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Finished Susan Hill' s Serailler series..what now?

35 replies

absolutelynotfabulous · 10/11/2015 08:24

I love Susan Hill, Rendell/Vine, and the Lynley books but I seem to have run out. What next for a lover of psychological/crime fiction? Ideas please?

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BestIsWest · 18/11/2015 21:43

Thanks for the Elly Griffiths recommendation. Thoroughly enjoyed the first one.

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absolutelynotfabulous · 18/11/2015 11:55

I'm hoping for another, too, clawdy and she didn't kill off Simon in the last one, so perhaps she'll change her mind.

Finished the Anne Cleves one-Thin Air-so will get a couple more. Was a gripping read and a great twist at the end. Interesting, multi-faceted characters too, and very atmospheric (fancy going to Shetland now but Shock at the price of flights..).

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Clawdy · 16/11/2015 21:41

Agree with the comments on here. Rather disappointed with the last Serailler,harrowing story-line and two very implausible bits, but I'm still hoping for another one. Had no idea she had said that was the last.

mollie123 · 15/11/2015 14:07

off the top of my head
YY - to Ann Cleeves - Vera and the Shetland series
also
Alex Gray
Deborah Crombie
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Peter Lovesey
Louise Penny (although Canada not UK)
Camilla Lackberg (Scandinavia not UK)
and of course - the Wallender books
I found Susan Hill a bit wishy washy and too much emphasis on the one family Hmm

SenecaFalls · 14/11/2015 22:54

I liked the Lynley TV series; I just had to pretend it was something not related to the books; the characters were very unlike their depiction in the books.

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absolutelynotfabulous · 14/11/2015 22:46

I like Lynley books, but as much as I like Nathaniel Parker as Lynley on the tele, I don't think the Havers character is portrayed well on screen. I don't quite get the fact that he's a Viscount(?) either; doesn't ring true for me. And he's blond in the books, if memory serves.

Thanks to you lot, I bought an Anne Cleves (in Tesco, quite cheap) and slobbed out all day getting engrossed in it. Gripping stuff! Thanks MN.

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SenecaFalls · 14/11/2015 22:12

A new Lynley book has just come out: A Banquet of Consequences. I'm reading it now.

I hope Serrailler is not finished. I'm definitely a fan.

There's a new Rebus out in the UK, but not in the US yet. I am really looking forward to that.

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absolutelynotfabulous · 14/11/2015 15:05

Mmm...perhaps Laurence Fox is a bit typecast..

I was convinced that Simon was actually about to die in that last novel. It was as if Hill couldn't quite make up her mind whether to kill him off or not.

I suppose there's always room for another book. I was disappointed when the father wasn't brought to book over the rape (unlikely as I thought the story was).

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DuchessofMalfi · 14/11/2015 14:29

I'd certainly be more willing to accept Laurence Fox in the role, but then he's too closely identified with Hathaway in Lewis I suppose? Still would rather they weren't adapted for tv though.

Has Susan Hill really declared her last novel the last in the series? I'm surprised she didn't tie up a few loose ends properly then because it wasn't a satisfactory ending to the series. I was hoping there would be at least one more.

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absolutelynotfabulous · 14/11/2015 11:46

I see Simon as very tall, with floppy blond hair. Perhaps a tall, thin, Boris Johnson in looks but better-looking (but not handsome, particularly). In personality, rather sneery and arrogant;cold and detached. Lacking emotional intelligence but somehow able to command respect and even affection from his peers. I kind of get RPJ as him, but taller and blonder. (Wasn't RPJ in Doctors once?). I haven't seen him in anything else.

Or perhaps Laurence Fox, with blonder hair.

I agree the books should stay as books. I don't think I could cope with Saintly Sister brought to life.

I wonder if Susan Hill is reading this thread...

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DuchessofMalfi · 14/11/2015 11:34

Hope they're never brought to tv with RPJ. Don't like him. Would rather they stayed just as books, that way I can't be disappointed :)

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absolutelynotfabulous · 14/11/2015 11:17

That book's not new! I've read it already. I think.

brenda is that Rupert Penry Jones?

