The Vows of Silence

Simon Serrailler 4

By: Susan Hill

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

Gunmen are terrorising young women in the Cathedral town of Lafferton. What - if anything - links the apparently random murders? Is the marksman with a rifle the same person as the killer with a handgun?

Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler falls back on well tried police methods such as questioning neighbours and house-to-house searches. Simon has been promoted and is now with the Serious Incident Flying Taskforce, but he is still at heart a loner and these chilly murders are on his home territory.

©2008 Long Barn Books Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Poor story

Disconnected characters who didn't make sense or impact the story. Not worth the time to listen to except it was preformed/read well.

I think I'm done

No criticism of the writing, only content. Too melodramatic, she has gone too far. Yes people die, life happens, but in the normal course of life there is usually small bright moments that sustain us. Everyone in this story is or should be contemplating death in a very very, yes, BLEAK way.

Truly Engrossing!

I couldn't put it down. the story is Well written and it's a smooth read but the characterization makes it so much more. It is like visiting a world of people one knows. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Still love Susan Hill's books!

If you could sum up The Vows of Silence in three words, what would they be?

Real surprise ending.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cat is my favorite, even though I like Simon, even with his flaws.

Have you listened to any of Steven Pacey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Only hear him on Hill's books.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I really, really am put out with the fact that Hill kills off characters that we have come to know and care about. If I wanted doom and gloom, I'd read True Crime novels.

Any additional comments?

Even with the comment above, I still come back for more of Susan Hill's books!

taut writing, narrator perfect - read in order!!!

Susan Hill is a new (to me :) )British author I've been listening to/reading. It's always a pleasure to find an author you really like who has been writing for awhile, so there is a treasure trove of sorts to plunder. (Phil Rickman, Deborah Crombie (albeit an american who writes British mysteries,) and Christopher Fowler are other audible mystery recommendations (to me) with a collection of brilliant novels to revel in days, weeks or however much time you have to devote to listening to books.) I am constantly listening again and again to the Rickman and Crombie novels as well as Fowler's. I expect to do so with Ms. Hill's Serrailler books.

I normally do not write recommendations but feel motivated to do so because the Simon Serrailler books need to be read in order. (Note Ms. Hill states otherwise on her web site, however, . . ,) The reason? The stories, plot and characters lives, are built upon in each new book. Where one plot starts in an earlier novel, it continues on and into the the following books. By reading Vows of Silence first, I was flung into a world of which its foundations were set forth in the earlier novels. I hope audible picks up the first novel and the most recent one.

As I read the books available on audible backwards in time I realized how much more I would have enjoyed them if read in order. But for me, it just means I will get to read them again, now in order, and appreciate the characters as there were truly intended to be.

So Sad!

What made the experience of listening to The Vows of Silence the most enjoyable?

I really enjoy these books, they are very detailed and I can picture so perfectly this English town and countryside. However, Susan Hill drives me mad with her willingness to kill off key characters. Why does everyone have to die?

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I like the way she narrates from the killers point of view.

Which scene was your favorite?

The death of Chris, although I am mad he died!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Chris's death made me cry.

Any additional comments?

I hope some happier things happen in the next books, this one brought me down. I am taking a break from this series.

No one is safe with Susan Hill

First, I have to say I love the Simon Serrailler series. I've read them all and even make myself wait a while between books so that there is still another left to read. I hope she continues to write them. This review is less a review of a single book than a review up to the point in the series to which I have read (#5).

The actual crime and workings of the police are the primary subject of the stories, but the various characters that Hill introduces play large roles and are not simply peripheral to this or future stories. Simon's family is also a large part each book, and they go about their lives sharing moments and thoughts with you even when they are only on the perimeter of a particular book.

Yet, unlike most novelists, no character is sacred to the story or the series. Characters that one would expect to endure, simply because of their proximity to and importance to the main character, drop like flies leaving pain, anguish and general unhappiness in their wake. In fiction it seems no one is left but the main character, or everyone the main character holds dear is safe with few exceptions. Not so Susan Hill. Don't get too attached to any of the series regular characters, there is no safety. Danger and illness lurk at every corner.

In spite of this lack of security, there is joy and normality in every novel. Evil does not lurk in every nook and cranny. General day to day activities and troubles come up. No one is perfect. No one is unredeemable (excepting possibly the criminal in the case).

The narrator reads perfectly and brings the story to life.

I love these books, even though I love happy endings. I suppose because they are so much like real life in the disappointment of events, yet the continuity of day to day life continues to move on and past the tragedy.

Will Drive You to Drink!

Susan Hill is a fabulous writer, but damn, this one is depressing!

Lots of illness, lots of death, and the murderer in this one is killing people just at one of the happiest moments of their lives.

I can understand wanting to prune away some characters in a serial, but really, did she have to do it all in one book? Maybe it's like tearing away a band-aid as opposed to easing it off - it hurts less if you go fast and just get it over with. I dunno. I'm not quite getting Hill's gimmicks - the loose ends, the depressing plot points - but she's a good enough writer (and Pacey a reader) that I'm gonna go along with her...until I can't anymore!

If you're new to Hill, don't start with this book! Go find "The Various Haunts of Men" and start there. That one is not a happy story either, and if you're sensitive to crimes against children, even fictional (crimes and children), you might prefer one of her ghost stories instead. No one is safe in a Susan Hill book!

Badly written and edited

What would have made The Vows of Silence better?

This book was very repetitive. There were too many subplots that did not tie in well with each other or with the main plot. The premise was strange and never really addressed satisfactorily. I was disappointed as the main character is interesting.

What was most disappointing about Susan Hill’s story?

No clear path to discovering the murderer and no understanding of how he was finally sussed.

Which scene was your favorite?

None

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irritation

Any additional comments?

My last Susan Hill

Last Susan Hill book I will buy

Would you try another book from Susan Hill and/or Steven Pacey?

Hill, absolutely will not buy another. Pacey, definitely yes.

Would you ever listen to anything by Susan Hill again?

If I did not have to buy it and was desperate for an audio book, I might listen. I will never spend money on her books again.

Which character – as performed by Steven Pacey – was your favorite?

None. I cannot choose a favorite from 1) supposedly main characters who are not given flesh 2) "filler" characters who seem to exist solely to create a novel rather than a short story.

What character would you cut from The Vows of Silence?

The widow, her boyfriend, her son, her daughter...a ridiculous parallel plot with a hodgepodge of cardboard characters who were just white noise filling up pages.

Any additional comments?

Reads like disparate vinettes that have been compiled into one book. Competing story lines that barely even tangentially intersect and contribute nothing to each other. This is my 4th Serrailler series book. I kept hoping that the progression of the series would pull story lines together and vivify main characters. The author occasionally pens a poignant phrase, but many other authors do this while also offering rich, multi-dimesional characters. I am not willing to invest more money and time in this series or this author.