The Wood Beyond

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Hill combines great plots with even better characters. I particularly like his books because they make me pay attention-skimming over a paragraph can be a fatal error.

Rating:
Summary: Love and War and Peace and a great murder mystery!
Review: Hill's police officers are a complicated and entertaining bunch, whose business it is to ask questions. In "The Wood Beyond" they have to think seriously about how many questions to ask. Everyone has skeletons of one sort or another, Pascoe, his relatives, his wife Ellie, DS Dalziel, Sergeant Wield, their chance acquaintances, their lovers, their adversaries, and their government. Professionally, the police are after the truth come what may. Personally, they know the consequences could be uncomfortable. And their professional and personal lives are firmly knotted together, both in the present and in the past. Reginald Hill writes about weighty issues while pursuing more than one intriguing murder mystery. His language follows the characters and the mood, from bawdy to poetic. Above all, beyond the history, philosophy and politics, this is a story about people who live, love and work the best way they know how, and manage to laugh along the way. Japrisot's "A Very Long Engagemen

Rating:
Summary: Killing fields, past and present
Review: If you are already familiar with Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series, recommending this one won't be a hard sell. If not, check it out and discover one of the contemporary masters of the crime novel.

This is an ambitious work; Hill clearly intends to transcend the police procedural genre, and includes a parallel story set in the ghastly killing fields of Passchendaele in the Great War that dovetails with the present-day murder case that is the nominal subject of the book. It must be said that the interwoven story of Pascoe's ancestor (who shares his name and is involved with ancestors of suspects in the killing that Pascoe and Dalziel are investigating), strains credulity; it's a literary construct that doesn't really come off.

But who cares? Hill as a writer is otherwise at the top of his game. It's full of witty dialogue (if only people in life -- myself included -- could set off such a string of verbal firecrackers, how much more entertaining our daily round would be!). Dalziel's Yorkshire dialect is a constant source of delight: I hope expressions like "nowt," "tha's," "lass," et al. aren't dying out. And as usual, the characters, especially the detectives and Pascoe's wife Ellie, are drawn in psychological depth.

The novel can be enjoyed as pure entertainment. But, notwithstanding the parallel story's unlikelihood, it offers a window into the ungodly horrors of trench warfare in 1917 and the savagery of military "justice" in the British army of the time.

Rating:
Summary: 'Fat Andy' and Pascoe - best modern mystery duo!
Review: It is so great to pick up a modern mystery from Hill that has current problems mixed well with the British linguistic skills and which returns to the lucid story-telling origins of British writers of this particular genre. After all, for most intents and purposes, the British were the ones who invented and solified this genre, and who have provided the best examples of excellent writing in it. Hill will probably have his name added to this distinquished group. Other reviewers have complained about Hill's tendency to 'show off' his language skills, but it is not really about showing off. It's about the quality of education that is achieved for many (if not most) in England in comparision to what we achieve here. I suspect if educators (I am one) in the U.S. spent as much time on increasing the reading and writing levels of our own students, the other subject matters (science, math, history, geography) would be easier to reach literacy skills in. An author of the level of Reginald Hill indicates that reading is a skill practiced way beyond that required in the states...to the point that reading becomes an essential part of the life, so this type of language useage comes naturally to Hill. If only we could achieve this in the U.S.!

Lately, I've been coming across many books, both fiction and nonfiction with information concerning World War I. I get the feeling I'm being pointed in this direction, and I am not sure why. I always thought from my previous historical research that the Civil War in the U.S. was the bloodiest and most disgusting war...all this input concerning WWI is rapidly changing my mind. This is one of the first books that have brought the political climate of that time period (as well as the political/social feelings towards WWI currently in Britain) to the fore. I agree with Hill that the mindset of the politicians and generals who manipulated the young men and media at home for their own purposes, belong up there with Hitler and other tyrants who used their own people for the wrong reasons. I think at this point, I can safely add to this group of despicable people, the corporate monsters from ENRON, WORLDCOM, and other American corporations who put profit and greed, before moral standards.

Actually, we do Hill's story a disservice when we only include Dalziel and Pascoe as the main protagonists in Hill's plot devices. I am finding out that the sargeant, Wield, is equally as necessary in many of the stories and he provides great insight into his boss and his friend, as well into the regular folks he has more direct contact with. Ellie, Pascoe's wife, seems to be becoming more important in some stories, and she definitely is involved in this one. Her insight as a woman with social causes provides not only background, but also provides a touch of relative normality for Pascoe. Her insight into his mind and his obsessions, allows her to provide tidbits of information that he can use to make informed decisions. Even Dalziel grudgingly admires her input in certain cases.

