A Change of Circumstance: Discover the million-copy bestselling Simon Serrailler series (Simon Serrailler, 11)
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A Change of Circumstance: Discover the million-copy bestselling Simon Serrailler series (Simon Serrailler, 11)
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ABOUT 'A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE': It's mid-winter and a body is discovered in a flat just outside Lafferton. It's a drugs overdose but something doesn't feel right. The place is entirely empty. Damp walls, bare floorboards. Not even a bed. This wasn’t a crime story, it was a domestic, kitchen-sink tale where the main character just happened to be a police officer – I wouldn’t even call it a drama it was so plodding (no pun intended). The case that was taking up Simon’s working hours this time was so unoriginal that I think it’s already been done by every one of the TV soaps. The only puzzle was whether Simon would make his mind up about the domestic affairs which seemed to be occupying his mind for far more time than finding any villains. Just as in real life, there's not a lot of happy endings contained within. In fact, it makes for some pretty grim reading, alleviated only by the close Serrailler family relationships. But the ending gives me hope and I look forward to seeing how things develop in book #12, The Sound of Footsteps, due to be publisher later in 2023.
A Change of Circumstance: The new Simon Serrailler - AbeBooks A Change of Circumstance: The new Simon Serrailler - AbeBooks
The following description made me laugh out loud, "He was bald, having shaved his head so often the hair had eventually abandoned hope." All that said, this is still several cuts above the majority of contemporary crime novels. Serrailler is, frankly, often annoying in his approach to his personal life, which is realistic and quite deliberate by Hill and which I rather admire – although there is a hint of more settled things to come. So, although this may not be the finest of the series, it is still very good. It’s January and we’re deep in winters clutches in Lafferton. A heroin overdose of a young man in a rundown flat above a Chinese pharmacy in Starly leads Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler and his team into a county lines inquiry. Vulnerable children like eleven year old Brooklyn (Brookie) Roper are targeted and groomed. Meanwhile, Simon’s sister Cat Deerbon now married to Chief Constable Kieron Bright has her own issues with patients and personal family worries especially with her son Sam who is in medical training.But I persevered. After all this is Simon Serrailler - the detective who has proved his value in earlier novels, who gives his all and cares about his staff and his family, and who can’t seem to work out his own personal life. Like most readers I’ve got to know his quirks and habits, almost as much as his family, and with this latest book I was hoping for some serious development in his personal life, especially after the - frankly rather drab offering - last book which left me wondering what the hell happened! I ended up skimming this - partly because the descriptions of recruitment of vulnerable children to county lines gangs was upsetting, and partly because I find Cat and Simon extremely annoying.
A Change of Circumstance by Susan Hill | Goodreads A Change of Circumstance by Susan Hill | Goodreads
Finally, this is another absorbing and enjoyable addition to the series. It’s well written and easy to read. Although this is the eleventh it can easily be read as a stand-alone but I do recommend the series. I’m a big Susan Hill fan; I love her creepy, shiver-inducing, but never gory, horror stories. I also love crime fiction, so many years ago I read an earlier book in her Simon Serrailler series. It was good; I enjoyed it. So I was very disappointed when A Change of Circumstance failed to live up to my expectations. You carried every child for life, from the moment of birth." The death of a child is almost unendurable and the effects life-long. "He remembered her [the mother] as slight, thin, small-boned, but now she looked brittle as a bird, and old age lay in wait close by, though she was probably not far into her fifties." I like the mix of personal with professional lives that Hill writes so well. Neither overwhelms the other and they just blend seamlessly together.The whole thing is, of course, extremely well written in that way Susan Hill has of crafting elegant, readable prose which never draws attention to itself but carries the reader along beautifully. The story, too, is a timely one and in many ways well done; the stories of the children involved and of the effects on their families are vivid and gripping, for example. However, I did find the policing aspect just a little clunky and preachy; at one point the Chief Constable gives a long and rather sententious speech to his officers, after which, one comments, “Didn’t have the chief down for a rallying-cry-before-battle sort of guy, did you?” Well, no I didn’t – and he was all the better for it. Serrailler himself sounds a bit like a politician with a pre-written answer at times, too, and I’ve come to expect better from Susan Hill.
