Good, fast paced. Well read. ( )

Very different from his Dalziel and Pascoe novels. Hill is one of the most literate detective writers extant and I enjoy his later work a lot. This was an enjoyable read although the ending startled me in an unsatisfying way.

I'm waffling on the rating for this book. I am a devoted Reginald Hill fan, especially of the Dalziel and Pascoe series; even more particularly when read by Brian Glover. A number of Hill's earlier works are being re-released both in paper and audio and this is one of those.

It's clearly not up to the standard he set for himself later; then again, it's a very different genre. This is a quasi spy/thriller. The heroine's husband dies in a car crash and she then learns that all is not what it seems. Fairly traditional plotting. She manages to investigate and get herself out of some bad situations. Again pretty ordinary. Occasionally, though, you can see signs of the Hill to come, and that's why 3 rather than 2 stars. ( )

Reginald Hill (1936-2012) was a well-established crime fiction writer who is best known for his series of books starring detectives Dalziel and Pascoe. This book was originally published in 1987 under the name Patrick Ruell, one of several pseudonyms he used – presumably because he felt that it was different in style to his other offerings. The edition I read was re-published in 2010 under the writer’s real (more well-known) name with an almost gothic front cover that promises more of a mystery than a crime thriller. This was a book group choice, rather than something I spotted and wanted to read. The title did not intrigue me but the premise did.

The premise

Trudi Adamson is stunned when a policeman arrives on her doorstep to inform her that her husband has died in a car accident on a road where he had no reason to be. As Trudi tries to adjust to widowhood, the shocks keep piling up. Why had Trent quit his job without telling her? Where has all his money gone? And, more chillingly, is he really dead?

Forced to survive without the protection of her husband, Trudi awakes from a stupor that has lasted many years and begins to find her own way in the world.

My thoughts

I found the initial premise intriguing, although I did think that the plot was going to be very predictable: man fakes death; ‘widow’ investigates; man threatens ‘widow’; ‘widow’ kills supposedly dead husband. There is a very dramatic prologue which seemed to reinforce this idea, but the plot did turn out to be much more complicated, which I liked. Although there is a lot that happens, it is very easy to follow the action and I did not find that I got confused or had to reread previous sections at any point. I found it helpful that the characters are all clearly delineated and have their own traits, making them easy to keep track of.

Due to her situation, Trudi is a sympathetic character, although some readers might find her a little frustrating as she is so meek initially. In fact, the death referred to in the title is not her husband’s, but her own. As the book develops she changes completely from a timid ‘dormouse’ who hates to leave the house into a strong, independent woman who is happy to travel abroad on her own. I found the change in her character happened a little too quickly to be convincing, which was a shame as it was such a central feature of the book. However, I suppose it is difficult to say how anyone would react to the circumstances Trudi faces and danger can make people react in unexpected ways. Therefore, although I thought her character change a little sudden, it does help to make a much more interesting story and does not feel ridiculous.

The prologue is extremely dramatic and successfully gripped me as I began reading, although it seemed more like a scene from a horror movie than from a crime novel. It also effectively introduces Trudi’s character by focusing on her paranoia and describing her as a trapped animal. I thought that the prologue worked well as an introduction to whet the reader’s appetite, especially as the next section of narration picks up a completely different thread, so the reader is kept waiting for the scene described at the start.

The story is organised into ten parts, each of which is prefaced by a quotation from Robert Burns’ poem ‘To a Mouse’. Personally, I felt the quotations were unnecessary and it felt like Hill was pushing his theme a little too heavy-handedly. Of course, readers who feel likewise can quickly learn to skim these or ignore them altogether. Each part is further organised into a few chapters, so there are plenty of ‘resting points’ along the way. Chapters typically end on the closing of a particular scene rather than on an especially dramatic moment, but each of the parts ends on a real ‘da-da-DUM!!’ moment. I liked this organisation as it meant that the story felt well-paced (unlike a teen thriller or James Patterson novella where there is a screaming cliff hanger waiting to pounce at the end of every chapter) while retaining sufficient suspense.

