Customer Reviews

The Risk of Darkness (Simon Serrailler Crime Novels)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the third book by Susan Hill that I have bought and read. While Simon may not be everyone's idea of a policeman, he is complicated,deep, and interesting. His family background and interaction with them are interesting and complex. This book finishes the story of the missing child begun in the 2nd book and begins changes in the family lives and relationships of Simon. If you have never read any books in this series, I would recommend you start with Various Haunts of Men and read in order.
I do like all of these books, even though they are a bit different.

What's up with authors named Hill? First we have the terrific Reginald Hill and now Susan Hill has another winner in what is becoming an increasingly complex series. After purchasing her first entry in the Simon Serrailler series, " The Various Haunts of Men" The Various Haunts of Men (Simon Serrailler Mystery), I couldn't wait so I checked out the second from the library! #3 lives up to its predecessors.

Hill manages to juggle several story lines at once without confusing the reader--no small accomplishment. Additionally, even her minor characters are distinctive, something only a masterful writer can achieve. Early on, we discover that the serial child murderer is a woman, thus overturning our expectations. To her credit, the author throws out all the various theories of why Ed does what she does but never lets her characters or her readers solve that mystery. The other murders in the novel follow the usual motives, though with twists, thus highlighting the main puzzle.

Hill's Simon irritates us just as he irritates his triplet, Cat, because he is such a doofus about women. But like Cat, we still love him. We do have to cheer when she finally figuratively grabs him by the throat and confronts him with his seeming callous treatment of the women in his life.

The darkness is all around, for character after character. So many losses and so many attempts to escape the risk of darkness--some successful, some potentially more than just an escape, and some truly horrifying. As she has done with each of the previous novels, Hill leaves us looking forward to Simon and the other main characters when #4 opens in her skillfully imagined English town, Lafferton.

THE RISK OF DARKNESS
By Susan Hill

The following contains some revelations about the plots of all three Simon Serrailler novels which might be considered spoilers.

The Risk of Darkness is a book about life changes and how people respond to them. Although classified as a crime novel, it is much more than that. The crime and the criminal are a focal point around which other plots move, but crime is a plot device. This is not a who-done-it.

The crime is the abduction and murder of children. The criminal, revealed early on in the book, is Edwina Sleightholme, who prefers to be called Ed, a complex character whose psychological makeup and motivation are not fully explored in this book, leaving this reader longing for more.

The Risk of Darkness is the third in the Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill. The series is a progression in time, meaning that the reader who has read the first two in the series will better understand references to the past in this, the third.

There are several concurrent plot lines and themes in The Risk of Darkness. The exploration of how people respond to death is a central theme.

Two deaths continue to haunt Simon: the death of Freya Graffham, a woman he was developing feelings for in the first book of the series, The Various Haunts of Men; and the death of his sister Martha, which took place in the second book, The Pure in Heart. These unresolved grievings have Simon feeling dissatisfaction with both his work and his personal life.

Max Jameson's wife Lizzie dies an agonizing death. Max's grief drives him into insanity.

Jane Fitzroy's mother is murdered, and Jane begins to question her own commitment to her position as an Anglican priest. The death of Lizzie Jameson and Max's plunge into insanity also factor into Jane's turmoil.

Marilyn Angus responds to the death of her husband and the presumed death of her son David with a matter-of-factness approach to getting on with life, although this reaction crumbles in the end.

Richard Serrailler, father to Cat and Simon, handles the death of his wife Meriel with a surface calmness. One suspects, however, that he is suppressing his grief and it will come to the fore at some point in the future.

Other life changes are faced by characters in the book. Simon's sister, Cat, and her husband Chris contemplate a move to Australia as an antidote to Chris's dissatisfaction with his work as a doctor, what seems in his case to be a classic case of a mid-life crisis.

Simon is contemplating changes in his life and in his career. He seems at a crossroads, not sure which way to turn. Simon is approaching his 37th birthday and so he too may be in the midst of a mid-life crisis.

By the end of the book Ed has come to the realization that she will never again be free, and the reader is left wondering how she is going to deal with this realization.

Three women are assaulted in the course of the book, and each woman deals with the aftereffects of the assault differently.

Cat, also a doctor, is assaulted while on a nighttime home visit. She is shaken by the assault and begins to reevaluate her life.

Magda, who has been assaulted in her home in London, responds by reasserting her independence and insisting on returning to her home, where she is later murdered.

Jane, who is Magda's daughter, is also assaulted in her home in Lafferton and responds by reconsidering her commitment to her career as an Anglican priest.

