Tue 9 Jan 2018
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: REGINALD HILL – Pictures of Perfection.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[3] Comments
REGINALD HILL – Pictures of Perfection. Dalziel & Pascoe #14. Harper Collins, UK, hardcover, 1994. Delacorte, US, hardcover, 1994. Dell, US, paperback, 1995.
A rather officious young polilcemann has gone missing in the Yorkshire town of Enscombe, or at least his immediate superior thinks he has. Dalziel isn’t at all sure there’s anything wrong, but nevertheless dispatches Pascoe and Sergeant Wield to check into things.
Beneath the semi-placid surface of the village several potentially hazardous are fermenting away among the locals, the Squire and his family, and all sorts of people. The policeman is indeed missing, but the hows, whys, and wheres remain elusive.
Reginald Hill is assured a place in my heart if for no other reason than this line referring to the 80s: “But they were not long, the days of swine and Porsches.” Priceless. Hill to my eye is one of the finest prose stylists working today in any discipline.
He is also one of the best at delineating character. Not just his regulars — the choleric and canny Dalziel, the intense and intelligent Pascoe, the gay Sergeant with the gargoyle face Wield — but also the people into whose lives they are thrust.
Wield somewhat takes center stage here, thous as usual Hill tells his story from many viewpoints. The book begins with a man running amok with a gun, and ends in a way that I think will surprise you. Hill certainly intends for it to, anyway.
January 9th, 2018 at 10:17 pm
A perfect evocation of the pleasures of reading Hill. He wrote delightful prose and spun a good mystery as well. He wrote thrillers with the same style and wit as his detective tales.
January 10th, 2018 at 9:27 pm
I’m not sure about his earlier work, since I’ve been remiss (once again) in not reading more than odd ones here and there, but of the later ones I’ve read, I’ve always gotten the feeling that he was always trying to push the envelope a little. Never in a bad way, but his detective stories were never quite the same as anyone else’s.
January 11th, 2018 at 6:57 am
After reading this and earlier reviews of his work, I really need to start reading him. Sounds like I am missing something pretty darn good.