Underworld [Hardcover]

Reginald Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 1988

'Hill is an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift' Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday When young Tracey Pedley vanished in the woods around Burrthorpe, the close-knit community had their own ideas about what had happened, but Deputy Chief Constable Watmough has it down as the work of a child-killer who has since committed suicide -- though others wondered about the last man to see her alive and his fatal plunge into the disused mine shaft. Returning to a town he left in anger, Colin Farr's homecoming is ready for trouble, and when a university course brings him into contact with Ellie Pascoe, trouble starts! Meanwhile Andy Daziel mutters imprecations on the sidelines, until a murder in Burrthorpe mine forces him to take action that brings him up against a hostile and frightened community!

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The British author's faultless writing, ironic wit andabove allrecognizably human characters defy limiting his police stories to the mystery category. In the 10th novel featuring mild Detective Pascoe and his chief, Superintendent Detective Dalziel, the reader feels the tensions in their Yorkshire mining town, partly caused by handsome young Colin Farr. After a long absence, Colin comes home, where he hears revived rumors about his late father, Billy. Although respected and even loved, Billy is suspected by some of having killed himself after murdering a little girl whose body has never been found. Dalziel, whose rough and irreverent persona hides a caring heart, worries about trouble brewing in his town and possible threats to Pascoe's marriage. As a volunteer at the local university, Pascoe's wife Ellie tutors Colin and takes more than a teacherly interest in him. Crises proliferate in the wake of Colin's drunken rampages and his disappearance after the murder of a man the young fugitive hates. Acting on instinct, Pascoe races to a mine and down the shaft; Dalziel reaches him just before they are trapped by a cave-in. The dark drama is fittingly played out underground.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

'Few writers in the genre today have Hill's gifts: formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace' Donna Leon, Sunday Times 'The fertility of Hill's imagination, the range of his power, the sheer quality of his literary style never cease to delight' Val McDermid, Sunday Express 'He is probably the best living male crime writer in the English-speaking world' Andrew Taylor, Independent 'Reginald Hill's novels are really dances to the music of time, his heroes and villains interconnecting, their stories entwining' Ian Rankin, Scotland on Sunday --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (June 27, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684189313
• ISBN-13: 978-0684189314
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #894,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Reginald Hill has been widely published both in England and the United States. He received Britain's most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, as well as the Golden Dagger for his Dalziel/Pascoe series. He lives with his wife in Cumbria, England.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About to Take the Plunge?, May 17, 2005

By 

Watt Fettle (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under World (Dalziel and Pascoe) (Mass Market Paperback)

Reginald Hill is in top form in the little-reviewed and under-appreciated UNDER WORLD. Most of the action is set in and around Burrthorpe, a small mining town suffering from a siege mentality. The Dickensian citizens of Burrthorpe are battling both economic and social depression, caused by declining revenues from coal and the murder of a young girl and the suicide of her suspected killer. We know instinctively that the bodies are buried in the underworld tunnels of the coal pit. But this an alien world for all outsiders, and, if Pascoe and Dalziel go there, what are the chances they can find their way out? Meanwhile, Ellie Pascoe is at the edge of a different sort of pit herself. Her passions have been stirred by one of her students, the charismatic, devil-may-care Colin Farr. She's been tempted by his kisses, but will she sink to adultery and forever blacken her relationship with Peter and Rosie?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dalziel and Pascoe sort out tragedies of a small town, April 24, 2008

By 

Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Under World (Dalziel and Pascoe) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Under World" is another great story from Reginald Hill, who once again gives his story's characters depth and complexity that match the book's creative story line. "Under World" is set in a small coal mining town in the north of England where the drama of the book is preceded by a series of child abductions and killings. The town has been sitting on many family secrets connected to those crimes for years when a prodigal son--a wild and violent adonis--returns after years away and brings the community's accumulated poisons to the surface. The intrepid detective team of Dalziel and Pascoe are dragged into the ensuing explosions both professionally and personally as the younger detective's academic wife becomes irrationally attracted to the prodigal.
Some of the book's action takes place underground in the mines, but this is mostly a story about what's happening below the surface of the lives of the town's population. Both contexts provide some mild claustrophobia to the reader, but just enough to make the novel interesting. An excellent read.