Mother-daughter relationships are also explored in this book.

The relationship between Cat and her mother Meriel occupies little space in this novel, although their relationship has been explored in more detail in the two previous novels.

Jane and Magda are considered from the perspectives of their very different responses to being assaulted in their homes, as well as their conflict over Jane's calling to the priesthood.

Kyra is a young girl who has been befriended by her neighbor Ed. While the reader is privy to Ed's thoughts about Kyra being safe and thus not in danger of being abducted and murdered, we do not understand why this is so. Kyra shares some personality traits with Ed, and I was left wondering if the relationship between Kyra and her mother Natalie might be similar to Ed's childhood relationship with her mother Eileen.

The relationship between Edwina and Eileen is tantalizingly short on detail. We view their past through the selective memories of Eileen only.

When I read a book, one thing that plays a role in determining whether I like it or not is whether I care about the characters. I cared a lot about Simon and Freya Graffham in the first book of the series, The Various Haunts of Men, the ending of which I found shocking, probably contributing to my very strong anticipation for the second book. I am left at the end of The Risk of Darkness with a similar longing for the next book in the series. I want to know more about Ed, her past and how she responds to the realization that she will never be free again.

Edwina Sleightholme is viewed by Simon as the personification of evil. Yet Ed is not a one-dimensional character, and while I share Simon's revulsion at what she has done, I am left wanting to know more of what shaped her personality, how she came to do the things she did. I do hope Susan Hill gives us more about Ed in future novels.

Fans of Simon Serailler will appreciate this third book in the series, but new readers would appreciate this book better if they first read the two prior books in the series, i.e. "The Various Haunts of Men", and "The Pure in Heart".

In this novel, police inspector Simon Serailler remains a complex character. Not only is he a police inspector, but also a practising artist. Though women are attracted to him, he is ambivalent towards them. He is however drawn in this book to a female Anglican priest, and it's interesting to read about this new story arc.

"The Risk of Darkness" also continues a story arc from the second book, which centers around the disappearance of a schoolboy. Another missing child case sees Simon teaming up with another policeman, and when a young girl is kidnapped, the team goes all out to solve the cases.

There are many things to appreciate in Susan Hill's novels - the quick pacing of the plot and compelling story arcs, the well-developed characters who never suffer from either over-characterization or being portrayed as cardboard cut-outs, and the myriad, complex themes brought forth in each novel. Highly recommended for mystery fans, especially for those who like a good British mystery.

The main character in The Risk of Darkness is Simon Serrailler, a British police detective who is also an artist. He has a quirky family & interpersonal troubles & is likely to remind you of PD James' Adam Dalgleish. This is the third book in the series. I thought I hadn't read any of these, but realized as I was reading that I recognized Simon & found that I had read the first one, The Various Haunts of Men.

This is a slow, almost meditative book that I hesitate to call a mystery because, while there is crime in the book, the book itself isn't really about solving a crime or capturing a criminal or even understanding a criminal. Instead, this is book that weaves together the threads of stories that happen in the aftermath of a crime. It's as if Hill dropped a rock into a pond & rather than talking about the rock or the pond, she decided to talk about the ripples & the things they touch.

This is well-written & contemplative. If you're looking for a fast-paced thrill ride, this is not your book. Read this to peer all around the edges of a crime & to see its impact on many different lives.

* Possible spoilers*

I don't believe this book is as good as her previous ones...or perhaps I've read too many consecutively.

Hill included side stories that seemed superfluous and meaningless to the main plot. The Max and terminally ill wife story line could have been omitted without compromising the plot at all. I found that story line depressing, distracting and nothing to do with anything. Many police characters were introduced at the beginning never to be referenced again. After finishing the book, I was quite frustrated with the number of incomplete story lines. Did Kyra get the help she needed (and why wasn't more help offered to this poor child)? Did she and her mother ever move away? Did her mother get paid for the story? The Ed story line did not come to a satisfying completion and was left seeming like she was clueless about the enormity of what she had done.

There are too many deaths that seem purposeless and pointless, but rather thrown in to fill pages (for example, the priest's mother). A couple of times the dialogue was confusing. People began talking without any references as to whom was speaking and I had to reread several times to figure it out (frustrating).

I was disappointed that there was not more police procedure involved....more steps in the solving of the crime. The book is a Simon Serrailler Mystery, but there was no mystery in this book.

Again, perhaps I should have taken a break between her books. While I did for the most part enjoy the book because I care about the main characters (Simon and Cat), I found myself impatient to be finished with it.

