When a middle-aged jogger is reported missing, seen last beginning her morning run, there is only a brief investigation:
Without any clue as to the woman's whereabouts or movements, with no reported sighting, no suicide note and no body, she knew perfectly well she could not justify spending any more time on the case ... she had probably spent too much time on it already. Angela Randall had disappeared, and until she turned up again in some form, she was merely the number she had had assigned to her ... Missing person BH140076/CT.
But then the disappearances continue.
This is another book that feels like a game of Town* -- and you know how I love that.
Some of the cast: DS Freya Graffham, who left London and an extremely unhappy marriage for Lafferton, a small (but not too small) cathedral town. DCI Simon Serrallier, a private man who is semi-estranged from his father, who has a second career that he keeps completely separate from his police work, who breaks hearts right and left but is either too oblivious to notice or too much of a cad to care. DC Nathan Coates, with the face of a criminal and a heart of gold. Debbie Parker, a depressed young woman who develops an interest in alternative medicine. Cat Deerbon, local doctor, sister of DCI Serrallier, who, while accepting of some forms of it, is concerned about the harm that alternative medicine can do.
In The Various Haunts of Men, we hear from everyone, including the person who is behind the disappearances, and we get everyone's opinion of everyone else. As much as I tend to like books with this format, it took me a little while to get hooked -- bouncing around makes it harder to form attachments to the characters. Once I was hooked, I started thinking about suspects. (Honestly, at one point or another, I suspected almost every character.) About halfway through, though, I sat for a moment and just thought it out -- and I pegged it.
What's odd, though, is that it didn't detract from the suspense at all -- if anything, it heightened it. And then, when it was totally and completely clear that I was right... well, it got even more suspenseful. It's a solid police-procedural-soap-opera-family-story-crime-drama. I'm very much planning on reading the next book in the series.
Now. I have a Huge Issue with this book, but I'm going to address it in the comments, as it is centered around a major plot twist. If you're at all interested in reading the book, DO NOT go to the comments section. Go, read the book, then come back and talk to me about it. Because I do really want to talk about it. (So, for completely selfish reasons, I'll be pushing it on patrons in the near future.)
*From Harriet the Spy: "Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play Town. "See, first you make up the name of the town. Then you write down the names of all the people who live in it. You can't have too many or it gets too hard. I usually have twenty-five.""
Okay, here's the thing:
This is a HUGE spoiler, so seriously, don't continue reading if you don't want to know.
Ready?
You're only reading this if you:
A) have already read the book or
B) would never in a million years pick this up, never ever read grown-up books or mysteries.
All right then.
First off, for most of the book I didn't understand why it was called 'A Simon Serrallier Mystery' when he was an almost minor character. Yes, he's the DCI, Freya is in love with him (I thought that was well done, by the way -- the moment when she realizes it actually made me tear up), everyone talks about him, and so on, but we don't really see much of him.
Then it happens: About twenty pages before the end of the book, Freya Graffman, the (up until this point) main character, the person I'd heard the most from, gotten to know the best and the one I cared the most about, is murdered.
At first, I thought, "Wow. You go, Susan Hill. I would never, in a million years, have seen that coming. Rock on with your crazy-plot-twist-self."
But then I started getting kind of pissed*. Because it seemed kind of cheap. Like Freya wasn't Freya -- she was just a tool, there to create an unrequited-love-what-might-have-been sort of background for Simon and to make Nathan lose his innocence. (Because regardless of his background or his job, he was an innocent.) And that just, well, sucks. Maybe if it had been a later book in the series, a prequel, it would have worked for me. Maybe then I wouldn't have felt so manipulated.
*Regardless of my irritation/anger, I'm impressed, Susan Hill, that you made me care this much. I probably shouldn't get all worked up over these things.
Posted by: Leila | 22 October 2007 at 10:35 AM
Yeah I agree, picked up the book in a charity shop and majorly enjoyed it. Like a fool, however I glanced at the "First Chapter from the Simon Serailler Series" at the end of the book and found out that Freya dies... goddammit. Almost made me want to cry that I'd found out, but I did still enjoy it. My issue with the book (and the reason I did this search) is something I just don't understand! I might be completely be missing the wood for the trees but I hope you can help me... Why were the tapes left by Sharpe addressed to Cat Deerbon???? I went back and read them and they should have gone to his mother presumably? Am I missing something? Cat Deerbon is meant to be 34 in this book, and Sharpe is in his fifties. ARRRGG don't get it. Also, was the "psychic surgeon" stuff just in there to highlight that accepted forms of complementary therapies (and therapists) might be just as dangerous as more outlandish ideas such as psychic surgery? I know it was needed to really get the group interested in alternative therapies but it felt unnecessary to have so much about that when it had no impact on the conclusion. Or did it, and am I missing something else? Hehe hope you can help here!
Posted by: Katie | 13 July 2008 at 06:56 AM
I too am mystified as to why the tapes were addressed to Cat Deerbon; in fact I've just scanned all the 'tape' sections of the book again in case I'd missed a vital clue. The only explanation (of sorts) I can come up with is that although he left the tapes for her, she was not the 'you' addressed in the tape contents.
Posted by: Elaine | 21 January 2011 at 12:38 PM