The third instalment of Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series - The Risk of Darkness (2006) picks up where the previous novel concluded. In The Pure in Heart, Serrailler was investigating the disappearance of a nine-year old school boy, but all trails ran cold and the book ends without a resolution in the case.
Meanwhile, back in Lafferton, someone is distributing vile racist leaflets. Women are being approached by a grieving man who thinks they are his deceased wife. Local priest Jane Fitzroy learns her mother has been violently attacked in her own home in London. The darkness seeps in everywhere.
Hill continues to flesh out the characters - particularly the Serrailler family - and there is a building sense that change is upon them all. Simon is rather aloof and unhappy. He toys with the feelings of the women in his life, and is at a crossroads in his career. His sister Cat Deerbon tries to keep him in check, and can reach him in a way that no one else can. Cat is struggling with the pressures of work and family life and contemplating a significant sea change. Sergeant Nathan Coates is about to have a family and is thinking about leaving Lafferton. Jane Fitzroy is wondering if she has made the right choices in her life.
Like in Hill's previous Serrailler novels, there are many threads running through this story and she uses her characters to provide a commentary on social issues - inequality, health care, gentrification, poverty, tabloid media. Some of these characters are genuinely heartbreaking; Eileen Meelup and Natalie Coombs in particular are both mothers in parallel struggles to understand their daughters. I would have liked a little more detective work in this novel to flesh out the crime aspects of the tale.
While it won't appeal to everyone, I find this a strangely compelling series. Part crime drama, part police procedural, part domestic fiction, it defies being placed in a single category. I like the way Hill builds the story through the characters, and through them presents an interesting meditation on family, longing and loss. This novel ends somewhat abruptly, but is set up for the next book in the series. I look forward to continuing this series and am pleased that I still have so many more to read.
My reviews of other novels in this series are available on my blog:
- The Various Haunts of Men (Serrailler #1)
- The Pure in Heart (Serrailler #2)