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The Risk of Darkness (Simon Serrailler #3)
by
Susan Hill
Susan Hill is back! And so is her detective, Simon Serrailler- "Crime fans on the look out for intelligent examples of the genre will enjoy The Risk of Darkness" (Time Out)
We met Simon Serrailler first in The Various Haunts of Men and got to know him better in The Pure in Heart. Susan Hill's third crime novel, The Risk of Darkness-perhaps even more co...more
We met Simon Serrailler first in The Various Haunts of Men and got to know him better in The Pure in Heart. Susan Hill's third crime novel, The Risk of Darkness-perhaps even more co...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
March 5th 2008
by Overlook Hardcover
(first published 2006)
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When I came across Susan Hill as a judge for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, I remembered that she is best known for her ghost stories and her much hyped Mrs De Winter, a sequel to Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca. More recently she has turned to writing crime stories featuring DCI Simon Serrailler. The Risk of Darkness (2006) is the third in a series of five.
Hill is clear that the Serrailler books are crime novels – but not detective stories. She sees the crime novel as ‘a serious literary ge...more
Hill is clear that the Serrailler books are crime novels – but not detective stories. She sees the crime novel as ‘a serious literary ge...more
This is the third in the British Simon Serrailler mystery series, which I like because it’s different. The mystery genre is thick with conventions Hill deftly evades, choosing instead to go, at times, a little deeper.
In this one there’s a surprisingly atypical serial killer whose motivations, despite chapters in the killer’s p.o.v., are as inscrutable at the end of the book as they are at the beginning. Particularly impressive is Hill’s refusal to equate incomprehensible ev...more
Uh-oh, I'm involved in another series! The Risk of Darkness is a Simon Serrailler mystery and I do believe I'm in love. Not really, but Serrailler is a wonderfully conflicted British detective with a good heart. He is a triplet whose sister lives nearby in Lafferton, and brother lives in Australia and has little to do with the family. Simon is close to his mother but his father is rather too aloof for the triplets to feel much for him. Sister Cat is a doctor with a generous soul which often caus...more
This author and this series was recommended to me with the caveat that I should begin with the first in the series of the Simon Serrailler mysteries, The Various Haunts of Men. I think that would have been a good idea in this case. I find Susan Hill to be a good writer, in that I enjoyed this book for the most part, it kept my interest up and she has good language skills. Even so, there is something a little off with her style. The book cover compares her to P. D. James and Elizabeth George, ...more
It is very unusual to read a mystery and know who the villian is in 65 pages. What a psychoneurotic creature this villian appears to be. This is Susan Hill's third Simon Serrailler mystery, and it was a labyrinth from start to finish. As children continue to disappear, Simon and his colleagues are yet to find substantial leads. By a startling coincidence, they do.
Moving in another direction, Max Jameson appears, a totally distraught husband whose young wife succombs to Mad Cow Disea...more
Moving in another direction, Max Jameson appears, a totally distraught husband whose young wife succombs to Mad Cow Disea...more
I don't give out too many 5 stars these days and I almost gave them here. Just deducted one for a couple of small niggles, in that there was a couple of "scenes" I felt were pointless and did not enhance the story or have any real relevance. However, this was a great book other than that. Susan Hill is a fantastic writer, she could write a shopping list and make it exciting. This Simon Serrallier book is different from the usual crime/mystery/thriller, in that you learn early on who th...more
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This continuation of the Simon Serailler series is pretty dark. Simon is his usual avoidant personality self, he hurts, Diane, a woman who had been content to be a "friend with benefits" for a good while, but who finally fell in love with him. After telling her that he doesn't want to take their relationship to a more committed plane, he spends an evening with her that ends up with them in bed together.
His triplet sister, the doctor, is struggling with her practice, he...more
His triplet sister, the doctor, is struggling with her practice, he...more
The main character in The Risk of Darkness is Simon Serrailler, a British police detective who is also an artist. He has a quirky family & interpersonal troubles & is likely to remind you of PD James' Adam Dalgleish. This is the third book in the series. I thought I hadn't read any of these, but realized as I was reading that I recognized Simon & found that I had read the first one, The Various Haunts of Men.
