Customer Reviews

The Long Kill

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It is not easy to admit that, after not very long at all, I felt quite sympathetic towards the main character in this book - who is, after all, a hired gun.

This book shows that the author is capable of not only sustaining an excellent series with Dalziel, Pascoe and crew, but is worthy of the highest praise generally.

Try finding and reading not only this but other books this author has written outside the Dalziel/Pascoe series. It would be well worth your trouble.

Here's a good republishing project for Felony and Mayhem Publishers--a fine, 1988 crime thriller from Reginald Hill (writing as Patrick Ruell). Well before the beginning of the great Pascoe and Dalziel series, Hill was producing highly original stories with full-blown characters and real bite to the plots. "The Long Kill" is one of those books. A rather tough-minded tale with unlikely and difficult characters. The protagonist is a professional assassin considering retirement in the English Lake Country after falling for a local lass. The lass herself is one of a number of rather grumpy and complicated folks living with unhappy past decisions and experiences. A malevolent force--actually the protagonist's sometime employer--hovers over the scene as the plot slowly reveals a series of interconnections that will end in a very explosive and unconventional way.

"The Long Kill" is a highly satisfying read because of its unpredictable path and surprising ending. A bit difficult maybe because of the irascibility of its characters and the impossible ambition of its hero, but it's some of Reginald Hill's best early writing. I hope that it gets a second publshed life soon.

I too was smitten after very few pages by the book's main character, an assassin no less! Reginald Hill always makes his characters come alive and nearly jump off the pages. This is a wonderful read!