The Vows of Silence (Simon Serrailler 4)
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Review
`A captivating read'
--Observer
--Observer
Eurocrime.co.uk
`full marks to Susan Hill for her ability to face the unfaceable'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not one for the winter blues,
By
This review is from: The Vows of Silence (Simon Serrailler 4) (Paperback)
In this the fourth of the Simon Serrailler series, Lafferton Police are up against a gunman who has targetted brides as his or her victims but will Serrailler manage to solve the crime whilst wrestling with his own complicated family life?
Unlike most detective series these books really do need to be read in order as the family background and Serrailler frame of mind is best understood that way so this is definitely not one to read if you haven't read the others. I loved the first one but have liked each one a bit less ever since. My main reason is that I don't think Serrailler is a very good police officer. He seems very distracted by other people's lives (his sister's) and solving the crimes seems to take a very low priority, with him resenting every call he takes and every bit of overtime he does. I have noticed in earlier books that he can often make things worse. I also find that by introducing a new character and a new scenario in virtually every chapter I start to disengage as I feel 'enough already'. It is a smokescreen device meant to distract us from working out who 'dunnit' but in my case I sort of didn't really care - or perhaps did so I could finish it. The other problem of not giving Serrailler a love life or his own family is that in order to show any human qualities we have to see his sister's life and as his boss tells him when he wants to take time off (only on the day of a big important wedding for the possibility of a family death)- 'It is not as if it is your wife or daughter' and that's true. He seems to over involve himself in his sister's life. She is actually more interesting than he is but that perhaps is another story. I will read the next one because of the familiarity and the fact I'd like to see it through but I was slightly disappointed and feel I didn't work who 'dunnit' possibly because I didn't care enough. And when I did know I wasn't entirely sure why - or rather I was but it didn't entirely ring true for me and was unsatisfying.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but could be better,
By
This review is from: The Vows of Silence (Simon Serrailler 4) (Paperback)
I have read the first four Serailler novels and, like most of Susan Hill's work, the book itself is good. However, there are certain aspects of it that I felt could have been a lot better. The hero cop, who doesn't really seem to do much police work, is a complete tosser and behaves awfully. He acts like a spolt brat for most of the time and the less said about his attitude to women, the better. I found it hard to take to him. My biggest problem, though, is the way Hill creates these interesting sub-plots but then does not take them anywhere. What was the point of the whole Helen-Phil story? Who was the man that attacked and killed Jane's mother? Why was he taken into care? What happened to him there to make him that way? What was the point of the whole Max and Lizzie Jameson story? Other then simply to introduce Jane to Simon. And what the hell happened to Ed Slaitholme the child killer? Hill never finished that and that was book 2.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, but not detective fiction,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The Vows of Silence (Hardcover)
There's a high body count in this novel, which might lead you to think that this is an exciting example of detective fiction - but it isn't. She's more interested in the emotions of the characters than in following up clues. Simon Serailler spends more time having meaningful and emotionally complex conversations with his siblings and relatives than getting on with working out who done it. If I'd been his boss, I would have taken him off the case. The discovery of the murderer feels a bit flimsy since it is the result of a blunder by the murderer, not hard legwork by the police - it doesn't really work as detective fiction. As a novel it's a decent piece of work, though not anything notable. The emotional level is solidly gloomy - I've read plenty of more skilful dissections of the emotions of middle England. I don't think it is as good as her earlier work though I read that some years ago. The number of deaths is remarkable - from disease, murder, accident and suicide (15 or so?) - more even than the average episode of Midsomer Murders! I think Susan Hill just uses the detective fiction genre as a help to giving the narrative a bit more oomph without really being able to deliver in terms of detection. Overall, a disappointment.
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