Having worked in medical labs, I am all too aware of the rabid cause of animal rights groups. I was lucky in that my work was done on human cells, rather than animals (I purposely avoided it as I too love animals but I also realized medical strides often cannot be made without some animal experimentation). The plot device in this book where someone sought to make use of animal activism to cover up scandals makes an incredible amount of sense. With all the corporate irresponsibility being shown in the U.S. at this point, it should not surprise anyone to find companies using animal rights and environmentalism to cover up their own wrongs.

This was a wonderful read...thoroughly enjoyable all the way through!

Karen Sadler,
University of Pittsburgh

Rating:
Summary: There's nowt better than a Dalziel/Pascoe mystery
Review: Reginald Hill brings serious talent to bear on the often-debased mystery genre. His stories never fail to compel the reader's attention and (often) emotion, and in "Fat Andy" Dalziel he has created a monumental (sorry) character. And that's not to downplay Pascoe or Wieldy -- but Dalziel's shadow is a hard one to get out of.

"The Wood Beyond" is a particular favorite of mine. I thought that the WWI and present-day plots were extraordinarily well tied together, not always the case in stories using "time-shift"techniques. It's further proof that Reginald Hill is one of the best writers -- not just mystery writers -- working today.

Rating:
Summary: There's nowt better than a Dalziel/Pascoe mystery
Review: Reginald Hill brings serious talent to bear on the often-debased mystery genre. His stories never fail to compel the reader's attention and (often) emotion, and in "Fat Andy" Dalziel he has created a monumental (sorry) character. And that's not to downplay Pascoe or Wieldy -- but Dalziel's shadow is a hard one to get out of.

"The Wood Beyond" is a particular favorite of mine. I thought that the WWI and present-day plots were extraordinarily well tied together, not always the case in stories using "time-shift"techniques. It's further proof that Reginald Hill is one of the best writers -- not just mystery writers -- working today.

Rating:
Summary: Fast and human
Review: This is my first written contact with Dalziel and Pascoe of tv fame and it certainly won't be my last. When an animal rights group swarms over a scientific complex, human bones are found in a swampy area, giving the police an extra reason to probe deeply into the goings on of the pharmaceutical company who run the place. Mr.Hill is an extremely erudite writer with a splendid command of the English language..it will also help my vocabulary as I have to keep the Oxford at hand to keep up with him. This story returns frequently to the French battlefields of WW1 via the diaries of Pascoe's grandfather who was shot for desertion after a ruling by a kangaroo court, so this connection injects a very personal touch, linking Pascoe with the present case through past generations.

Rating:
Summary: Ever wondered about the name?
Review: This is one of Hill's better Dalziel and Pascoe novels, marred only by the author's continued insistence on showing off his extensive knowledge of the English language. It may be heresy, but I rather prefer the TV adaptations, which tighten and speed things up a bit while keeping the essence.

Ever wondered why Dalziel's name is pronounced "De-ell"? It's a Scottish surname. At one point in the series we are told he was born and brought up in Yorkshire of Scottish parents (now there's a nature-nurture mix to conjure with - growing up in Scotland I was told that a Yorkshireman was really just a Scotsman with the generosity removed!). In the original Gaelic the name has a character that early typographers though looked like a "z" and rendered it so in print, even though it was not pronounced like that. Other Scottish surnames have undergone a similar fate - Menzies should actually be prounced "Ming-iss" and still is, in Scotland.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and Lacks either humor or suspense
Review: This novel is very disappointing. Pascoe's invovlement with his forebears just doesn't make for even marginally compelling fiction. The environmental aspect is doubly disappointing because it reveals a political correctness, which we knew Hill felt close to his "soul", but had wisely jettisoned (except for Wieldy), and Hill tries to have his cake and eat it too. He presents environmentalism as a positive good, but also presents it in such a way that it comes across as absurd. Dalziel is depicted callowly (Was he in the novel?) NO way in world that FAt Andy would go for the girl Hill has chosen for her. Finally, the novel is shrouded in "fog" (miasma) I realize Hill was aiming for something special, but for this reader he missed wildly.