Gripping cathedral crime - Rated 
A gunman is killing young women in the cathedral town of Lafferton. There seems to be no connection between the women targeted, and the police have few leads. DCS Simon Serrailler & his team must follow the few leads available & try to anticipate the murderer's next move. What distinguishes this series from most other series in the genre is the feel & texture of real life which Hill evokes. Serrailler is another in a long line of loner detectives, wary of commitment in his private life. But, he has a family, and for me, this allows us to see his humanity & makes him a believable character. His sister, Cat, has just returned from a sabbatical in Australia with her husband & children. Cat & Chris are both doctors, and this has brought in other characters to the series that reappear in this book. Most significantly, Jane Fitzroy, an Anglican priest, who ran away from the tentative beginnings of a relationship with Simon in an earlier book. Serrailler's mother has died, & he's upset by his father's new relationship. Other characters are briefly introduced, and, in some cases, violently removed, just as the reader has started to get to know them. We also enter the mind of the killer, and understand his motives while the police are still in the dark. There are plenty of red herrings & the solution is satisfying. I read it in an afternoon & can't wait for the next installment.
INSIGHT AND SENSITIVITY - Rated
Susan Hill has once again made her latest in the Simon Serrailler series an unstopable read. As a forensic psychotherapist I am amazed and delighted by her insight into the darker aspects of the human condition. So many crime writers depend on the sensational alone and lack awareness of the fact that murderous thinking and acts exist alongside the ordinary and mundane. 'The Vows of Silence' is a wonderful blend of life in the raw from so many rich perspectives of its characters. The depth and reality of each character provides a griping experience which continues long after the last page. I hope we dont need to wait too long before we enter into the lives of Simon and his family again.
Welcome return for Simon Serrailler - Rated
This book is every bit as gripping as its predecessors. A gunman is terrorising Lafferton, especially young women about to get married. Simon has to track down this serial killer before he can do any more damage. The press don't think he is doing enough and his colleagues are frustrated at the lack of meaningful leads. But Simon must also deal with the serious illness of his brother in law and the advent of a new woman into his widowed father's life.
What always grips me about these stories is that Simon is a far from perfect human being. He resents his father's new partner and cannot make up his mind about whether he wants someone in his own life permanently. He rows with his much loved sister Cat, and lets his own feelings colour his relationships with colleagues to the extent he almost misses his chance to unmask the gunman.
As ever, this is a complex story with many sub plots which keep you guessing right to the end. I had my suspicions about the identity of the gunman - which proved to be correct - but this did not spoil my enjoyment of the story. The clues are there but so are the red herrings and there are several possible candidates. Will Helen and Phil find happiness in spite of Helen's disapproving son? How will Cat cope when she has to be doctor and wife and still maintain a normal front for the children? What about the fate of the various young women about to be married and the Royal visitors to the society wedding? Jane Fitzroy also makes an appearance - how will Simon deal with seeing her again?
A well written and thought provoking psychological thriller about human beings with all their faults.
Brilliant return of Simon Serrailler - Rated
*****MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*****
It's been quite a long wait for this most recent episode in the life of Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler but how worthwhile!
Serrailler is back in VOWS OF SILENCE and Susan Hill has yet again provided a book which has to be read at one sitting!
Serrailler has his hands full with a gunman who is picking off, apparently at random, young females. He is methodical, cold and in control and with the victims having no obvious links the case is proving a frustrating one for Serrailler who at one stage admits `he has the upper hand'.
Not only does Serrailler have to cope with the shootings, his brother-in-law Chris, who has just arrived back with the family after 9 months in Australia, is diagnosed with a brain tumour. The resultant family crisis he and his sister Cat have to face is matched only in part (certainly for Serrailler) by the arrival of a new partner for his recently bereaved father - a man Serrailler has never been able to get along with.
Serrailler can't cope with the woman who has taken his beloved mother's place, and his attitude just adds to Cat's trauma of seeing her husband suffer abysmally after surgery and radiotherapy.
This might sound like a depressing book but it isn't, not by a long way. Hill has a remarkable way of interweaving all her characters in a way that cannot help but draw you in - their strengths and their weaknesses are to the fore and she sets the scene for an exciting story that has you guessing to the end - and invariably the perpetrator is quite a surprise!
Simon Serrailler will go down in the history of crime novels as one of the better detectives. There is nothing superhuman about him, he is totally believable as a person, a fine detective and a much needed loving uncle for young Sam.
Fortunately (and with a sigh of relief from Serrailler fans) Susan has now started writing the next, called THE TREE IN WINTER, which will be published in 2009 - not long now!!
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