I noticed that it has been a while since I last finished a book (I might need to adjust that planning of a book every 2 weeks), but now that the world cup has ended and I am curbing the time spent playing Mahjong on my Nintendo DSI I seem to have some time to read/finish a book! It has also helped that I am not spending this weekend helping a friend move house. So, after getting nearly to the end last night I have today managed to finish my book.
It's a detective one and is part of my "Reading the Detectives" reading plan. Apart from ghost stories I really like reading detectives as well and the plan is to read as many different ones as I can. Judging from the crime sections I have seen in online shops and in the major book shops in town I still have a fair way to go before I have read at least one of each crime author but hey.... I've got time, patience and a great ferocity to read on my side!
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On Beulah Height - Reginald Hill
This was the first one of this author I have read and it was a good one! It features the detectives Dalziel and Pascoe (known from the tv series named after them). I must say I never really got into watching them on telly but have seen bits of some of the episodes. In a way this was good because I could use the look of the actors I know to have played them in my head but not have them impede on my interpretation of what they did and how they acted too much whilst reading.
There are several stories that play out in this book. One of them is about some girls who went missing in the little village of Dendale about 15 years ago. This storyline tells you a little about who was lost, how the investigation was run (Dalziel was one of the officers investigating what went on then) and who was thought to have been involved in the disappearances. The main part of this story is told by the testimony of one of the local girls who was attacked but managed to get away. The rest of the blanks are filled in by various people reading the report on the Dendale case and with the memories of the officers that were involved with the case then and are still in the force now.
Then there is the present day where, 15 years later another girl has disappeared close to where the others went missing and Dalziel and his sidekick Pascoe are called in to find out what happened. Before the investigation even gets out of the starting blocks Pascoe is pushed to the side lines by his daughter becoming really ill and hospitalised. He spends most of the time in the book at her bedside but in spite of that manages to play a very important role in the unfolding of the case. His instincts leads one of the other detectives (Novello) on to discover some major leads and get hold of the major players. There are also the more personal and individual stories of the main characters involved. Dalziel bumping into an old lover, Pascoe's daughter being ill and his recent discoveries about his past, Wield with his gay relationship, his life in the countryside and his love for a little monkey, Novello and her getting to grips with the investigation and how to deal with Dalziel and the male dominated police force she is in. All these are very neatly woven into the main reason for the book - the disappearance of another little girl. The story of what has happened to the little girl does not unfold at a blistering pace but takes its time and it almost seems that the author is more interested in telling you the store of the people in the village and their actions than he is in moving the plot along. When the reveals come they are not in a look at me, thunder and lightening, big flashy show stopper kind of style but almost understated and it seems as we all just happened to stumble on this information and now we know better what happened. As with every good detective story we are not told what exactly leads the detectives to the right man/woman in the end but the story is very nicely wrapped up. There is not one big thing that really leads you to any one suspect. As the investigation goes on things are discovered that could implicate people but nothing definite. Sometimes one person looks a bit guiltier that the other but we get nothing definite until the end chapters. There is off course the obvious red herring, Geordie, but from how he is dealt with (character not developed that much, too much emphasis on him as a potential suspect) you almost know from the start that he will turn out to have nothing to do with the disappearances past or present. He's an opportunist and a slick operator but not a killer. Actually the other red herring is Barney. He is the brother of the man all the villagers thought was responsible for the initial disappearances. His presence lingers through some of the story but he is never emphasised or the character developed so much that you think he is actually the killer.
one of the nice things of the story line is that all the officers involved - Dalziel, Pascoe, Wield, Novello get to contribute their bit to the outcome of the story of the missing girl. Each managed to get important information in their own way that moves the story on. Dalziel even manages to spend some time between the sheets with an old lover! Little discoveries keep being made about the story and little by little the whole thing becomes visible but still we as readers only get little clues and are in the dark for most of it. For me one of the main clues comes when Pascoe's daughter wakes up and points out someone she saw on the day a little girl went missing. We get told she points at someone and as a reader you know the picture she looks at but it is one of 5 people she could be identifying so you are still left with lots of options for the plot to develop.
We get another clue from a revised report from a young girl about the original disappearances and another one when a body is found in the cellar of a house in Dendale. So you do get something but the exact implications are clearer to the characters in the book than they are to you as a reader.
In the end the story focuses on a small group of people who by now are obviously involved. Each of them has some link to the girls that disappeared in the past or were near to where the new girl went missing. Naturally the truth comes out but I must say that the truth was not what I thought it was going to be. Yet when you find out what really happened and think back over the story it all makes sense... why they behaved the way they did and why they kept the secrets that they did for all these years. It's a very human drama that unfolds but yet not overly sentimental of bombastic. Like the rest of the story not everything is spelt out and you as a reader are left to imagine for yourself what happens after the final confession.
What I find interesting as well is the way the characters speak. Hill has given his Dalziel a broad accent. He is described as a big, burly man and his accent and speech seem to fit him to a tee. Pascoe is more understated, educated and pensive - he tends to think more before he speaks and encourages those around him to offer opinions. He is more of a slender guy and more sensitive. Novello is still trying to find her voice. At the beginning of the book she is not sure how to approach either Dalziel of Pascoe and she has to learn how each of them wants to get the fact that she has discovered presented to them. She manages this fine and you can see that she will be a valuable asset to the team in future. Wield is to the point, precise and knows when not to talk. He is perhaps them darkest horse in the squad, the most private and the one that seems to be the least likely to have a major influence on anything yet he manages to bring people together and often is the link between two people making discoveries. Hill defines his characters well and they have a depth to them that is nice to see. Some of the characters on he side line are not that well defined and lack some depth but as you only encounter them a few times that is okay. All his main characters are fleshed out well, have their own motivation for doing what they do and have a developed personal life that is relevant to them and influences and is influenced by the developing plot.
Title: On Beulah Height
Author: Reginald Hill
440 pages
Harper Collins
ISBN nr 0-00-649000-X
Books to be read: 74
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