Although there is not a separate epilogue, everything is wrapped up in the final part. I thought the ending suited the book very well: it is dramatic without being ridiculous, there are a couple of final twists and there is a suitable endpoint for Trudi’s newly developed, tougher character. I like endings which work with what has gone before, and this did. Thinking back over the book, I could only think of one minor event which did not seem to be adequately explained, but this was a very minor incident which could have been easily explained away in one or two different ways and did not really affect the overall plot. I also like endings that wrap everything up, preferably without pages and pages of explanations. This ending was quick-paced and left just enough open for the future for readers who might prefer more open endings.

I feel that this was more of a mystery than a crime story, even though the focus was on the crime throughout. I think this because Trudi and her friend Jan act like teenage sleuths as they try to work out what is going on and the focus is on them throughout rather than on the police officers. In fact, other than their manipulation of Trudi in some discussions, there is very little police ‘work’ to be seen. This means that the story is not suited to fans of police procedurals.

Conclusions

I found this book easy to read and, at 363 pages, a suitable length for a mystery / crime story. I found the characters were convincing and well-differentiated. I felt the plot developments were often surprising but remained the right side of plausible, and the same was true of the ending. I quite liked the way the main character developed as the story continued (although what her friend Jan had ever seen in her before remains a mystery). I’m not sure that I would bother to seek out another book by Hill as I found this mildly interesting rather than gripping or compelling, but it is worth the £7.99 RRP as it is a satisfying read. Readers who would rather pay less will be able to find it cheaper in the usual places and there’s bound to be a tatty copy knocking around your local library. My copy is a library copy and has clearly survived multiple readings (at least 26 according to the sign out slip) without any damage to its binding although the spine is, understandably, rather creased. This suggests that a purchased copy would last very well. This edition is FSC certified, which is a plus for those who are interested in their environment. ( )

I listened to this book as a complete and unabridged mp3 from ISIS Audio Books. Read by Di Langford.

In many ways this is, I suspect, a forgotten book.

Trudi Adamson has recently returned to England from the continent with her husband. She really has not much idea of what her husband Trent does for a living. Her life has always revolved around his. So when Trent is burnt to death in a freak car accident, Trudi is completely unprepared for what she will learn about his life.
She has recently re-connected with an old friend Janet, who becomes a real lifeline, getting Trudi back on her feet just when an overdose seems a good way out.
Trudi seems to have been left unprovided for, although Trent had always seemed to be well off. It is a shock to learn that Trent had recently resigned from his job without telling her. So is the arrival on her doorstep of an Austrian policeman who wants her help in nailing down the details of some of the criminal activities Trent was apparently involved in.

This seemed a very long book, so I was surprised to see that the running time is approximately 9 hours 30 mins. The illusion of great length was added to by the fact that the book is divided into 10 sections each with a number of chapters. Each section is preceded by a quote from Robbie Burns' poem "To a Mouse". These extracts emphasised the dormouse-like role that Trudi had played in her marriage to Trent.

I kept thinking as I listened that this was a different Reginald Hill from the one I know through the Dalziel & Pascoe series. I had decided that it was an early book, written more in the style of a thriller, almost cold war style, in the vein of authors like Helen MacInnes, whose books I read avidly back in the 1970s. DEATH OF A DORMOUSE is a thriller, where poor Trudi Adamson is faced with one revelation after another, and the bounds of credibility are strained almost to bursting.

But I hadn't guessed that this was originally written by Hill using a pseudonym, this time Patrick Ruell.
As Ruell he has written

* The Castle of the Demon (1971) aka The Turning of the Tide
* Red Christmas (1972)
* Death Takes the Low Road (1974) aka The Low Road
* Urn Burial (1975) aka Beyond the Bone
* The Long Kill (1986)
* Death of A Dormouse (1987)
* Dream of Darkness (1989)
* The Only Game (1991)

For me DEATH OF A DORMOUSE is an older style that we rarely see in new crime fiction. But it has elements of the modern Reginald Hill about it. There is the business of the quotes from Burns. They remind me a bit of what happens in Hill's tribute to Jane Austen, A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES, and indeed in other Dalziel & Pascoe novels. Trent Adamson collected first editions of George Orwell novels, and so there are some mind games related to Orwell's "real name" (you know what that was don't you?) and the number 1984.

Did I enjoy this shadow of past styles? Well yes, I did. ( )