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The second in the Simon Serrailler series, this particular novel from Susan Hill follows on directly from the last. First published in 2005 on the 2nd of June, it continues the story of the Chief Inspector and his many cases. Developing his character further, it establishes more of the traits that his audience have come to recognize and love over time.
This novel centres around the drugs industry as it starts to get its claws into Lafferton. I enjoyed the storyline as it felt like a bit of a different plot, though there were some parts of the book which felt like they went off on a bit of a tangent and were harder to feel absorbed in.
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There is a moment in this book where really not much is happening, but an old lady is alone in her home with an electrician. Suddenly the electrician says "Gotcha!" and I nearly jumped out of my skin. At that point, I broke down, demanded my husband's undivided attention (no small request as he is currently reading the George RR Martin series), and just started telling him all about what was going on in this book. How Hill sets up this evil character then sends him underground with a new identity, how she then moves the action to Lafferton where the snow won't stop falling and small family dramas drive the action, how she introduces you to these older women who are moving to a new housing development -- their lives full of excitement and possiblity, and how you are so tense because you know these women's days are numbered. Can it be True?; (illustrated by Angela Barrett) Hamish Hamilton 1987; Puffin 1988; Walker Books 1990 Although there are crimes, this is not a police procedural or a thriller. Nothing is really resolved when all is said and done. The ending could be considered ambiguous, but then you have to consider the odds and face reality. For the first time, we see into Simon Serrailler’s head, and learn that he was in fact attracted to Freya Graffham, one of the main characters in the last novel. Her death seems to have precipitated Simon’s feelings about her to the point where he stops responding to longtime f**kbuddy Diana’s messages, the first of many instances of somewhat immature behavior on Simon’s part that start to show up in the series. We also learn that Simon is very fond of his younger sister Martha, who is severely disabled, and there’s a whole subplot with the staff at her care home that should go somewhere but doesn’t—it’s interesting because Hill is an interesting writer, but from the point of view of plotting it’s a serious loose end.
The boy's doctor Dad commits suicide. The 12 year old daughter runs away because her lawyer mom ignores her. We discover when the mom was pregnant with the daughter, all she wanted was a boy- who knows why- and didn't care about the girl. Two years later she had David and he was all she cared about.
Another thing I liked was seeing the ex-wife (of the killer) and the victims from their own points of view. It really personalized the story and made them characters you care about. Simon's sister too was shown in her struggles as a widow with a son acting up and a daughter in distress (plus a sweet younger son)and as a hospice doctor facing the loss of income as the hospice becomes a day facility only. The only thing I didn't like and that had nothing to do with the story was the annoying Molly who tried to commit suicide while she was supposed to be watching the children.
Many developments amongst our faithful cast: Cat struggles with budget cuts at work and her kids struggle with growing up issues. Simon confronts a murderer of old women and pines on for Rachel. Something is amiss between Simon & Cat's dad Richard and his newish wife Judith. In this installment of the Simon Serailler murder mystery series, Simon is confronted with a killer of old ladies. Little old ladies. Nice old ladies. Because nobody is safe in Susan Hill’s world.I’m a big Susan Hill fan; I love her creepy, shiver-inducing, but never gory, horror stories. I also love crime fiction, so many years ago I read an earlier book in her Simon Serrailler series. It was good; I enjoyed it. So I was very disappointed when A Change of Circumstance failed to live up to my expectations. It is his sister, Dr Cat Deerbon and her family, who provides the familial roots and stability to a Serrailler who has up to this point been a commitment phobe when it comes to women and relationships, although a meeting with a lover from his past, Rachel, push him towards considering permanent change. Cat is now working in the private health sector as a GP for Concierge Medical, although the pressures and strains of her profession remain, with patients like 95 year old Lionel Brown, along with the state of the NHS local hospital. This and the everyday family dramas, such as husband Chief Constable Kevin Bright's leg injury, worries over their dog Wookie, and Sam's problems, combine to leave Cat feeling exhausted. In the meantime, tragedies involving children recruited and threatened by the drugs trade, and other murders have Serrailler and his team determined to get some forms of justice. The novel starts in Yorkshire with a jury trial where a man, Alan Keyes, is acquitted of three murders. It then moves to ten years later in Lafferton where several elderly women are looking forward to a new life in the newly built houses and flats in Cornwall Close. The first murder in Cornwall Close and one that replicates those murders from 2002 doesn’t happen till a far way into the book. But in the meantime the reader is getting to know the characters. That includes being in the head of the murderer, which is not always comfortable particularly as the book goes on and his presence becomes stronger. Hill revisits old characters from her previous outing, The Betrayal of Trust, but briefly. Jocelyn Forbes, the woman living with motor neurone disease, or MND, is still alive, but barely, and Hill seems to have a keen interest in MND and its debilitating affects on a person's body. Also, Rachel Wyatt and Simon Serrailler's rendezvous continues in the latest mystery, and though the relationship adds nothing to the meat of the main story, Hill creates interesting characters that her readers care about and hope to revisit in future stories.
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