The Vows of Silence (Simon Serrailler Series #4)

Maureen Corrigan

The death that will haunt you long after reading Susan Hill's new mystery, The Vows of Silence, is a natural one. Granted, a serial killer is on the loose and young women are being murdered, but it's a mundane killer—cancer—whose "crime" is most shockingly dramatized. In this, her fourth police procedural featuring the dour Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler, Hill overturns the usual priorities of the crime novel and devotes her most searing passages not to the twisted rituals of the sniper but, rather, to the exhausting hospital stays and quiet deathbed struggles of a likable minor character in the series…The fact that The Vows of Silence is light on what traditionally constitutes a mystery plot hardly registers. It's the intelligence of this brooding series that rivets a reader's attention.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

In Hill's unremarkable fourth novel to feature Chief Insp. Simon Serrailler (after 2008's The Risk of Darkness), Serrailler and his team race against time to stop a killer who's gunning down young women, apparently at random. Newlywed Melanie Drew is the first victim, shot at close range inside her flat in Lafferton. The killer shifts method for his second attack, using a rifle to shoot into a crowd outside a nightclub. Next, he uses a handgun to murder a young mother in front of her toddler. The variety of approaches leads the police to consider whether two different killers are at work, even as Serrailler's sergeant finds the visits of Drew's widowed husband to the scenes of the subsequent crimes suspicious. Hill does a decent job of generating suspense with sections from the murderer's point of view, but many readers will lament the lack of fair-play clues to his identity. Hill is also the author of the acclaimed horror novel The Woman in Black. (Nov.)

Library Journal

The fourth in Hill's (Various Haunts of Men; Pure in Heart; Risk of Darkness) Simon Serrailler mystery series has the enigmatic Chief Inspector trailing a gunman who is murdering young women in the otherwise bucolic village of Lafferton. Time is of the essence owing to a pending visit from Prince Charles and Camilla for a local wedding, and Palace security is on full alert. The gunman seems to target his victims at weddings, prewedding events, or as they are settling into their newly established homes. Taking this case very personally while dealing with some difficult issues of his own, Serrailler pushes his fellow investigators to their limits. The shocking ending catches everyone unaware. VERDICT This top-notch, tautly plotted British mystery series just keeps getting better. Serrailler is a satisfyingly complex character with a challenging job aided by a supporting cast of strong and believable characters. An excellent read for fans of British procedurals.—Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA

Kirkus Reviews

A master planner, expert gunman and lovelorn loner becomes a serial killer. DCI Simon Serrailler (The Risk of Darkness, 2008, etc.) is taxed to his emotional limit. His adored mother has gone to her death after undertaking a mercy killing of his youngest sister. His widowed father has emerged from his grief with a new companion. His brother-in-law has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. And Jane, who ran away from him rather than share a serious relationship, is back in Lafferton. These domestic traumas would be quite enough for anyone to deal with. In addition, however, Serrailler must stop the serial killer who's targeting women and dispatching them with an ease that suggests careful planning. As DS Whiteside bullies his way through suspect interviews without success, a further complication arrives with the collapse of a ride at the Jug Fair that kills nine people. A royal wedding that Charles and Camilla plan on attending approaches, and everyone is terrified they may wind up in the gunman's sights. Can Serrailler ferret out the killer's motive, prevent further havoc and still find the time to console his bereft sister and her kids, not to mention reestablish himself with Jane?Hill tackles Val McDermid territory with a bit more subtlety and a close look at love-how it begins, persists and ends-that may have readers turning to their significant others for a reassuring kiss.