The Betrayal of Trust

✍ Scribed by Hill, Susan

• Book ID: 107006887
• Publisher: Random House
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 263 KB
• Series: Simon Serrailler 6
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 0701180021

✦ Synopsis

Review

''Compelling...Fans and newcomers to Hill's series (The Vows of Silence, 2009, etc.) will appreciate the characters' deep humanity.'' &#8212 Kirkus

''The updated plotlines of the cathedral town's residents will be part of the fun attached to watching Serrailler and his crew solve the two mysteries...this series has many devotees, who find in the enigmatic Serrailler the same appealing mix of intelligence and sensitivity that characterizes P. D. James' Adam Dalgliesh.'' &#8212 Booklist

''Not all great novelists can write crime fiction, but when one like Susan Hill does it, the result is stunning.'' - -Ruth Rendell

''Thoughtful mysteries...elegant prose.'' &#8212 The New York Times Book Review

''It's the intelligence of this brooding series that rivets a reader's attention.'' &#8212 Maureen Corrigan, *Washington Post*

''Eagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fiction.'' &#8212 P.D. James

''If you like your crime fiction with strong overtones of serious literature, look no further than Hill . . . Some suspense novels are demonstrably character-driven and some are plot-driven, while others are atmospheric and haunting. Hill manages to combine all of those elements seamlessly, not favoring one over the other, all the while imbuing her narrative with a social conscience rarely displayed in genre fiction . . . As I wrote of Hill in a review of The Various Haunts of Men (2007): 'Fans of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell can rest easy, knowing that those authors' tradition of fine storytelling will move forward at least one more generation.' I stand by that 100 percent.'' &#8212 Bookpage (November 2011), Top Pick in Mystery

“Hill knows how to keep those pages turning.” &#8212 Chicago SunTimes

Product Description

Simon Serrailler is faced with that most complicated of investigations – a cold case. Freak weather and flash floods all over southern England. Half of Lafferton is afloat. A landslip on the Moor has closed the bypass and, as the rain slowly drains away, a shallow grave – and a skeleton – are exposed. It doesn't take long to identify the remains as those of the missing teenager, Harriet Lowther, last seen carrying a tennis racket while waiting for a bus. But that was sixteen years ago. How long will it take to trawl through the old, stale evidence and assess it anew? The Lafferton force is struggling with staff shortages and economies, and Simon has to do a lot of the legwork on his own. Meanwhile, his sister, Dr Cat Deerbon, is fighting for extra funding for the hospice which is threatened with cuts and closures. All the Simon Serrailler novels offer more than merely a murder mystery, and The Betrayal of Trust is no exception: it takes a brave, truthful look at old age and the associated problems of terminal illness which, in the future, will bring our society to the brink of painful conflicts of conscience. Susan Hill's gifts are displayed here to dazzling effect: her empathy and understanding of the human heart, her brilliance when evoking character and her tremendous powers of exciting storytelling.