Customer Reviews

Game over (Bill Slider Mysteries)

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GAME OVER (Police Proc-DI Bill Slider-London-Cont) - VG

Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia - 11th in series

Severn House, 2008, UK Hardcover - ISBN: 9780727866158

First Sentence: the habits learned in childhood tend to become ingrained, so that they operate on an involuntary level.

DI Bill Slider has a lot on his hands. His and his lover, Joanna, are trying to get married before their baby is delivered but their works keeps getting in the way. A former BBC correspondent, who joined the Department of Trade and Industry from which he was dismissed in a sex scandal, is found dead in his home. Trevor Bates, whom Slider had previous arrested but is now free, is conducting an escalating campaign of threats against Slider.

I am always delighted to see a new Bill Slider book come out. CH-E excels at characters and dialogue. There is a wonderful, diverse cast of characters from the dogged Slider, to the elegant Atherton, to their Det. Super. Porson who creates his own vocabulary "...wasn't exactly a parody of virtue." CH-E's sense of place and plotting are well done.

The plot begins with a seemingly straightforward murder, becomes more complex as the story progresses and ties up all pieces at the end. The suspense grows with the story and there is a wonderfully touching ending.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and sincerely hope this isn't the last we see of Bill and the gang.

I'll try not to be a spoiler here, but it might be tricky, so be forwarned. I have been waiting for almost four years for the next Bill Slider mystery and, while I won't say it was worth the wait (I HATE waiting!), I will say this book is so very satifying in that some loose ends are tidied up. Bill Slider, a London police Detective Inspector who's trying to balance finding time to marry his many-months' pregnant professional violinist lover, herself on a busy schedule, finding the murderer of a famous erstwhile BBC (the Beeb! love it) reporter, surviving the mangling of grammatical metaphors, etc., of his grieving yet still sharp and supportive, boss, and trying to supervise yet support his bagman/sergeant, a serial womanizer who needs more than his cats to welcome him home. Oh, and add to that mix, an extreme villain from a previous book who has come back with hate in his heart and death on his mind. Just the usual goings-on at the Shepards Bush police district.

Ms. Harrod-Eagles writes a great police story, a facinating look, however fictitious, at the daily grind of a district police station, and, very interestingly, a bit of insight into the life of a professional classical music performer who is below the level of soloist, yet every bit involved in the making a living from playing beautiful music. Plus, Ms. Harrod-Eagles' characters start to grab one very early on. Please, buy this book, but also start from the beginning of her Bill Slider stories. It is well worth it to get the back titles to follow these really delightful people and stories.

My only concern with this book is wondering why her previous publishers, TimeWarner, Scribner, etc., didn't grab it. It was left to a niche publisher, whose printing and editing styles vary somewhat from her earlier books, to grab it. However, this publisher does release in the US so there isn't a wait (did I mention I HATE WAITING?) or an expensive British pound purchase, for her American audience to be satisfied. This in no way diminishes her writing, character and plot portrayal, and her sympathies with her people and places always come through, as does her English grammar and lovely writing style.

Now, as I understand it, there might be another Bill Slider mystery later this year. I really, really hope so. Please go back, read all of them from the beginning (as I just did), and enjoy some very nice people. (And some nasty ones, too.)

The latest entry in the 'Slider Saga' features all the usual 'tough cases', character development, personality quirks, groaner puns, and other 'favorite bits' of C.H.E.'s previous entries. The problem here is that the story (at least in this format) is shorter than usual, at just 234 pages('Dear Departed', published in the more traditional 'Mass Market' size, was nearly 350 pages long).

Whatever the reasons for the change in publisher, and the shorter page count that Severn House must have asked for, the final chapter, while still managing to sum things up, has to 'rush' everything, in order to accommodate the 'Bill and Joanna' plot developments.

While fans will be pleased at these developments, they may end up wishing Harrod-Eagles had more space to tell the story; her usual intricate subplots, and late-in-the-game developments, are still here, but the abprupt 'summary' style used in the last chapter makes it look like the author was forced to 'prune' a lot of details in order to fit everything in.

Perhaps, like Bill and Joanna, she was REALLY in a hurry!

Let's hope that, in the next volume, she won't write the ending as though it were on 'fast forward'!

The eleventh in the Bill Slider series finds the Detective Inspector trying to arrange his marriage to his love, Joanna, before the impending birth in approximately seven weeks of their child. As he says: "I've been trying to get married . . . arranging a wedding between a policeman and a musician is like trying to push a balloon into a milk bottle." As the book opens Slider and crew are investigating the murder of Ed Stonax, former BBC correspondent who had left to become a civil servant a couple of years back, only to be forced to leave that position when he became embroiled in a sex scandal. Is it a random burglary gone wrong, or does it stem from something in his previous professions that had somehow led to his demise?

At the same time, Slider is dealing with a communication he receives from a criminal in whose arrest he was a participant; the man, Trevor Bates, alias The Needle, had escaped during transfer to a different facility a month prior, and had not been seen or heard from since. Direct threats on his and Joanna's lives up the stakes, and indeed attempts are made on his life. Bates is variously described as a "wealthy businessman, property dealer, electronics expert, murderer . . . intellectual, cold-blooded, and pathologically vain." Quite a nemesis, and one that Slider is determined to re-capture, if only in self-preservation.

