Waterstones The Shadows in the Street
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Price: £9.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: 'Exhilarating' Independent When two prostitutes are found brutally strangled to death, Detective Simon Serrailler is called urgently back from his sabbatical. But by the time he reaches the town of Lafferton another girl has vanished. Then the wife of the Dean at the Cathedral goes missing. Has the killer widened their net or is there more than one murderer at large?'Brilliantly compelling' Daily Mirror Discover the fifth edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured. Waterstones The Shadows in the Street - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780099499282
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780099499282
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Author: bookelephant
Rating: 5
Review: Dorothy L Sayers called "Busman's Honeymoon" "A love story with detective interruptions". I am increasingly convinced that Susan Hill's excellent Simon Serrailler series is a family or perhaps a community story with detective interruptions. This is particularly noticeable in this book because the echoes of Trollope which have been present throughout the series become very insistent with the arrival in the cathedral close of ringers for Dr and Mrs Proudie and their tame canon. All ecclesiastical hell is forthwith let loose in the form of the High Church/Low Church antipathy (including the spats over music) so integral to Barchester Towers. But here the extra spice is added not by the problem of who is to be warden of the hospital, but by divisions amongst the church helpers as to how best to deal with Lafferton's emerging and complex prostitution problem. And hence, as two prostitutes are killed, we slide into the detective interruptions; Simon returns from leave to take over the murder enquiry and to welcome two bright new faces to his team (though past form with Hill leaves one doubtful as to whether they will be with us for many books - for her the powerful relationships lie outside the environment of work). The detective elements this time seem generally pretty unrewarding for all involved (which one suspects is far nearer to the truth than many detective novels would have us believe) - some pretty obvious leads are chased up to no great effect, the press have to be kept at bay and the teams motivated while a lot of no progress is made and more women - one even from the hallowed precincts of the Close disappear. Meanwhile Susan Hill moves us incredibly skillfuly between the progress of Simon's family (Cat in Eleanor Bold mode bridging the gap between High and Low Church, Simon's faltering steps towards a workable relationship with his father's new wife, the family conversations in the kitchens at the farmhouse and Hallam House) and beautifully written vignettes which bring to life the people who will be joining us for this book only - the victims, the suspects, the friends whose paths cross that of the murderer. With the latter group the great skill of Susan Hill is evident in the fact that you let all of them go at the end of the book with regret - they have become real, and one wants to know how they progress, even after the denoument which reveals the perpetrator. And about that denoument - really not even a detective interruption - the solution of the case is not one for which any of the detective team will be able to claim much credit! So the series remains one which is bound to disappoint those who want a detective novel to be all or even principally about detection, and the police team, but which offers a wonderful read, a nuanced and real story (apart from that body count in Lafferton, which is really getting worrying!) which engages with and debates the difficulties of family and community life. For myself, I think this is all to the good, but I know others think differently!
Author: Book Worm 93
Rating: 3
Review: I felt emotionally exhausted between after the last book in this series... it was so depressing. I'd already got this but it has taken my a while to work up to reading it.... but actually this book is quite a change in direction. The other books in this series have had a heavy focus on the Serrailler/Deerbon families where as in this book we get back to crime as yet another serial killer is on the loose in Bevham. Initially, prostitutes start going missing, but then other female members of the public - right under the noses of police. As always, you get the sense from the start that we know the killer - they are in the story somewhere.... but I didn't see this one coming. I'm still not sure why these books are Simon Serailler series as he doesn't really feature that heavily. Anyway, this follows a similar format to the other books in the series but unlike the other books, no major characters die which is a welcome relief!! I quite enjoyed this book - it's got a good pace with some interesting new characters.... but I still dont think I've recovered from all of the horror in the last book to feel truly happy reading this.
