Monthly Archives: January 2015

#BookReview ‘The Risk of Darkness’ by @susanhillwriter #crime

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The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill is a chilling book with two key storylines. One is continued from the previous book in Simon Serrailler series in which children are disappearing. The second storyline explores the line where grief and anger descends into madness, where we can be threatened in our homes, in the streets which are familiar beneath our feet, and will never feel safe again. Susan HillDetective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler, created by crime author Susan Hill, is called to Yorkshire where a child has been abducted. Is it the same modus operandi, is it the same kidnapper? Simon is also squabbling with his sister Cat about how he treats his girlfriends. She thinks he isolates himself too much, he likes women but doesn’t want them to get too close. All the regular day-to-day life of the Serrailler family continues from the previous two books, providing a warm framework of family and community, into which barges the threat of violence. Cat, with a newborn baby, struggles to balance baby caring and the demands of a GP. She feels responsible for her patients, the ordinary people of Lafferton.
Meanwhile, we get glimpses into the lives of these ordinary people in their homes. Are they going to be victims or criminals? Susan Hill blends invisibly the fear factor of crime fiction and the security blanket of familiar family lives, daily routine, eating breakfast, squabbling with each other, going to work. I turn the page, not knowing what is going to happen next, wanting to know but not wanting it to happen. She is a master of her craft.

Read my reviews of the other novels in the series:-
THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN #1SIMONSERRAILLER
THE PURE IN HEART #2SIMONSERRAILLER
THE VOWS OF SILENCE #4SIMONSERRAILLER
THE SHADOWS IN THE STREET #5SIMONSERRAILLER
THE BETRAYAL OF TRUST #6SIMONSERRAILLER
A QUESTION OF IDENTITY #7SIMONSERRAILLER
THE SOUL OF DISCRETION #8SIMONSERRAILLER
THE COMFORTS OF HOME #9SIMONSERRAILLER
THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT #10SIMONSERRAILLER
A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE #11SIMONSERRAILLER

And also by Susan Hill, HOWARD’S END IS ON THE LANDING

If you like this, try:-
‘The Private Patient’ by PD James #14ADAMDALGLIESH
‘The Secrets of Gaslight Lane’ by MRC Kasasian #4GOWERDETECTIVE
‘Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage’ by MC Beaton #5AGATHARAISIN

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE RISK OF DARKNESS by @susanhillwriter http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1qT via @SandraDanby 

#BookReview ‘The Magician King’ by Lev Grossman @leverus #fantasy #magic

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As The Magician King begins, Quentin is living in Fillory. And he is king, or a king, one of four human kings and queens who rule this magical land. In the first book of ‘The Magicians’ trilogy by Lev Grossman, we saw Quentin accepted at a magical university in New York and finally find his way to Fillory, which he thought was a fictional world from a children’s book. Now, in the second book, he is living his childhood fantasy but is bored. Lev GrossmanLife is like living in a 20-star hotel and he is getting fat. Then one day, out hunting the Seeing Hare, one of the Unique Beasts of Fillory – this world is full of magical beasts which can talk or have special powers – a new adventure starts.
The big difference for me from book one of the trilogy is that the action starts straight away. All the setting-up has been done, the background is in place, Fillory is understood, key characters  are established. Most intriguing is the presence of Julia, who was Quentin’s love interest in the non-magical world, briefly at the beginning of the first book. Quentin was offered a place at Brakebills, the magical college. Julia wasn’t. But now she is a magician too. She learned her magic the hard way, in the magical underground in the ordinary world. And she is moody and edgy. She talks to the animals, speaks in an old-fashioned cadence, she dresses in black. She is interesting. I liked Julia.
Quentin and Julia set sail on a magical ship, heading for the Outer Island to collect overdue taxes. They end up back in the real world, trapped, and unable to return to Fillory. Of course they manage it in the end, via the underground magic network, trips to Cornwall and Venice, an Australian magician, and a dragon.
This book is three quests, one after another. The action is continuous. I saved books two and three to read while on holiday, and read them back –to-back.

Click the title below to read my reviews of the two other novels in the trilogy:-
THE MAGICIANS #1THEMAGICIANS
THE MAGICIAN’S LAND #3THEMAGICIANS

If you like this, try:-
‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt
‘In Ark’ by Lisa Devaney
‘Ferney’ by James Long

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE MAGICIAN KING by Lev Grossman @leverus http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1rx via @SandraDanby