This is a slow, almost meditative book that I hesitate to call a mystery ...more
This is a slow, almost meditative book that I hesitate to call a mystery ...more
Third in the Simon Serrailler mystery series, and another excellent entry. I listened to the audio version of this book and very much enjoyed the skillful reading and the story itself. This series is so different than your typical police procedural mystery, with the story wandering, getting into the heads of different characters in the story, and not always wrapping everything up in nice tidy little packages...which is really how 'real life' is, I guess.
Simon and his crew continue pu...more
Simon and his crew continue pu...more
I'm a big fan of Susan Hill and this series in general but not this installment. I simply found it overwrought, especially the bereaved widower so deranged by grief that he becomes a dangerous stalker and the elderly psychiatrist assaulted by a former patient. Everyone in this novel is out of sorts, including DCI Simon Serailler, who is in danger of becoming so hardened that he no longer empathizes with anyone's troubles but his own. Even Cat Deerbon and her husband are at odds in this outing...more
This book is a sequel to The Pure in Heart and involves the arrest of the serial kidnapper/murderer who is not at all what all concerned expected. Again the tension builds as the detectives build a case against the perpetrator, together with more more about the difficulties in Simon Serailler's private and family life. The previous novel in this series explored what happens to a family when a child is stolen away and presumed dead. In this novel, we see what happens to the family of the accus...more
I really like Susan Hill. I agree with other reviewers that there are similarities to P.D. James (top of the heap), but that's okay with me. This book is quite dark: Simon Serallier himself is a lonely soul who has trouble with relationships both outside and inside his family. The victims are pitiable children, and the villain is extremely dark and depraved. The psychological unwindings are as interesting as those of the plot. Aside from Simon, the characters really come alive for me: his f...more
i really like susan hill, and the simon serrailler series is top notch. great character dramatizations, and there's a LOT going on. the mystery's not so much the thing, but it doesn't matter. in "the risk of darkness" we find out the killer in the first few chapters, and that's about all we ever find out about the killer...the identity. hill shows how everyone is affected by the killer's actions...and weaves a number of other stories into the plot. there are a few gotcha moments a...more
This is the third book in this series and I have enjoyed them all though I wish that Susan Hill did not so closely echo PD James( who I have enjoyed for years).
Dalglish= Poet=Commander of Serious Crime- New Scotland Yard=Difficulties forming long standing relationships with women.
Seraillier=Artist= Soon to be appointed to Exceptional Crime=Again problems with relationships.
The poor tortured souls.
I suspect that the reality is somewhat less exciting but then that is what ...more
Dalglish= Poet=Commander of Serious Crime- New Scotland Yard=Difficulties forming long standing relationships with women.
Seraillier=Artist= Soon to be appointed to Exceptional Crime=Again problems with relationships.
The poor tortured souls.
I suspect that the reality is somewhat less exciting but then that is what ...more
Patricia
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
ISG friends who love mysteries too
Shelves:
mystery
This is the third in a wonderful new British series. The detective, Simon Serrailler, is a wonderful character and his family are too - he's a triplet; his sister and her husband are doctors, as were his parents so he is the family rebel. The other triplet, Ivo, lives in Australia and looks to figure in the next book. The plots and crimes are interesting and well done but the characters are what drive this series for me. Serrailler is also an artist; he draws and exhibits and sells his work ...more
This is the third book in the Simon Serailler series. I've enjoyed them all so far. I would definitely recommend reading the series in order if possible, as story lines and characters continue from one book to the next. I read the second one first, and there was a mention of the killer in the first book, so it wasn't a surprise to me when I went back to read the first. But still an interesting story. Lots of character development, and I enjoyed learning more about Simon's family in each book. Th...more
The Risk of Darkness is the 3rd in a series of atypical crime novels featuring the detective Simon Serrailler. I have very much enjoyed the series so far and I will be putting book no. 4 on my reserve list soon. However, I would offer some cautions to a fan of straightforward who-dunnits and police procedurals about Susan Hill's style.
Crimes are not neatly solved in this series. The police are not Sherlock Holmsian in their perceptions and abilities. Loose ends are left hanging. ...more
Crimes are not neatly solved in this series. The police are not Sherlock Holmsian in their perceptions and abilities. Loose ends are left hanging. ...more
I liked this book, but my biggest complaint is that I feel Susan Hill is stringing us along. The mystery that was introduced in the last book makes some headway... there is a suspect in custody (an interesting one at that) but something makes me doubt this person is the actual criminal. AND the mystery still isn't resolved by the end of the book. So now I'm waiting for the 4th book, hoping for more resolution.
