Book talk – The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill

I am finally making my way through the Simon Serrailler books a year after I read the first one, The Betrayal of Trust, but I didn’t know my heart would be ripped out multiple times while reading them. It was initially supposed to be a three book series beginning with The Various Haunts of Men, which has the worst ending in a book I have read in recent times, and I wanted to throw my copy across the room but I was too busy crying my eyes out! I’m glad I had the hard copy of The Risk of Darkness, the third one in the series, because it would have been hard for me to listen to on Audible (absolutely brilliantly read by Steven Pacey), especially after the second one, The Pure in Heart, which was a sad book to say the least, and listening to it was agonizing. Little did I know what lay in store for me with this one. I was in a funk for days after finishing this even though the cases were resolved (finally!). You live with the aftermath. Quite like life, isn’t it?

I am in awe of the themes the author deals with while juggling multiple plots, but it is for her engaging characters I keep returning to the Simon Serrailler books. For DCI Simon Serrailler himself, and his family – father, mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece, you continue reading to find out how they deal with what happens as they live through one tragedy after another. It is very satisfying to see how they have evolved through the series.

Susan Hill is a gifted writer, and one who doesn’t shy away from asking difficult questions. She asks us to examine the scenarios we are presented within the stories, the dilemmas they grapple with, the decisions which need to be taken, and the burdensome things one can do nothing about, except live with. You find yourself weighing in, and wondering what you would have done in a similar situation. Her books should not be read when you are looking for escape, dropped deep into the story of various characters you will find yourself examining your own life carefully, things you have pushed to the back of your mind, which come into focus of their own accord.