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THE RISK OF DARKNESS
by Susan Hill
Vintage, June 2007
480 pages
6.99 GBP
ISBN: 0099462125


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I don't quite know what to make of THE RISK OF DARKNESS, the third crime novel from award-winning mainstream author Susan Hill. And while it's generally a page-turner, I couldn't help but think that she's worshipping at the feet of PD James.

In many ways it's an old-fashioned book, with a handsome, artistic policeman, decent colleagues and supportive family. But underneath this deceptively benign exterior is a thin but significant line of steel.

The plot itself is fairly standard fare – the abduction of children. A chunk of it appears to be a leftover from a previous book, although there is adequate – and subtle – recapping for those new to the series. THE RISK OF DARKNESS'S new angle is that a child has been snatched in Yorkshire, which may give DCI Simon Serrailler and his team a new boost to their stalled enquiry.

The book is set mainly in the mythical cathedral town of Lafferton. We're told it's 200 miles away from Yorkshire, but otherwise there are no other clues to its location. It has the feel of a Wells or a Salisbury, with its smart cathedral close – where Serrailler has a flat – and its rarefied atmosphere.

The big action scene comes early on, but Hill manages to keep the reader with her. A key part of the book is the author's quiet musings on families and on good/evil. And this partly contributes to the old-fashioned feel of someone muttering that it wasn't like this in the good old days when everyone went to church and the lower classes knew their place . . .

I was left in two minds by the characterisation. While it was generally very vivid, I couldn't help but think that Hill was dealing too much in stereotypes – the middle-class artistic DCI and his lousy love life, his 'cor blimey' salt of the earth DS, the DCI's social conscience-ridden church-going doctor sister, the nice but dim working class parents of the accused, the drinking and cussing single mother. Worst of all was the female priest. I think we're supposed to feel sorry for her, but I was hoping her number would soon be up as she mouthed inane religious platitudes to a grieving and unbalanced husband.

Reading THE RISK OF DARNKESS made me think of all those writers who attempt to ape newspaper reports in their books – very few of them can actually do it. Susan Hill produces a fluent and readable book (assuming you can keep all the characters straight in your head!) but genre writing doesn't have to be clich้d, honestly! PD James, Patricia Wentworth and Ruth Rendell have all done this sort of thing considerably better. So if you're on a nostalgia kick, this is probably a book you'll enjoy. If you're looking for something new and cutting edge, you won't find it here.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, May 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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