But, if you look at this book as a novel instead of a mystery, there is really a ...more
But, if you look at this book as a novel instead of a mystery, there is really a ...more
The third Simon Serrailler novel. Susan Hill is a master storyteller and this is an amazing series.
Back Cover Blurb:
Children have been vanishing. There are no leads - just a kidnapper at large. The police have failed, the families are distraught and morale at Lafferton station has collapsed. Then Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler receives a call: a child has been snatched in Yorkshire. Has the abductor struck again? And will they find this child alive?
Back Cover Blurb:
Children have been vanishing. There are no leads - just a kidnapper at large. The police have failed, the families are distraught and morale at Lafferton station has collapsed. Then Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler receives a call: a child has been snatched in Yorkshire. Has the abductor struck again? And will they find this child alive?
This is the third in a series about Detective Chief Simon Serrailler. The earlier books failed to reveal a lot about Simon. After reading three of them however, I think his sister told Simon the truth in this one: "You absolute and total bastard. You thoughtless, selfish, self-regarding, self-serving, mindless shit". Despite this quite accurate assessment, there are other characters in these books that I like quite a lot, and I'm willing to read to find out more about them.
The familiarity of the characters and the pleasant, small-town setting of the Simon Serrailler series (this is the third book) remind me of Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson series.
Lafferton could be Miller's Kill with a British accent. And while Simon is a lot more dark and brooding (in a very British way) than Russ, there is a similarity.
In my opinion, Susan Hill's series is almost as good as Julia Spencer-Fleming's, so, if you are all caught up with Clare and Russ, you...more
Lafferton could be Miller's Kill with a British accent. And while Simon is a lot more dark and brooding (in a very British way) than Russ, there is a similarity.
In my opinion, Susan Hill's series is almost as good as Julia Spencer-Fleming's, so, if you are all caught up with Clare and Russ, you...more
I read the first two books of the Serrailler series and liked them very much but I found in both a weak link: the mystery part. Here again the mystery is just a shadowy background. There’s not much suspense IMHO. What I like is the life of the town, the interaction of the characters. With the exception of Simon Serrailler, I liked every member of the cast, and there are many. The underlying subject is Death with a capital letter. As in the first two books, the death of a person near to hi...more
Another Susan Hill and another excellent read. The characters, the plot, all excellent. The reader gets to get a real feel for the characters, to think of them as friends almost and therefore be able to identify with what happens to them. In this one the case of a missing boy from the previous book is solved, but we are left wondering about why the killer, such an unlikely killer, had committed that crime and several others as well.
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As I've said before, Susan Hill is the new Ruth Rendell: creepy dark hearts who dwell in otherwise placid English villages. I just wish that I liked her protagonist, Simon Serrailler. He is annoying and pretentious and not nearly as interesting as he (and his creator) think he is. If Hill would only focus on the villagers and their devious ways, I would be much happier.
I read a nonfiction book by Susan Hill about book collecting. When I saw this at the library I grabbed it. It is the third in the series with Detective Simon Serralier, but I don't think it matters much what order you read them. I loved her style, the British setting, and I will be sure to look for more. Summer seems to be a good time for mysteries.
This is the first book i have read by this author. I actually liked it quite a bit. I had to keep reading it until 3:30 in the morning and then after work until I finished it. The character development is great and trying to figure out motive and relationship in the book was challenging and interesting. I will have to check out some more of her books.
I read this book immediately after reading the first two books in this series. I liked this book as well although I am not sure this was really a mystery (I didn't think the second one was a mystery either). Book 2 & Book 3 put together might equal a mystery, but probably more just "Crime Fiction" or "Suspense" novel than a mystery.
Susan Hill's Simon Serailler mysteries will delight anyone who likes dark, character-driven psychological suspense novels like those of Elizabeth George, Denise Mina, Morag Joss and Ruth Rendell. In The Risk of Darkness, Serailler deals with a captured child killer and a widower deranged by grief who has dark secrets of his own.
The least satisfying in this series so far. Am again reading them in the wrong order, (so I know why Chris is starting to seem so irritable, for example). Characters are interesting (except the religious ones), but the plot itself is very feeble. There's one significant surprise but it's never explored to my satisfaction.
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Susan Hill was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1942. Her hometown was later referred to in her novel A Change for the Better (1969) and some short stories especially "Cockles and Mussels".
She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in c...more
More about Susan Hill...
She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in c...more
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