Customer Reviews

The Vows of Silence: A Simon Serrailler MYstery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Lafferton, a culprit uses a handgun to kill newlywed Melanie Drew in her apartment. Soon after that a sniper uses a rifle to shoot into a crowd standing outside a nightclub. Next a gun is fired killing a mother standing with her infant. The seemingly random killings have the townsfolk frightened and panicked.

Lafferton Police Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler and his unit see no ties beyond the age and sex of the victims. The three homicides is made even more complicated by the use of two weapons. Simon wonders if two killers are stalking the streets yet keeps going back to the concept of a psychopathic serial killer. As he struggles with preventing the next murder, his sister Cat has health issues and his nephew is known for creative cheating at Scrabble.

The police procedural subplot is well written, filled with suspense and has a red herring suspect, but the emotional intensity happens more to people in Simon's personal circle as he is the "watcher" even with Jane Fitzroy, a woman he is attracted to. The story line is fast-paced except with the relationship dance between Simon and Jane. Susan Hill effortlessly moves back and forth between the case (to include the killer's perspective) and Simon's personal life. British police procedural fans will enjoy Simon's not simple investigation and look for his previous caseload (THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN, THE PURE IN HEART and THE RISK OF DARKNESS).

Harriet Klausner

THE VOWS OF SILENCE is the fourth volume in Susan Hill's well rendered series featuring Detective Simon Serrailer, members of his family and the fictional British cathedral town of Lafferton. Though this book is literate and worth reading like its predecessors it is the weakest volume so far published in the series. The main mystery in the novel is the identity of a gunman who is randomly shooting women all of whom seem to be recently involved in weddings. Several red herring suspects are presented and when the killer is actually revealed we have met him but I at least did not suspect him. Readers of the series are accustomed to Simon's family and their personal issues having a major subplot in each outing and this time it is a particularly tragic illness they are coping with.

The rest of the novel is quite busy and there are way too many supporting characters both introduced just for THE VOWS OF SILENCE and brought back from the previous three books. Even Prince Charles and Lady Camilla are on the periphery of the plot. Death and marriage are major themes throughout and though Hill's writing is clear and thoughtful the tone of the book is almost too grim to be enjoyable. If you enjoy this series this addition is worth reading and I hope the fifth volume that has all ready been published in Britain is up to the standards of the first three. By all means if this series appeals to you read the books in order of publication to get the most from them.

The plot is already given in the first review and provided by Amazon, so I won't repeat it. This is another wonderful book in the series about Simon Serrailler, his family and co-workers. I had to read it all in one sitting, so I would know how the various situations were resolved--or not. I definitely recommend it if you liked the preceding books. It won't disappoint you except that we have to wait for the next book!

At the end of the previous Simon Serrailler novel, THE RISK OF DARKNESS; one of the major story lines was left unresolved. The child abduction/murder case which was begun in book 2 (THE PURE IN HEART) continued on in book 3 and we started to gain some insight into the murderer's motives. In addition, another story line relating to this case was started. We were introduced to the murderer's mother and a significant amount of time was spent on her life & reaction to her child being arrested for murder. (Please excuse all the pronouns; I'm trying to give nothing away by using names:) So now we come to book 4, THE VOWS OF SILENCE. I expected to have the abduction/murder story line wrapped up, motives known, killer tried & sentenced, mother's life sorted out. Boy was I wrong. This 2 novel story arc was just dropped! We know nothing! There was 1 mention in the entire book about the previous case. This was very irritating. The new crime story line was good and at least we know why the bad guy was killing but it just bugs me that I'm left hanging on the other story line.

The second problem I have is the overall ominous tone of these stories. Maybe if I hadn't read them 1 after the other they wouldn't seem so grim but I'm now wondering if I want to go on with this series. By my count, there is a suicide in 3 of the novels, major characters are killed off regularly, and someone in Simon Serrailler's family dies in books 2, 3, & 4! What is up with that?

Even though I buy a lot of books on Kindle, I like to purchase a hardcover once in a while. I really enjoyed this book and if you like more character development and some genteel action this is the book for you. This was bought through Amazon.

I agree with the other reviewers that Susan Hill's writing has style and emotional depth. The subplots considerably outweigh what is the presumably main plot-- a serial killer in the protagonist's home town. The subplots are uniformly concerned with illness, suffering, death and, in one case, suicide. The details of these painful episodes are spun out at clinical length. The occasional interjection of an old-fashioned murder affords the only upbeat note in the grim accumulation of subplots.

I've read all of Susan Hill's books and really enjoy the Serailler series. Hill does a solid job of keeping the reader guessing. The ending was somewhat surprising (although I have to admit that the identity of the actual culprit did cross my mind for a fleeting minute before getting to the end of the book). As usual, Hill is so very adept at character development. You know you're fully invested in the story when you laugh out loud or cry at something you've read, the latter of which was true in my case. A solid mystery, sad in parts, but classic Hill all the way around.