Customer Reviews

Dream of Darkness

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Ummm....no. I didn't really like this installment in Mr Hill's cannon. It's got quite a good idea, but it falls flat somewhere. He just isn't good at writing these types of stories. It happend with "The Long Kill", which was only slightly better than this. Also with The Only Game, and Death of A Dromouse. They just seem to strike a wrong note. It's as if they're written by a different person, one incapable of writing this type of story.

He is definitely a detective novelist, and should stick to it. This shines through at the end, when he adds the elements of mystery. It is where the book redeems itself, by the fact that the "denouement" is very good, in traditional Agatha Christie style.

However, the rest of it just doesn't really work. It is by no means a bad book, i just didn't really see much point in it...I didn't really care about any of the characters, because they were all (except Vita) quite wooden. The writing of the African way of life makes it clear he has not even as much as visited the country, he just glosses over that completely, making the book seem a lot less authentic.

The overall book, the whole spy/espionage tirade, is so complicated and contrite i am still not sure what really went on, and i refuse to read it again just to clarify.

If you want to read Hill, my advise would be to ignore this one. Stick with dalziel and pascoe.