Slider's colleague, Atherton, never lacking for female companionship, finds a fast-growing attraction to Stonax' daughter, a journalist now living in New York but who has come back to the UK after her father's death. Only this time it feels different for the serial-dater. Emily, the daughter, begs to be allowed to stay involved in the investigation, and her experience as a journalist becomes a definite asset. For his part, Slider "was happily spoken-for, but there was no harm in admiring the scenery, even if you were on a non-stopping train." But his love for Joanna is never in doubt, despite that momentary thought.

The author's charming sense of humor is evident throughout, in spite of the sometimes grim nature of the plot. Another colleague is described as having a "face that lunched on a thousand chips." A superior has a habit of mixing his metaphors: "A leper doesn't change his spots, " "don't throw the winds to caution," and "still waters wait for no man." Ms. Harrod-Eagles is a wonderful storyteller as well as a gifted writer, two things not always, or even often, found together. The book is highly recommended.

It has been far too long since we've had a new Bill Slider mystery to savour. In this one we have Bill and Atherton on the trail of a particularly distasteful criminal who appears to have a vendetta against Bill. We also have Bill's Joanna pregnant with their child, and Joanna and Bill are trying to find a convenient time to get married before the baby is born. There are two main story lines in this book, and by the time the book is halfway done these two storylines come together, and the result is a consipriacy plot that takes Bill and his crew very high up the political food chain. This is a cracker of a book, and it made me remember how much I like Bill Slider. He is an ordinary man with ordinary life issues to deal with while he solves very unordinary crimes. The puzzle is complex and we have Ms. Harrod-Eagles wonderful wit that shines throughout the book. I highly recommend this series, but it is better to begin with the first book and then read in order, although this book is good enough to stand on its own.

It's so disappointing when the last chapter of a mystery consists of nothing but flashbacks and explanations. Bad enough when a cornered suspect is the wrap-up voice ("I'll tell you how I pulled it off, Detective, but only because I'm about to kill you"). Plain dreadful when there's no dialogue and nothing but summary and explanation. This kind of mistake signals that the author has lost interest in the plot, has painted herself into a corner that only a lot of explication can solve, or just wants to crank out the last few pages as quickly as possible. The whole of GAME OVER feels too rushed, but the last chapter is the nail in the coffin.

I have no idea why Audible decided to pick up the Bill Slider mysteries with this particular book in the series. Game Over wraps up a number of story arcs, some of which started in the author's 1999 offering Blood Sinister. If you haven't read this one and the books in between you are missing a lot and I would urge you to immediately go read them before tackling this one. If you can find them I would recommend that you listen to Terry Wale read them in audio format. Otherwise you might well be lost as Slider and his Firm at Shepherd's Bush police station attempt to solve the mystery of the death of a former BBC reporter.

Terry Wale does a good job at handling the narration. His delivery of the word play that the author indulges herself in is excellent. The voices of the characters are easily differentiated. This book is however, shorter than the previous (and the subsequent) books in this series, clocking in at about 9 hours. That's an hour and a half short of the usual narrative length of these books. And the people who complain of a rushed ending are right. That hour and a half are sorely missed. Honestly if pages had to go I would have been tempted to cut them out of Atherton's love life. (Atherton is Bill Slider's bag man and the series libertine and dandy.)

Although flawed, it is still a pleasure to have this addition to the series.

The previous book was Dear Departed and the one following is Fell Purpose

As much as I enjoy the Bill Slider crime series, I was (like another reviewer) disappointed with what seemed to be a rushed ending. Everything was conveniently tied up in a dozen pages with a sort of literary 'deus ex machina' feeling.

The characters were all well drawn, with the possible exception of Emily Stonax (the daughter) who seemed at times to be unrealistically included in the official police investigation. It's often said (is it true?) that the police invariably include the next-of-kin on their list of suspects; why not in Emily's case? She also appeared to have free access to all the police facilities normally denied any member of the public. A bit thin really.

I understand that Severn House do impose obvious length restraints on their crime authors -- around 100 pages less than other publishers generally -- so Ms Harrod-Eagles should have borne this in mind as she developed the plot and bought it to its denouement.

Recommended -- with reservations.

I'm a fan of the Bill SLider mysteries and looked forward to this one's arrival. The character development was excellent and moved their personal stories along at a useful pace.

The plot, however, was contrived to the point of being unbelievable. After deciding to ignore the unlikely/impossible points I just read it for the characters' stories and enjoyed that part.

Also, in previous novels, Joanna plays a larger part in the detective process. That role was given to another person (also, unlikely to have happened as she was a relative of the victim). While I enjoyed "meeting" her and we might see her again, Ihad to keep reminding myself that "this is fiction", "this is fiction".

I'll get the next one, but if it doesn't recover the series' promise, I'm done.

I have long been a fan of Bill Slider mysteries....Cynthia Harrod-Eagles books. Have read all of them and this was one more great read.

His co-workers, Atherton et al, his new baby on the way, as well as one nemesis, The Needle, make this exciting and full of suspense as expected.