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Title: The Wood Beyond by Reginald Hill ISBN: 0-440-21803-9 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 10 March, 1997 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Killing fields, past and present
Comment: If you are already familiar with Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series, recommending this one won't be a hard sell. If not, check it out and discover one of the contemporary masters of the crime novel.
This is an ambitious work; Hill clearly intends to transcend the police procedural genre, and includes a parallel story set in the ghastly killing fields of Passchendaele in the Great War that dovetails with the present-day murder case that is the nominal subject of the book. It must be said that the interwoven story of Pascoe's ancestor (who shares his name and is involved with ancestors of suspects in the killing that Pascoe and Dalziel are investigating), strains credulity; it's a literary construct that doesn't really come off.
But who cares? Hill as a writer is otherwise at the top of his game. It's full of witty dialogue (if only people in life -- myself included -- could set off such a string of verbal firecrackers, how much more entertaining our daily round would be!). Dalziel's Yorkshire dialect is a constant source of delight: I hope expressions like "nowt," "tha's," "lass," et al. aren't dying out. And as usual, the characters, especially the detectives and Pascoe's wife Ellie, are drawn in psychological depth.
The novel can be enjoyed as pure entertainment. But, notwithstanding the parallel story's unlikelihood, it offers a window into the ungodly horrors of trench warfare in 1917 and the savagery of military "justice" in the British army of the time.
Rating: 5
Summary: There's nowt better than a Dalziel/Pascoe mystery
Comment: Reginald Hill brings serious talent to bear on the often-debased mystery genre. His stories never fail to compel the reader's attention and (often) emotion, and in "Fat Andy" Dalziel he has created a monumental (sorry) character. And that's not to downplay Pascoe or Wieldy -- but Dalziel's shadow is a hard one to get out of.
"The Wood Beyond" is a particular favorite of mine. I thought that the WWI and present-day plots were extraordinarily well tied together, not always the case in stories using "time-shift"techniques. It's further proof that Reginald Hill is one of the best writers -- not just mystery writers -- working today.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fast and human
Comment: This is my first written contact with Dalziel and Pascoe of tv fame and it certainly won't be my last. When an animal rights group swarms over a scientific complex, human bones are found in a swampy area, giving the police an extra reason to probe deeply into the goings on of the pharmaceutical company who run the place. Mr.Hill is an extremely erudite writer with a splendid command of the English language..it will also help my vocabulary as I have to keep the Oxford at hand to keep up with him. This story returns frequently to the French battlefields of WW1 via the diaries of Pascoe's grandfather who was shot for desertion after a ruling by a kangaroo court, so this connection injects a very personal touch, linking Pascoe with the present case through past generations.
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Title: Pictures of Perfection by Reginald Hill ISBN: 0440218004 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill ISBN: 0440225906 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 07 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill ISBN: 0440209358 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Recalled to Life by Reginald Hill ISBN: 0440215730 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 03 July, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Pinch of Snuff by Reginald Hill ISBN: 0440169127 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 01 July, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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