From Publishers Weekly
Cascading imagery and sinuous plot lines are utilized to stunning effect in Hill's latest Dalziel/Pascoe novel (The Wood Beyond, 1996, etc.), a flawless blend of mystery, ghost story and psychological thriller. Fifteen years ago, the remote Yorkshire village of Dendale was purposefully flooded in the creation of a reservoir. As most of the villagers moved to the next town, three young Dendale girls vanished, their disappearance never solved. Also vanished, presumably into the nearby moors, was Benny Lightfoot, a troubled loner and most likely suspect of rotund copper Andy Dalziel. Now, as the village is literally reappearing in a summer-long drought, Benny's return is proclaimed in graffiti, and a young girl disappears. Detective Superintendent Dalziel and his erudite partner, Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe, follow the current case. Pascoe's daughter, in the grip of a sometimes fatal disease, has nightmares about a demonic water monster who steals children. A classical concert is planned in the next village to celebrate the return of Elizabeth Wulfstan, an impressive young singer from Dendale whose translations of Mahler songs focus on dead children. This is merely the bare bones of Hill's multilayered masterpiece, in which he balances the droll interplay between the detectives, the gentle resonating of local legends and the slowly unfolding stories of numerous families shattered by secrets and sadness. From its ominous beginning to the wrenching conclusion, this, the 15th Dalziel/Pascoe tale, shows Hill at the top of his form.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
The Yorkshire detective team of Dalziel and Pascoe is back in another riveting procedural. Fifteen years earlier, the quaint British village of Dendale suffered double tragedies: three children were kidnapped, never to be found, while a fourth barely escaped with her life. Then the government forced the villagers to evacuate Dendale so they could flood its homes and shops to create a new reservoir. A decade and a half later, seven-year-old Lorraine Dacre disappears from Danby, the village where most of the Dendale's inhabitants retreated. Dalziel and Pascoe are caught in a painful nightmare. They failed to solve the earlier case; can they solve this one? Theories, speculation, and suspects abound. Villagers report seeing Benny Lightfoot, a crazy recluse who was the prime suspect in the Dendale case. Betsy Allgood, the victim who escaped 15 years ago, is full of dark secrets she won't reveal. This is a stunning mystery that is at once touching, funny, provocative, suspenseful, and moving. More popular than ever, thanks to the TV series based on the Dalziel and Pascoe novels, Hill remains one of the finest crime writers of this era, and his latest deserves a place in every mystery collection.
Emily Melton
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
