men and records their death struggles digitally to market them as interactive home movies.

Book Description

This was the summer he discovered what he wanted--at a gruesome museum of criminology far off the beaten track of more timid tourists. Visions of torture inspired his fantasies like a muse. It would prove so terribly fulfilling.

The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim.

A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage--or the power--to stop it...

Customer Reviews:

A chilling read.......2007-08-03

This is the first in the series of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan books that BBC made into a series, called "Wire in the Blood," the name of the second book. Fortunately for viewers, the characters on the screen are not as flawed as the ones in the book. Tony Hill is one messed up shrink - we know why HE chose his career! and Carol has her own problems as a woman in the CID. A serial killer strikes the mid-sized community of Bradford, and appears to be killing gay men. But is he? or could they just seem to be gay? The Bradford CID is working on a Home Office project to use profilers with the police, so this is the perfect opportunity for Tony Hill to practice his specialty. He tends to get a little too involved in his work. This is not for the squeamish - the violence is graphic. But the writing is compelling, and it's a real page-turner. It isn't until after you've finished the book that you start to see holes in the plot - small ones in this book, but they get larger as the series progresses. But, I don't want to be a spoiler! If you can handle graphic violence, torture, and gore along with page-turning prose, and you like watching the workings of the psychotic mind, then this is the book for you. It's un-put-downable once you pass the first two pages.

Takes some patience.......2006-08-25

Van McDermid, a first-rate writer of psychological thrillers, can be tantalizing in her detail and measured pace. I'm just used to fast paced, gory stories.

This book introduces the Tony Hill and Carole Jordan characters and the uncertainty of their relationship is believable. The characters gradually develop depth and start a reltionship that will last for a number of books and TV movies.

I can't tell you how it ends, but you will be surprised.

The pace of the book presented the only negative part of the experience. The TV movies don't waste any time, but McDermid, much like P.D. James, takes a lot of time building characters and settings.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I did find it tiring.

tired and dated.......2006-07-11

The Good: The Mermaids Singing starts off well and feels like a good read. The killers narrative works out fine and hooks you early. Unfortunately as the book progresses it shows its age and in the end fails horribly. The book is about a psychological profiler and perhaps that alone made it interesting in 1995. Unfortunately nearly ten years later I needed more.

The Bad: I will put forth no spoilers here but I will say there is little build up to the ending and it is over in a blink of an eye. I felt like Val needed to have the book done by 400 pages and she wrapped it up just before she over shot the mark.

I love how she references Silence of the Lambs more than once and then liberally borrows plot points from it.

Bottom Line: Read Manhunter and Silence of the Lambs both are way more fun.

A rare breed.......2006-05-12

There are plenty of good thrillers of there, but not that many truly great ones. Val McDermid's Tony Hill & Carol Jordan novels are in that "can't put down"-category.
The TV series, named after the second book in the series, is one of the best and certainly grittiest crime shows you'll ever see, and the books are, well, better. "The Mermaids Singing"

I can see why some people who prefer a lighter and more humorous type of crime novel would shy away from these very harsh and occationally frightening stories with their lenghty characterisations, but they are really missing out on something.
Journalist Val McDermid is excepetionally adept at creating a totally believable environment for her equally believable characters, and, like Dr. Tony Hill, criminal prophiler, she knows what goes on inside the heads of good guys and bad guys alike.
"The Mermaids Singing" is the first item in the series, and it has been followed by the equally magnificent (and equally horrifying) thrillers "The Wire In The Blood", "The Last Temptation", and "The Torment Of Others". All are very highly recommended.

Gimmicky.......2006-02-17

No spoilers included, but this book has a major gimmick in it that's popular now and thus totally overused. The characters are all neurotic. The mystery is not compelling. I liked the other McDermids I read a lot better. I think the author was only partially attentive, or was distracted by something horrible and boring, while writing this tedious slab of overwrought verbiage.

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I am a better person for having read it
love this
Life changing
Couldn't Put it Down
Interesting story

The Mermaids Singing
Lisa Carey
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380815591
Release Date: 2001-11-06

Book Description

There is an island off the west coast of Ireland called Inis Murúch -- the Island of the Mermaids -- a world where myth is more powerful than truth, and love can overcome even death. It is here that Lisa Carey sets her lyrical and sensual first novel, weaving together the voices and lives of three generations of Irish and Irish-American women.

Years ago, the fierce and beautiful Grace stole away from the island with her small daughter, Gráinne, unable to bear its isolation. Now Gráinne is motherless at fifteen, and a grandmother she has never met has come to take her back. Her heart is pulled between a life in which she no longer belongs and a family she cannot remember. But only on Inis Murúch can she begin to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.

