Death's Jest-Book

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: an enchanting, literary, compelling, indulgent feast. I could not and did not want to put it down. I disagree with the negative comments in earlier reviews. The book is held together masterfully. Any perceived incompleteness in the plot misses the point. Life is incomplete, as the book suggests throughout; only Death is complete and the completing compliment to Life.

Death's Jest-Book itself is incomplete and lacking context without first reading the pre-requisite Dialogues of the Dead. Relationships, especially the recurrent theme of Father/Son relationships - by family or by heart - are frustratingly and fractiously incomplete of the desired form. But it is this very incompleteness that is the engine to drive and motivate life forward.

Death's Jest-Book is a play of bright light and dark shadows shifting within the field of uncertain, shadowy indistinctness that struggles one way, then another, with playful, intelligent humor for interpretation and resolution. We are reminded of the final Jest about taking some meaningful action to resurrect life, and that advice, finally understood, is to . . . go fetch the cow . . .

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: an enchanting, literary, compelling, indulgent feast. I could not and did not want to put it down. I disagree with the negative comments in earlier reviews. The book is held together masterfully. Any perceived incompleteness in the plot misses the point. Life is incomplete, as the book suggests throughout; only Death is complete and the completing compliment to Life.

Death's Jest-Book itself is incomplete and lacking context without first reading the pre-requisite Dialogues of the Dead. Relationships, especially the recurrent theme of Father/Son relationships - by family or by heart - are frustratingly and fractiously incomplete of the desired form. But it is this very incompleteness that is the engine to drive and motivate life forward.

Death's Jest-Book is a play of bright light and dark shadows shifting within the field of uncertain, shadowy indistinctness that struggles one way, then another, with playful, intelligent humor for interpretation and resolution. We are reminded of the final Jest about taking some meaningful action to resurrect life, and that advice, finally understood, is to . . . go fetch the cow . . .

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed Fan
Review: Anyone who is a fan of Reginald Hill, save your money. Anyone who hasn't yet read Hill's earlier Pascoe/Dalziel mysteries, start with one at least five years old, because the last three have been worse and worse. This book is turgid, uninvolving, and lacks nearly all the humor that made the earlier Hill novels so rewarding.
In this effort, Hill brings back the issue of the wrongly solved serial killings from Dialogues of the Dead, then lets off the hook not only the murderer but every character who didn't realize (as most readers would) the identity of the real murderer. Here, Hill brings in characters to drop them, barely developed, and devotes an agonizing amount of space to letters written to Pasco by his bete noire. There are deaths that mean little because the characters and circumstances have been so poorly developed. By the time characters die, the reader almost hopes for some natural disaster to take the entire town and put characters and reader out of the misery of this dull book. The small amount of humor in it seems recycled, half0heartedly, from earlier books. All the characters seem in need of vast amounts of anti-depressants. The new mystery, such as it is, brings little suspense, other than whether the reader will slog through to the unsatisfying end, or toss all 558 pages, most of which are agonizingly dull, at the nearest wall.
This book is not worth the hours of your life it takes to read it.

Rating:
Summary: "A wedding-robe, and a winding-sheet..."
Review: DEATH'S JEST-BOOK takes its title and its main themes from the Thomas Lovell Beddoes closet drama of the same name. (Readers unclear on the concept can rejoice that two different editions have just been published.) A direct sequel to DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD, this novel offers three different plots, all of which revolve around the frustrated yearning for dead or missing relatives, especially fathers: 1) the resolution to the Hat/Rye plot from DIALOGUES; 2) the ongoing battle between Peter Pascoe and the ex-con turned literary critic Franny Roote; and 3) rent boy Lee Lubanski's attempt to recruit Sgt. Wield as a father figure with the help of some crucial information. The second and third plots dovetail'one is tempted to say dead-end'in a major heist of English antiquities. I reviewed this book over at Amazon.co.uk about one and one-half years ago, and find that my opinions have hardened somewhat since then.