Generally, I like Susan Hill's writing but, though the first book in this series was okay, the 2nd and 3rd were disappointing. Her central character is so unlikeable I couldn't connect with him on any level. I don't demand characters be likeable (some of my favorites aren't) but there should be humanity or humor or something.

The multiple, collision-course, stories that make up each chapter are okay (especially when they don't include Simon) but it's frustrating that some reach a conclusion and others stop well short - not in a cliff-hanger-wait-for-the-next-book way, but in the sense of a missed opportunity.

Simon Serailler returns to help in a search for another child abducted from a small town out of his district. His pain as he works over the similarities to the David Angus disappearnce drives him relentlessly at the same time that family concerns are taking a toll on his emotions. As usual, the author does an outstanding job depicting the many sides of a complex detective's slogging through his daily search for a killer. Finding the abductor is only the beginning; then the question of "why?" turns several lives upside down. Can't wait for the fourth book.

This is the third in a series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler. As the story opens, Serrailler is in Yorkshire, far from "his patch" in Lafferton to assist the Yorkshire constabulary in dealing with several child abductions and probable murders, seemingly the work of a pedophile serial killer. Simon also thinks that their cases may be connected to abductions in Lafferton. Of course both the Yorkshire cops and those in Lafferton must also handle "routine" crime while trying to focus on the major crime.

Sounds like a fairly standard framework for a police procedural, so you can settle in for a difficult and wearing investigation by mostly dedicated cops, perhaps with a brilliant insight or two from the hero and with the outcome in doubt until the very end. As you relax into a comfortable chair, carefully take those expectations and stuff them under the seat cushion. This book is by no means a typical police procedural. It is not merely dark but close to despairing in its view of modern society and social relationships.

First, solutions are in very short supply, and the hard work of the cops has very little to do with such solutions as do occur. They result from true serendipity: random and inexplicable strokes of good luck. But the cops have absolutely no success in dealing with much of the crime described in the book. When they do have success, it proves impossible to conclude the case. Criminals remain unidentified, and their crimes unsolved. This is not the result of authorial incompetence but is clearly part of Ms. Hill's world view.

Second, the book is so structured so as to have little mystery and nearly nothing of police procedure. Indeed, Hill seems uninterested in the actual mechanics of a major investigation. Her descriptions of the work done are broad and general (one might almost say generic).

Third, virtually every relationship affecting the major characters in the book is destroyed, destabilized or cut short before fruition. Some of this is related to the effects of the crimes that occur; and I thought at first that Hill was exploring the effects of violent crime on those exposed to it. But this cannot be the case. Some of the disruption comes from death by natural causes, some from relocation to distant places and some from possible intimacy cut off. Included are parental relationships, romantic relationships and close work relationships. The point is that most of the main characters are virtually isolated by the end of the story.

Fourth, the community as a whole is curiously uninvolved in the story. Hill makes no attempt to describe normal life in Lafferton or elsewhere. There is no indication that the community cares much about the violence or its victims. One is led to question even the cops. Serrailler himself seems mainly motivated by the excitement and the adrenalin rush of his cases, and it is unclear whether any higher motivation exists. Serrailler also becomes aware that a cop temporarily assigned to Lafferton is uncaring, lazy and incompetent, insulting to citizens, contemptuous of his colleagues (especially superiors), and unpopular in every force he has been on. Serrailler elects to do nothing about it, telling his subordinate just to deal with it.

Fifth, one of the subplots seems to stand for the proposition that even God and his agents are helpless in the face of the evil in the world. God seems remote and unreachable (or non-existent), His representatives helpless to explain Him.

I could go on but the point is probably clear enough. This book sees civil society as coming apart. Good and bad seem completely random. Rationality has little importance or effect in the world. Communal bonds are nearly non-existent. As the poet Yeats wrote in "The Second Coming:"

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
....
....
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

This book is quite well written and interesting throughout, but it is so dark as to suggest despair.

I read all 4 books in this series. I liked Simon Serrailler as the less-than-perfect detective, and everything to do with his problems, romances and crime-solving. I hated everything and everyone else. The author makes the terrible mistake of creating numerous annoying characters with various dismal and not-believable subplots and goes off on a million tangents, thus diluting the interest in the main mystery. The sickening stories generated by the sister Dr. Cat Deerbon are just the worst! Other peripheral characters are just too irritating and feeble -- to the point that the reader is happy when they die off. I simply cannot recommend this to mystery-lovers!