Customer Reviews:

I am a better person for having read it.......2007-03-23

Three generations of Irish women. Three generations of women who do not understand their mothers. Three generations of women who do not know how to communicate with their daughters. But all of the women filled with complete love for the woman in their life that they do not comprehend. Cliona, the grandmother of the novel, did not see her mother for what she was. However, despite her best efforts, she did not give her daughter what she thinks her daughter wanted and needed. Grace, Cliona's daughter, resented her mother and vowed to tell her daughter, Grainne, everything; to be close to her and to avoid the pitfalls she had with her own mother. But no one is ever the mother they think they will be.

The Mermaids Singing does a beautiful job of placing three very flawed relationships in the beautiful setting of an island in Ireland. The island calls to Cliona while Grace rejects it. Grainne is left to sort through her confused feelings in an effort to find a place to call home. Lisa Carey adeptly changes the narrator from character to character in order to convey the feelings of each. Despite the conflicting emotions, the reader is able to understand each woman's perspective in an effort to reconcile the feelings between mother and daughter.

It takes about 100 pages to get a feel for the characters and get invested in the story. But once it sinks in, the novel takes off and is emotional and moving. The incorporation of traditional Irish fokelore and poetry makes for an even richer story. This is a novel to which any mother or daughter can relate.

love this.......2007-02-05

I loved this book. Honestly, I picked it up in some discount area and I can't imagine my life without it. Silly, maybe but true. I thought it was amazing as a teenager and saw it in a whole new light after losing my aunt to cancer. I've read it many times and I just think it's the best book. It's all about what's not said & the dangers in not speaking up, about how valuable time is and life in general.

I just love the whole thing. I loaned it out so many times, I had to buy another copy just for myself again.

Life changing.......2006-11-11

This book is such a powerful and emotional book that it gives you a new outlook on life. Wonderfully crafted, the story transports you into a different reality. The realism is so moving because the book combines magic into reality which causes you to believe there is more to life than what is on the surface. This is my favorite novel of all time and it was the book I looked to when I was depressed. A MUST read

Couldn't Put it Down.......2006-07-27

I've had this book for several years and have read it about 4 times. Once I began to read it the first time I was hooked! Since then I've shared it with some of my best friends, who also couldn't put it down. The tale of three generations and their interaction, or lack thereof at times, paints a picture that is rarely seen outside the confines of such a family. Some reviewers discuss how Grace's character seems unrealistically selfish, but if you take the time to look, Grace portrays a new generation of mothers - though not the best style of raising a child, one that does truly exist.

Interesting story.......2006-03-25

I have mixed feelings about this family saga which is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. The inner healing, reaching out and reconciliation between Cliona and her granddaughter Grainne, and the rest of their family, following the death of Grace, was tragically beautiful. And the harsh island setting and Irish folklore was very interesting. However, this family was far too dysfunctional and the characters were way too sexually preoccupied for my tastes, and that took away from my feelings towards them and towards this story.

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Discovering Her Muse
Passion-channeled poetry
A fascinating look at being a woman and a writer
we enter life naked but leave cloaked in pain.
A Meditation on art and life

Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing
May Sarton
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0393309290

Customer Reviews:

Discovering Her Muse.......2006-02-08

Hilary Stevens, a poetess and novelist in her 70s, prepares for an interview regarding her latest book of poems which has once again made her the darling of the critics. That morning, thanks to a puzzling encounter with young Mar Hemmer who desires to write his own poetry, Hilary begins to look back on her career and her life, her lovers and the elusive Muse. Just what is it that propels her to write her poems?, the interviewers want to know, and through their questions, she relives the moments in her life when the Muse entered and the poetry flowed -- when she was with the women who set her mind aflurry with words and passion.

Slow-paced and thought-provoking, May Sarton's novel discusses what gives writers inspiration, as well as what effect love has not only on writing but on life. All the characters are well-fleshed out, from Hilary to Mar and both the interviewers, and even the young Hilary who provides a conflict between the generations within Hilary herself. A beautifully written book that examines what it is to be a writer.

Passion-channeled poetry.......2005-07-05

Do not pick up this book if you are hoping for an action-packed novel. This is a slow a narrative as it gets, and rightfully so. It is a very beautiful book. The Mrs. Stevens of the title is a poet. A newly published book of poems is bringing her fame and attention. A couple of journalists want to interview her. The book has four parts:

° her preparations and musings pre-interview: Hilary Stevens was born in New England with a hot-blooded Mediterranean personality. She was never the daughter her parents expected, and she hated being a girl, because at an early age she understood all the extra constraints she would have to endure just for that fact. She recounts her discoveries of love, her early passions, her writing, with a mixture of loving nostalgia and disgust.