The most interesting of the three plots is #3, although somewhat hampered by the fact that Lee Lubanski's purportedly waifish charm is hard to discern. This plot is a course correction in Hill's representation of both Wield and his partner, Edwin Digweed. Up until now, Hill has tried to make this relationship simultaneously fraught with great emotional significance for Wield *and* a source of comic relief; the result has not been good. This time around, however, Wield indulges in paternal feelings that would explode most partnerships (hetero or homo) in about five seconds'one can't imagine Ellie putting up with Pascoe 'adopting' a teenage prostitute. The novel silently compares Wield's huffiness over Christmas ornaments (!) to Edwin's rather different response to a potentially explosive situation, and for once the comparison is to Wield's detriment. (Not that this is a bad thing: Wield has been hovering dangerously in the Never-Never-Land of Can Do No Wrong for the past few novels, and the negative nuance provides some welcome depth.) It will be interesting to see how Wield's character develops in light of the novel's conclusion.

The other two plots have, shall we say, difficulties. Hill wrote himself into a corner with the ending of DIALOGUES, and while he might have been better off adopting his DEADHEADS strategy, he decided to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, the resolution isn't plausible: it requires at least two annoying and unbelievable plot twists, at least one of which could have come straight out of a Lifetime movie. Worse still, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that both Dalziel and Pascoe deserve to be fired, demoted, or at the very least reprimanded--take your pick--for their behavior in the previous novel. Hat, at least, is more interesting than he was last time around, especially since Shirley Novello returns as an enjoyable foil. The Franny Roote plot, meanwhile, needed a hardnosed editor. Roote, this book's resident first-person oddball narrator, writes Pascoe letters from what seems like all over the globe. The letters are long. Really long. Really, really long. And dull. Meanwhile, the conclusion of his particular plot is not only over the top but also out of character.

Despite the caveats, however, this pudding has enough plums to content any Dalziel and Pascoe fan. Roote's letters aside, Hill's prose has plenty of zing, and the comic touches--Shirley Novello's sex life generates the novel's most hilarious line--leaven the otherwise downbeat lump nicely. The DEATH'S JEST-BOOK/'Dance of Death' themes work well, and the novel at least opens up potentially interesting lines of development for its main characters.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing sequel of "Dialogues of the dead"
Review: I am an avid Reginald Hill fan and have read all Daziel and Pascoe mysteries. What started my "obsession" was Dialogues of te Dead, which I thought was great. I then went back and read all the other D&P books, and even ordered the UK edition of Death's Jest Book, since it has been out since last September.

What a disappointment and waste of efforts and money. The plots are disconnected and some of the characters, which we have followed for several books now seem like completely different personalities.

I would definitely buy the next Hill D&P mystery, but this time wil wait for it to come in paper back, preferably in a used bookstore.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing sequel of "Dialogues of the dead"
Review: I am an avid Reginald Hill fan and have read all Daziel and Pascoe mysteries. What started my "obsession" was Dialogues of te Dead, which I thought was great. I then went back and read all the other D&P books, and even ordered the UK edition of Death's Jest Book, since it has been out since last September.

What a disappointment and waste of efforts and money. The plots are disconnected and some of the characters, which we have followed for several books now seem like completely different personalities.

I would definitely buy the next Hill D&P mystery, but this time wil wait for it to come in paper back, preferably in a used bookstore.

Rating:
Summary: The jest's on you!
Review: I knew I was going to be disappointed. How could I possibly not be? After all, this book follows on from Dialogues of the Dead (which, by the way, is a masterpiece and the best book I have ever read). However, while I was expecting disappointment, I wasn't really expecting it on quite such a large scale.

Hill here tries to juggle three plots at once, and for the most he does the actual juggling quite well, but ultimately each plot is disappointing and the endings unsatisfying.

Firstly, Pascoe's mind is occupied once again by Franny Roote, a killer he once sent to jail. However, now released, the cunning and intelligent Roote is trying to convince Pascoe that he's changed his ways and just wants to get on with his book on the poet T.L. Beddoes. But Pascoe is still convinced Roote has a more sinister agenda... Then, there is DC Wield, who attempts to rescue a lad he thinks is in danger, but instead finds himself with a street-wise rent-boy under his wing. Then, when he lad gives him a tip-off about a long-planned robbery, good old Wieldy finds himself in a bit of a pickle... And then, of course, there's Hat Bowler, living in bliss with girlfriend Rye Pomona, the librarian whom he became so entangled with during the brilliance that was "Dialogues of the Dead". But even with them, too, something shattering lurks on the horizon...

