Wednesday 25 April 2012

Book: Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder


Detective Inspector Zoe Benedict investigates the brutal murder of a popular teenage girl which has shocked the local community while ensuring that secrets from her past remain hidden in the latest thriller from Mo Hayder.

Zoe’s estranged sister Sally is recently separated and struggling to bring up her rebellious daughter who was a friend of the victim. What lengths will she go to in order to keep her head above water financially and to keep her daughter out of harm’s way?

Mo Hayder exploded onto the crime fiction scene back in 2000 with her fantastic début, Birdman. It’s sequel, The Treatment, was arguably even better. These were ferocious serial killer tales that featured cop Jack Caffery and were too disturbing for many readers but became critically acclaimed bestsellers.

Several stand-alone thrillers followed which didn’t match up to the original two books and in 2008 Hayder returned to the character of Jack Caffery.

Hanging Hill is another departure from the security of a recurring character series and while it remains a police procedural it lacks the bite of the Caffery stories. Zoe Benedict is interesting enough but the investigation meanders along while Sally goes to work for a very shady character which leads to a tragic event that eventually re-unites the two.

This competent but unimaginative thriller is for those not willing or able to delve into the depths of depravity that Hayder is very capable of exploring.

Ric’s Rating: Good         

4 comments:

  1. Some how I missed this series of books. It sounds pretty good and very powerful as well. Thanks for the review. I'll check them out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoyed Pig Island, but haven't read anything else by Mo Hayder yet. I'm glad I saw this post because it has been something I've been meaning to change. I think I will start with Birdman given what you said about it, and go from there. For some reason I find it fun to be disturbed by what I read, so that one sounds like a winner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Guys, Birdman is really cool so let me know how you get on if you check it out. Thanks for the comments.

    PS William, I'll be reading Scraping The Bone pretty soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just ordered a copy of it so I shall be reading it soon. I hope you enjoy Scraping the Bone. That collection has some of my first ever published tales in it.

    ReplyDelete

Let me know what you think. I value all comments and fully intend to reply.