° the interviewers dialogs on their way to her house: esoteric English majors (boy and girl) waxing about the beauty of language and love (quite boring, in my opinion)

° the interview itself: where Hilary takes the interviewers for a wrestling match of the brains, the meaning of life, the meaning of her poems, and comes out very victorious. Hilary and the girl journalist understand each other and make the boy journalist feel inadequate.

° the post-interview and the following day: Hilary has a young friend, Mar, who helps her in the garden and does small repairs in her cottage. Mar is tormented, coming to terms with his homosexuality. Hilary can understand this very well, because she was/is a passionate person, and Mar is still searching for the tools to deal with his passion in a less destructive way. Hilary suggests poetry as a good avenue. Mar and Hilary have fruitful conversations by the ocean. After a few days of stirring the past, Hilary comes to terms with her life as best as she can.

A fascinating look at being a woman and a writer.......2002-08-14

May Sarton's novel "Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing" tells the story of Hilary Stevens, a 70-year old poet and novelist who lives in a house by the sea with her cat, Sirenica. When a two-person team comes to interview her, she reflects on her life, love affairs, and literary career.

"Mrs. Stevens" is a fascinating fictional portrait of a woman writer. It's fun to hear the characters discuss the novels and poetry books written by this invented character; the book has an almost Borgesian flavor in parts as this imaginary oeuvre is explored. In this book Sarton also explores sexual and romantic love in its various permutations: male-male, female-male, and female-female. Along the way the characters invoke a number of important female writers: Sappho, Jane Austen, Colette, etc.

Sarton deals with a number of compelling issues in this book: the tension between female creativity and procreativity; women's mental health; the fickle fortunes of the literary world; and the impact of a book's reception on its author. Sarton has a satiric touch in her look at the literary/publishing establishment, a gentle touch in her look at human relations. And throughout there are some nice touches, like details about Hilary's work in her garden. Overall, a solid achievement from an impressively prolific writer.

we enter life naked but leave cloaked in pain........2000-07-28

about life, poetry...

this was an incredible book. not based as much on plot as ideas, this book uses f. hilary stevens, an accomplished poet, as a medium through which we see that life, despite its inherent pain, is amazing and beautiful once viewed in the right way. eloquently written, and hard to put down.

A Meditation on art and life.......1998-09-29

This book is wonderful for all readers. Detailing the experiences of a lesbian woman coming to terms with the terminus of her life and the art she has produced, this book bridges ideas and generations. There is so much there that this is a must for any person who wants to think seriously about art and life.

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Inspiring, funny, and disquietng
Psychoanalysis from the inside out
Playful meeting with psychoanalytic thinking!
Bollas' Song Must Be Heard

I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing
Christopher Bollas
Manufacturer: Free Association Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 185343759X

Customer Reviews:

Inspiring, funny, and disquietng.......2005-09-26

Christopher Bollas's second very personal, fictionalized account of the current state of psychoanalysis and of the deadly elements inherent in mass movements (following "Dark at the End of the Tunnel") cooks up a complex brew of laughter, sympathy, and unease: laughter, because the novella portrays a character who, despite his wisdom and seriousness, can spy the antic in the midst of tragedy; sympathy because any reader familiar with contemporary psychoanalytic controversies, world events, and the capacity for self questioning, can place himself in the protagonist's shoes; and unease because the book captures a prevailing fantasy of impending (and current) worldwide catastrophe. But set against the elements of darkness is Bollas's faith that individual men and women, while being hijacked by social and cultural forces beyond their control, are at the same time creators of their own destinies.
While some readers may be made uncomfortable by Bollas's srikingly expressed views of the psychoanalytic profession, all readers will be confronted by a fertile, intelligent, and funny mind at work.

Psychoanalysis from the inside out.......2005-09-14

Anyone concerned about the relentless attacks on psychoanalysis as a mode of thinking will learn a great deal from I Have Heard the Mermaids Sing. In using the form of a novella, Christopher Bollas gives us a glimpse of what it feels like to be a psychoanalyst at the dawn of the twenty first century. He effectively punctures the myth of the analyst as arbitor of reality or member of a cult.
Because we experience the world from the perspective of "the psychoanalyst," we get a glimpse of the inner workings of an active mind as the analyst attempts to find the unconscious meaning of his patient's discourse. Most readers will find I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing funny, thoughtful, provocative and challenging. Bollas's psychoanalyst speaks forcefully about depression, the aftermath of the "catastrophe [9/11?]" and the unremitttting attack on imagination and the inner life that defines the contemporary ethos. While these are serious topics, the adventures and misadventures of the psychoanalyst provide comic relief. This novella is a pleasure to read -it defends psychoanalysis, develops a complex and rich theory of depression but never takes itself too seriously even as it deals with the most vexing problems of our era.

