Dream of Darkness

by Patrick Ruell (Pseudonym), Reginald Hill

Sairey Ellis's father is writing his memoirs. His career in the security service has provided him with the ammunition for some explosive revelations about Britain's secret links with the brutal regime of Idi Amin, and unofficial British connivance in Rhodesian sanctions busting. But there are those who will stop at nothing to prevent him from publishing ... This complex thriller from the acclaimed Reginald Hill takes a cool look at the role of a pitiless security service that punishes the guilty and innocent alike. Gripping, assured and perceptive, here is a chillingly convincing portrait of the nightmarish repercussions of a life spent in espionage.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery

255 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Pseudonym of Reginald Hill.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather over the top psychological thriller, with a melodramatic ending that the main character identifies as such (!) while being in the middle of it. Still the twists are reasonably ingenious, and the suspense is well-maintained.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

6.5 stars. It's about trust. Sairy Ellis has terrible nightmares and finally she let's her family know and gets some help. Unfortunately her family knows the cause. Her father is writing his memoirs of their life in Kenya as Idi Amin Dada consolidates power in neighboring Uganda. So the story we read bounces back and forth in time, first with an official report from the British 'agricultural' agency he worked for and then with Sairy's present time encounters with various people she encounters who are associated with or intent on dealing with her father. How did her mother die? Why does she dream she saw her mother in a coffin? The plot is almost so complex the reader might get lost, but when it all gets tied together the motive rings true. Superb story.

[Jim Willse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Reginald Hill at his best. Too convoluted and unfocused.

[Sherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was a psychological mystery involving a suspicious death intertwined with a Uganda/British spy story at the time that Idi Amin was in power. I was more captivated by the psychological mystery and although the suspicious death was indirectly related to the spy story - I wondered, "Did I really need to get all that background spy information?" It was not a challenge to figure out who to trust and it became clear very soon that there was some major cover up - you think it is related to the spy plot but there is a twist that brings you in another direction.

I felt impatient throughout, noticing all the roadblocks the author threw in the way, none of them were very surprising obstacles - they just irritated me. As with all spy stories, there are always threats to the main character, but these were not convincing threats and I never thought much of them. I just wanted to know the reason behind the nightmares the main character, Sairey, was having. The spy subplot was just an annoying distraction to me. Though I suppose the spy story did provide some background for the story.

There was also a surprising, out of the blue, "let's throw a sex scene in here" moment which baffled me and made me think, why? It added nothing to the story.

The psychological storyline kept me interested, however, and though it ended in a predictable way, the "suspicious death" explanation was kind of a surprise.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Reginald Hill's pseudonym, and has quite a different tone from the books written under the under name. It's about Uganda during Idi Amin's rule there, and deals with the British government's role(s) there, focusing on one agent. Twenty years later, the daughter--who was pre-school aged when she lived in Uganda--is still having nightmares about her mother's death. In the course of trying to figure out what really happened she manages to uncover everybody's secrets, from person tragedies to political dynamite. Pretty good--I had no idea what happened to her mom, and the international stuff was very interesting.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer Hill's crime novels to his spy novels, but having said that, I found this a good read.