A Change of Circumstance: Discover the million-copy A Change of Circumstance: Discover the million-copy
MY THOUGHTS: I am fond of the Serrailler family, with perhaps the exception of Simon and Cat's father. Each new installment in this series is like visiting with old friends. Simon is still on his own but getting restless, not with his police work but with his personal life. Cat is as busy as ever, and as conscientious as ever. Familywise, things seem to be chugging along quite peacefully. But of course, it can't last. In 1975 she married Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they moved to Stratford upon Avon. Their first daughter, Jessica, was born in 1977 and their second daughter, Clemency, was born in 1985. Hill has recently founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, which has published one work of fiction per year. Having recently listened to a number of Inspector Dalgliesh stories, the similarities are notable: they’re both beautifully (if wordily) written and both rather smug - yet they’re languorous and well-plotted with great narrators. In the newest installmentofSusan Hill’s electrifying crime series, Simon Serrailler finds himself in devastating new territoryas a sophisticated drug networksets its sights on Lafferton In AChangeofCircumstance , the eleventh book in Susan Hill’s acclaimed crime series featuring the enigmatic detective Simon Serrailler, Hill yet again raises the stakes. However, for the most part I thoroughly enjoyed the rambling middle class family saga and Stephen Pacey’s brilliant narration.In this latest of Hill’s series, the Simon Serailler story continues with his position at Lafferton Police keeping him more at his desk than in the past as he manages his team. And there are new problems to manage as drugs are finding there way into the smaller towns and villages now and the runners are involving local kids. Children are being recruited to transfer drugs and money. DCS Simon Serrailler has been called out to investigate a suspected overdose. It just happens to be above a shop where Chinese herbal drugs are sold. Simon's sister Dr Cat, also faces issues in her medical practice. This is a well written story but we seem to spend a lot of time with Cat and her family. This book can be read as a standalone. This is the latest in Susan Hill's series featuring DCS Simon Serrailler of Lafferton Police, a blend of family drama and crime fiction, an addition which has Serrailler wondering if the time has come to make different life choices, including whether he should move to the country after his comfortable life renting a flat. Professionally, he finds himself having to confront the nightmare rise and spread of the county lines drugs trade, a threat to young people, the exploitation of children, with all the attendant threats it poses to the community. It is winter, it all begins with the discovery in the village of Starly of the ravaged body of a young man in a flat above a Chinese herbal pharmacy, a heroin overdose, and which sparks police inquiries as they try to identify the victim. And then there's the man known as Fats. Preying on young children to run errands for him. Burner phones with instructions messaged through. Bribes followed by threats.
A Change of Circumstance (Simon Serrailler, book 11) by Susan A Change of Circumstance (Simon Serrailler, book 11) by Susan
EXCERPT: January and Christmas vanished without a trace. The pavements of Starly village were greasy under a day of drizzle and there was an unhealthy mildness in the air.
Cat, who seems to be working herself to the bone just as much as she did when she was an NHS GP, handily has a poor 'deserving' private client to focus on, whose care is funded by an anonymous donor. As ever, she is the only competent, caring doctor in the book and is surprised when the overworked worn down nurses at the hospital don't appreciate her pointing out all the things they are doing wrong. Then there's Simon (the author is clearly in love with him, despite the faults she gives him), who should be disciplined for his treatment of Fern (in this book - I can no longer recall what happened in the last one). If I were Rachel I would run a mile. Finally, the author credits her proof-reader, but between them they seem to share the view that any number of ideas and phrases can be joined together in a single sentence with the use of commas. I feel like I need to start by saying I've read all the books in this series and I continue to persevere with them despite enjoying them less and less. This book sees Simon Serailler involves in a heroin overdose that could be murder and an investigation into County Lines drug activity. Against this we also catch up with Cat and her family. In the usual style everyone has something alcoholic in their hand at every opportunity and there is plenty of pain and suffering of a character we have become invested in. It is his sister, Dr Cat Deerbon and her family, who provides the familial roots and stability to a Serrailler who has up to this point been a commitment phobe when it comes to women and relationships, although a meeting with a lover from his past, Rachel, push him towards considering permanent change. Cat is now working in the private health sector as a GP for Concierge Medical, although the pressures and strains of her profession remain, with patients like 95 year old Lionel Brown, along with the state of the NHS local hospital. This and the everyday family dramas, such as husband Chief Constable Kevin Bright's leg injury, worries over their dog Wookie, and Sam's problems, combine to leave Cat feeling exhausted. In the meantime, tragedies involving children recruited and threatened by the drugs trade, and other murders have Serrailler and his team determined to get some forms of justice. I have loved this series since the first one -The Various Haunts of Men- and as we’re now at number eleven the characters feel as comfortable as old slippers and like friends in their familiarity. Simon is so intriguing and continues to do so which takes some skill to maintain in a succession of books. He’s a terrific policeman, a good leader, he cares very deeply about his family and is a great uncle to Cat’s children but he’s very complex and currently extremely restless and at a crossroads in his life. I like the on/off relationship with Rachel Wyatt which adds to the realism. Cat and her family always add a good personal touch and she offers Simon the stability and family he needs. Cat’s role in the books has grown over the years and I do enjoy that.
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