Playful meeting with psychoanalytic thinking!.......2005-09-12

"I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing" is a truly remarkable book about a character who works as a psychoanalyst. We are allowed to follow his life both from behind the couch and in his private life, which is a surprising and pleasant way of meeting with Bollas' profound and creative thinking.

This book made me both laugh in recognition about what it is like to be a human being and think for a long time afterwards about the profoundness in the character's thoughts. Beautifully written, the richness of the thoughts in the book has made me return to this book several times, and also to read out passages from it aloud, both to psychoanalysts and people not working in the field, and they could all share the joy of Bollas' outstanding writing.

Above all, this book is another excellent example of Bollas' creative ways of living with independent psychoanalytic thinking, something I find fundamentally important in these times of psychoanalysis in crisis.
X

Bollas' Song Must Be Heard.......2005-09-11

Like a dream, Mermaid weaves an unpredictable course along the fuzzy border between psychic reality and the powerful pressures of group life. Anyone who reads this book encounters Bollas's song, a song which, if allowed, will disrupt the reader's internal sea. Those who listen will find that unlike most investigations into the troubled waters of psychoanalysis, this book introduces corruption within psychoanalytic institutions, psychoanalytic technique, and the practices of even the most well meaning practitioners, using the medium of fiction rather than the hard hitting and ostensibly straight forward style of theoretical writing. By using this medium, Bollas offers readers a new way of grappling with the dark regions of psychotherapy, group existence, and private corruption. Through the voice of characters and use of humor, Bollas shakes and loosens our unconscious, inviting the reader to dream one's own solutions and insights into traumatic areas of the human condition. For those interested in developing new dimensions of social consciousness and contact with unconscious life, I highly recommend this book.

HOTTEST BLOOD - Hot Blood Series: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror: I Hear the Mermaids Singing; Llama; Where the Heart Was; The Last Crossing; Damaged Goods; Hillbettys; Abuse; Forever in My Thoughts; Blind Date; Sex Object; Box 69; Prized Possession

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HOTTEST BLOOD - Hot Blood Series: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror: I Hear the Mermaids Singing; Llama; Where the Heart Was; The Last Crossing; Damaged Goods; Hillbettys; Abuse; Forever in My Thoughts; Blind Date; Sex Object; Box 69; Prized Possession
Jeff; Garrett, Michael (editors) (Nancy Holder; Bentley Little; David J. Schow; Thomas Tessier; Elizabeth Massie; Graham Watkins; Matthew Costello; Don D'Ammassa; Julie Wilson; Graham Masterton; Rex Miller; Jeff Gelb; Chris Lacher) Gelb
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing

Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000DZC19A

Product Description

Original $4.50 to DJ flap, cloth spine, paper-covered boards.

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THE MYSTERY OF THE SINGING MERMAID

Manufacturer: Weekly Reader Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000EEPUDO

HOTTEST BLOOD: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror: I Hear the Mermaids Singing; Llama; Where the Heart Was; The Last Crossing; Damaged Goods; Hillbettys; Abuse; Forever in My Thoughts; Blind Date; Sex Object; Box 69; Prized Possession; At the Count of Three

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HOTTEST BLOOD: The Ultimate in Erotic Horror: I Hear the Mermaids Singing; Llama; Where the Heart Was; The Last Crossing; Damaged Goods; Hillbettys; Abuse; Forever in My Thoughts; Blind Date; Sex Object; Box 69; Prized Possession; At the Count of Three
Jeff; Garrett, Michael (editors) (Nancy Holder; Bentley Little; David J. Schow; Thomas Tessier; Elizabeth Massie; Graham Watkins; Matthew Costello; Don D'Ammassa; Julie Wilson; Graham Masterton; Rex Miller; Jeff Gelb; Chris Lacher) Gelb
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Mermaid Singing

The Mermaid Singing
Val McDermid
Manufacturer: ISIS Audio Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0753107104

Customer Reviews:

The Mermaid Singing.......2000-07-03

An excellent book, great suspence and imprevedible ending.

Mermaid singing: Drawings by Cedric Flower

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Mermaid singing: Drawings by Cedric Flower
Charmian Clift
Manufacturer: Bobbs-Merrill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0007E40Q4

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