Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

 

I am so annoyed at myself. So I like most of Susan Hill books so I saw this on NetGalley and went gimme without realizing this is part of a series. I really wish that NetGalley would let you send books back. Totally my fault, and for now on I am going to cross-reference books on Goodreads to just check for things like that. That all said, I can't really help here at all. Since this is book # 10 I was totally confused about past events and who was what and why things were important. I loved the cover though! Seriously though this dragged for me at times and I found myself rushing through it. 

 

"The Benefit of Hindsight" follows DCS Serrailler after he has has returned to work after losing one of his arms.  With crime rates down, Lafferton has been quiet, until one night when two men open their front door to a distressing scene. Serrailler makes a serious error of judgment when handling the incident, and the stress of this, combined with the ongoing trauma of losing his arm, takes its toll. 

 

So Serrailler seems like an okay character. I don't know what to say here since this is the first book starring him I have read. All of the characters seem fine and have past and current connections. I did like that Serrailler messes up and the book follows through on the theme on in hindsight what could he have done better. 

 

I did like the writing and thought the flow was fine. I just was not engaged since I came into this series at book #10 and did not care about the characters in the same way I would have if I started off with book #1. Because of this, I am going to go back and read this series and will update this review after I finish books #1-9. 

The Various Haunts of Men (Simon Serrail... I generally enjoy murder mysteries, but it has been many years since I read one. This was definitely a good one to get back into the genre with.

As it is the first in a series of Simon Serrailler novels, I was somewhat surprised to find he was rather absent from the book – in many ways he was just an incidental character. But nevertheless I think it served as a good introduction to his character, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second novel to learn more about him, and hopefully to enjoy a tale as engaging as this one.

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t perfect. The central character, a detective sergeant called Freya, was really well written, and I liked her a lot. So I’m a little disappointed that she isn’t the main protagonist of the series. I also found certain things about her to be hard to swallow – such as her sudden and overwhelming infatuation with another character. But, in the end, I couldn’t help but forgive it, as I think the story was ultimately richer for it.

I was also impressed with Susan Hill’s evocative descriptions. Sometimes I struggle to form a mental image of what I am reading about, which can pull me out of the story. That was not a problem here. I found myself repeatedly drawn in and completely immersed in the world that was created for me, no matter how often my husband interrupted me for silly things like wanting to eat.

I think this isn’t necessarily a novel for everyone. The narrative perspective kept shifting, and that is something I like, and is part of what kept me interested. That’s not everyone’s cup of tea though. I also liked the slow and gradual reveal, allowing me to correctly guess the identity of the killer relatively early in the novel, and not having to wait too long to find my suspicion confirmed. Others might consider that too obvious, and think there weren’t enough red herrings. It was just right for my tastes however.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read that left me wanting more, so it gets an easy 5 stars from me. Roll on book #2!

this was an excellent read. the author tells the story from several different points of view, including the suspect's, and it's fascinating to be inside all the different heads. i wasn't sure how it was all going to fit together, but it did, and very well, but not without lots of twists and turns along the way. the moment when i found out "whodunit" was incredible...it totally took me by surprise..."did i just read what i thought i read?"

the only false note, for me, was the idea of the extremely intelligent lead female detective falling in love at first sight with her boss.

highly recommend and can't wait to read the rest in the series.