The Child in Time

 When I finished Susan Hill's The Various Haunts of Men last week, I promised to give her Simon Serrailler series another chance to see if the central character would grow on me. Over the past few days I have enjoyed reading the second novel in the series, The Pure in Heart (2005) and I am pleased that the enigmatic detective has now taken centre stage. 

Not long after the tragic events of the previous story ended, DCI Simon Serrailler is on holidays in Venice. Recharging after a rough year, Serrailler is drawing and exploring parts of Venice not on the tourist trail. His peace is disrupted by an abrupt call from his father, urging him to return home immediately to attend to a family emergency. This sets off the personal narrative thread of the novel wherein we learn more about Serrailler's parents and siblings. Through the family dynamics, particularly the father-son relationship, we discover why Serrailler has such an impervious exterior, refusing to engage emotionally. Serrailler has successfully compartmentalised his life, but when a former love interest returns he is angered to find lines blurred. 

The crime thread in the novel centres on a missing child. While waiting for his ride to school, nine-year-old David Angus is abducted. Serrailler's team are on the case, but thwarted by lack of witnesses and trails that run cold. Hill's depictions of the hard slog of this type of police work, and the way in which the Angus family is falling apart while awaiting news, feels very real. Reading this novel during the abduction and recovery of young Cleo Smith in Western Australia, provided a fascinating real-life parallel to the fictional Angus case. 

There are other threads woven in this novel too as Hill provides an interesting social commentary on health care, euthanasia, imprisonment and class through various characters in the story.  Andy Gunton leaves prison intent on getting his life back together but his status as an ex-con and his lack of a familial safety net leaves him considering whether he would be better off back inside. Dr Chris Deerbon is stretched as his wife Cat is on parental leave and they cannot get locum support, so he is run ragged trying to maintain his GP practice while on call most nights. At a nursing home, staff discuss the quality of life of the various disabled residents. Elsewhere a wealthy American couple have bought a derelict mansion with promises to restore it to its former glory and contributing to the local community.  All of these side stories add to the complex microcosm of Lafferton, the fictional English village where the story takes place.

Susan Hill is a very good writer, particularly in incrementally building characters and relationships that feel real. I also found the crime drama well constructed. It is not a fast-paced, page turning thriller, and doubtless some readers will be put off by the lack of immediate resolution. It is bold choice by a confident writer not to tidy up all the plotlines to please readers. Indeed this book seems more like a season of a police procedural television show, which ends with enough of a resolution to satisfy fans and enough of a cliffhanger to keep viewers interested until the next season rolls around. I look forward to the next novel in this series and learning to how these characters evolve.

My review of Simon Serrailler book #1 - The Various Haunts of Men is also available on this blog.