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BestIsWest · 14/11/2015 10:01

Too good looking for my vision of him. He's not very attractive.

BestIsWest · 14/11/2015 10:00

No, he can't be finished! Mm Penry-Jones.

BrendaandEddie · 14/11/2015 09:06

i asked her who would play him - she said Penry Jones

mollyonthemove · 14/11/2015 09:02

I tweeted Susan hill about simn and she confirmed he was finished ??

BrendaandEddie · 13/11/2015 23:12

triplets??

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absolutelynotfabulous · 12/11/2015 18:46

O God...the wine..copious amounts of it. And I bet it's never Chateau Plonkot either-only a naice Merlot, dahling, to be taken in front of a roaring farmhouse fire, naturally. And the cat-Mephisto-why can't it just be Puss, or Moggy, or something? Pretentious crap..arggh.

And as for relaxation, of course Saintly Sister cannot be expected to slob out at the end if the day in front of Corrie-oh no-she has to sing in a choir. A bloody Cathedral choir, mind you..not your common old community acapella one that meets in the workmen's hall. Perish the thought!

I get the impression, best, that the other triplet is the black sheep and best forgotten. He's obviously escaped the fold of the (rather weirdly oppressive Imo) family. What with the busybodying perfection that is/was the Mother, the irascible tyrant that is the Father, the downtrodden new and much younger Stepmum, flop-haired, painterly, emotionless Simon and his vapid, violet-eyed girlfriend, and finally the bereaved Saintly Sister, Black Sheep Brother is the lucky one. And we mustn't forget the dying friend, the traumatised lodger and the tortured Rev, and the dying husband.

Ooh I love a Serrailer bookGrin

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BestIsWest · 12/11/2015 17:32

But I still love them. Why make them triplets and never write about the flying doctor one?

BrendaandEddie · 12/11/2015 16:16

and when the sisters husband died
wah wah
and the perfect nanny she is so kind to.

AND THE WINE

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absolutelynotfabulous · 12/11/2015 15:40

Afaik the final one is about the child abuse. It was truly harrowing (but not, Imo, particularly believable). There's room for more, but not sure if author has any more planned.

brenda terminal illness seems to be a particular obsession of the author, doesn't it, what with the hospice, saintly sister's husband, the motor neurone character, the friend, the dodgy doc..

I wish saintly sister would just occasionally crack and feed her kids KFC or something rather than something home-cooked and delicious.

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BrendaandEddie · 12/11/2015 15:20

Oh in so glad to see other people found the book compulsive yet irritating. Of course saintly sister works at a hospice etc

efeslight · 12/11/2015 14:34

So has Susan Hill stopped writing This series? Have not bought the most recent book yet and will be heartbroken if thats it. I find the books a really good read, although i am irritated by simon and his perfect but stressed sister who is filled with middle class angst. His fathers new wife Judith seems to be fairly nice and sensible, and the father is obviously a bully. But i find the level of dislike that i have for some of the characters in her books quite refreshing, as my normal crime/thriller reads are normally plot driven and the actual characters dont matter so much.
As pp said,
i have also enjoyed P D James
barbara Vine/ruth rendell
Anne Cleeves, bith the vera series and the det, think its jimmy perez?
Elly Griffiths
belinda bauer

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absolutelynotfabulous · 12/11/2015 08:55

Brilliant! I was wondering about Girl in the Red Coat.

brenda I agree with you about the naffness, but I still can't put a Serailler downGrin. I suppose that's testament to Hill's writing style. The sister is nauseatingly perfect and really boils my pee, and Simon himself is only half filled-in. The father is a more interesting character, even though the rape story stretched the credibility a bit. I find the incidental characters more real, somehow.

I was disappointed to have guessed the identity of the old-lady killer as soon as Hill introduced the character. It was so bloody obvious.

I'm quite glad to have finished the series, in a way. I don't think I could take any more of that sister, or that stupid non-relationship between violet-eyed Rachel and floppy-haired Simon. Still sad though....

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