The Stranger House
by Reginald Hill
I can’t believe that I have never read a book by Reginald Hill before and I inhaled this one, anxiously turning every
page in one sitting! I love the BBC Series, Dalziel and Pascoe, and usually the TV would be enough to lead
me to the author, but apparently I was thinking elsewhere. My introduction to Hill is not part of the police series
and does not feature the same characters. The Stranger House is filled with gothic elements: spirits,
sinister murders, sexual violence, incest, dungeons, strange encounters, and is about settling ominous feelings
originating in past events.
Miguel Madero seeks an ancestor missing since the invasion of the Spanish Armada over 400 years ago and his
trail has stopped in Illthwaite, a village in Cumbria. The path to Samantha Flood’s orphaned grandma is only about
40 years long back to the same village, but it is artfully cobbled by a landscape of misconception, lies and
violence.
One of the most intriguing parts of the book for me was interweaving of the multiple dialects. The main
characters, Sam and Mig are from Australia and Spain, respectively, and they meet at a Cumbrian inn. Sam’s rowdy
idiom set against Mig’s stiff grammar balances with the tenor of the native English language and countryside. All
of the characters seem to be defined by their voice; Sam’s father’s economy of words, Mrs. Appledore’s sly questions,
Noddy’s ravings. It will be an interesting work to listen to as well.
Each person discovers many things about their ancestor, but what they don’t discover left me staring at the final
page. Wow! What an ending! |
The Book |
Avon |
Reprint edition August 29, 2006 |
Mass Market Paperback |
0060821426 |
British Mystery |
More
at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: Religious persecution, torture |
The Reviewer |
Beth E. McKenzie |
Reviewed 2006 |
NOTE: |
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