Customer Reviews

The Pure in Heart (Simon Serrailler 2)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I found this second book in the DCI Simon Serrailler series to be a wonderful read. Susan Hill's writing flows seamlessly, making it simple to read quickly and easily. Simon is recalled by his father from Venice, where he has been enjoying a painting holiday. His younger sister, Martha, who has been severely brain damaged since her birth, over 20 years ago, is in danger of dying from pneumonia, and, as Simon has always felt close to this child/woman, returns at once, happily to see her recover. A nine year old schoolboy is kidnapped from outside his front gate while waiting for a ride to school, and Simon is at once back into work mode with a large team of experienced police men and women, searching for any clues to the whereabouts of the missing boy. Simon's closest sibling, his sister Cat, a doctor on maternity leave, is his main emotional support when the strain of dealing with the grieving parents of the boy, combined with the pressure he feels when a once casual girlfriend begins to stalk him, threatens to overcome his professionalism. This is not a murder/mystery as such, but rather, a crime story and, when added to the family history which is unfolding in Simon's life, paints an interesting picture of the Simon Serrailler story which we have yet to discover. I'm greatly looking forward to the next in the series to flesh out this rather enigmatic character.

I started off enjoying this book and thought I was going to like DCI Simon Serrailler as he seemed a caring, likeable chap with a deep love for his severely handicapped sister and a fondness of art. However I didn't feel we really got to know him any better, other than to find out he obviously has problems with relationships, possibly a mixture of his strange uncommunicative family and his job, and was actually a pretty disappointing character.

I found Susan Hill's descriptive writing conjured up scenes and images in my mind very easily, not flowery descriptions, just everyday believable ones. However the story line all felt a bit flat and I kept thinking things would tie together somehow or there would be a satisfying end but it was just the opposite. I can cope without having everyone living happily ever after but this left me feeling cheated of purposeful story line.

THE PURE IN HEART is talented novelist Susan Hill's second installment in her series starring British Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler, his family, co-workers and other inhabitants of the fictional cathedral city of "Lafferton". DCI Serrailer is much more at the center of the novel then in the first published book, THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN, and he as well as many of the others making second appearances receive more character development in this outing.

The "pure in heart" of the novel's title refers to two innocent victims. The first is Martha, DCI Serrailer's twenty-six year old sister, who has been severely handicapped since birth. The second innocent and the subject of the main mystery is David a school boy snatched from outside his home while waiting for a car pool ride. THE PURE IN HEART is not simply a thriller but a thoughtful character study that examines many conflicts of modern life. Well written, very readable and sympathetic to its characters and setting Susan Hill's Serrailer's series is highly recommended to those who love literary thrillers and I am already anticipating the US release of the third and fourth books.

When I saw I had fewer than 50 pages left to read, I wondered how everything was going to get tied up with so little of the book left. I see now that I was right to wonder. Quite a few storylines are opened up in this book and few of them, including the main one, are resolved. The characters are well done but it's as if the plot is an afterthought. I found "The Various Haunts of Men" also a bit unsatisfying; I may give the author one more chance, but if after a third try I have the same experience I'm done.

Hill's book is well-written, but ultimately unsatisfying.
What is the point of a mystery in which nothing is ever resolved, or even explained?
Although the characters are intriguing, the reader is left frustrated and disappointed in the end.

The theme of this second installment in Hill's Simon Serrailer series is the suffering of children and the families who love them. Simon, the black-sheep policeman and artist in a family of doctors, is called back from vacation to the bedside of his profoundly disabled, seriously ill sister. Shortly thereafter, a local schoolboy is kidnapped when his mother, hurrying to work, leaves him waiting on the front step for his ride to school.

This book is more - and less - than a formulaic mystery or police procedural. The characters, with their anguish, terror, and guilt, are far more vivid and memorable than the process of the police investigation. It leaves several important issues unresolved, presumably to be handled in the next book, due out this Spring.

As a stand-alone book, Pure of Heart is best read for the characters and the events, rather than the solution of the mysteries. However, as part of a saga of a fascinating family, it carries the reader forward. Simon is no Dalgleish, but is an interesting combination of sensitive artist and complete jerk. I look forward to the next installment in the series.

This is an interesting mystery regarding the kidnaping of a small boy. The mystery has several twists and turns as well as a number of side stories that don't seem to connect to the mystery at all. It actually seems to involve more the private life of the primary detective and his family than it does the mystery at hand. The story begins with Simon Serrailler, the primary detective, on holiday in Venice and he receives a call from his father that his sister is ill and probably dying. He hurries home and his sister recovers - only to die sometime later. But the story of his sister has nothing to do with the disappearance of the boy and could be considered a distraction - or should the kidnaped child be considered the distraction? At one point, I seriously thought the child had been kidnaped to deflect the attention of the police from another matter. The book is well-written but I don't think it should be classified as a mystery but as general fiction.

I was thoroughly disappointed with the outcome of this book. At the beginning, the characters were fresh and the scene was set for a good mystery. About halfway through, the book seemed to take a bad turn. Characters and actions rambled on and on while the plot went nowhere. I finished the book out of curiosity, but was sadly disappointed when no true conclusions were reached, and the mystery was left unsolved. Sad, just sad.

I read the first book The Various Haunts of Men, which I was not thrilled with, however, I thought the second one would finish the first books story, not so. This book is a completely new crime, which, of course is never resolved. The main character is flat, unpersonable, too handsome, too talented, too boring.

The excitement of discovering a new author was soon deflated, this 2nd novel is the last I will read of this author. One sees the crime from different eyes, nothing is ever resolved, we see this in our own daily lives or in crimes that are in the news, I read mystery books for resolution, for closure, for believing in good wins in the end. Sadly this is not the author for me, if you like being left hanging you may enjoy the author.

Calling this a Simon Serrailler mystery is certainly a stretch. So far, he is 0 for 2 in the mystery solving department. Perhaps he should turn in his badge and concentrate on drawing. In this novel, even the author doesn't solve the mystery, and there are so many loose ends that the novel doesn't really have an ending. It simply stops. Worst of all, the characters grow ever more unpleasant, especially Simon himself--who comes across as a egotistical and condescending cad. I would not recommend this series to anyone who enjoys the conventional mystery genre.