This book may be very very well written, and very funny at times (Hill is on form there, at least), but that just isn't enough. The characters are ok and well developed, at least that much can also be said. However, you get the impression that Hill just got tired of his "Hat/Rye" storyline (such a joy in the last book) and tried to give them as little page-space as he could get away with, making their storyline - potentially the best - the most disappointing, and ending it annoyingly conveniently. Pascoe's storyline is just plain annoying. The long, dull, rambling letters Roote is writing to him get annoying almost as soon as they begin, and yet we are forced to endure an incessant barrage of them throughout the book! The antagonism between the two is also incredibly annoying, and I'm dead sick of it. It's now been going on for three books, and it still doesn't appear to be over. (Additionally, it's frustrating that the Roote we meet now just isn't the same person as the egotistical, cold killer we met in "An Advancement of Learning"). Wield's storyline is the most enjoyable, but in the end even that degenerates into a mundane heist plot-line that not even Hill's interesting writing style can make engaging.

Hill has tried to do too much, and spoiled it. This could have been a great book, but it really only serves to ruin the previous one, which it is nowhere near as good as. If you've not read Dialogues of the Dead, be sure to do so without delay, and then read this one if you have to.

For those readers that loved Dialogues of the Dead, the jest's on us.

Rating:
Summary: Death Gets The Last Laugh
Review: I loathed Dialogues of the Dead and so I didn't have high expectations of this direct sequel. Imagine my suprise to find it enjoyable. It certainly doesn't measure up to Hill's finest, but I think overall this is an improvement on Dialogues, and is headed in the right direction of getting the Daziel and Pascoe series back on an interesting and rewarding track.

Hill tackles some weighty themes: death, revenge, father-figures and obssession, not necessarily successfully. Still, his writing and wit are in top form and do much to disguise that this book and it's various conceits are riding on the insubstantial coat tails of what is essentially a heist mystery. The actual plot proves too thin to support the weight and the book ends rather flatly as a result.

For those who love or loath Franny Roote, Hill tried to be coy about his ultimate rehabilitation. His letters to Pascoe were initially intriguing, but they ended up interrupting the flow of the narrative too much and became intrusive. I do think Hill did an excellent job of leaving Franny's motives ambiguous. He could be reformed, or he could be a murderer. The denouement at the end is not by any means final, neither answering to Roote's motivations or in any way ultimately deciding his fate. I suspect that Roote will continue to plague Pascoe and unfortunately the readers for some time to come.

Other less successful elements include wrapping up the murderer from Dialogues. It is here that I think Hill copped out, big time, as if the entire Dialgues wasn't a cop out, he fails to satisfactorily resolve the fate of the villain in the piece, who not only is NOT brought to justice, but who is provided a physical reason for their behavior, essentially saying it wasn't in their control, so oh well. That really bothered me.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* you've been warned!

The one theme I do think Hill succeeds in imparting is that death is a jest on us all, readers and characters alike. Whether we like it or not, we don't always get all the answers we want, because sometimes they go to the grave. Rye Pomona the murderess not only is exculpated through a physical malady, she gets to die without being brought to any justice regarding her many Wordman crimes. Indeed, her death doesn't definately answer anyone's questions about her involvement, so only Death will know for sure. The same scenario applies to Franny Roote, as we end the book with him clinging to life by a thread, leaving Pascoe unsure til the end, not only about Franny's guilt but also his true motivations. And does his self-sacrificing act to save Rosie provide the evidence we need to declare his guilt or innocence one way or the other? Again, only Death will know. Death cheats again with the killing of Lee. Although his story is much less ambiguous that the Rye and Roote subplots, his passing still leaves Wield with unresolved questions that now will never be answered.

Now that ostensibly the two biggest unresolved plotlines of the last two books have been addressed, I look forward to seeing our crime fighting duo back on track for more interesting and well-written mysteries. Whatever other faults Hill may have, you can't say he doesn't have ambition and daring to try for something more than an English cosy. Whether you liked or hated Dialogues and/or Jest, there was certainly food for thought mixed in there. Sometimes intigrating it with the conventions of the murder mystery/police procedural works, sometimes it doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: Hooked by the title & author's reputation
Review: I've tried three times to read this book and have not yet got beyond page 10. Maybe it's because I haven't read "Dialogues for the Dead" and I should read that first. I simply find the format (letters within conversations within narrative)too unwieldy and I'm not drawn in.

Rating:
Summary: garbage
Review: Reading this book is a complete waste of time. This is sad because Hill used to write extremely well.