View source for The Vows of Silence: Simon Serrailler Book 4

{{infobox1
|title=The Vows of Silence: Simon Serrailler Book 4
|sort=Vows of Silence: Simon Serrailler Book 4
|author=Susan Hill
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=An elegant blend of police procedural and family saga: Simon Serrailler has become compelling reading. Highly recommended for the story and the writing.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=464 / 9h59m
|publisher=Vintage
|date=September 2009
|isbn=978-0099499299
|website=http://www.susanhill.org.uk/
|cover=0099499290
|aznuk=0099499290
|aznus=0099499290
}}

In Lafferton a gunman is terrorising women: the victims are seemingly random, but all young and with a good life ahead of them.  It's assumed to be a man and the CID team under DCI Simon Serrailler acknowledge that he's an excellent shot and plans his murderous attacks extremely well.  It soon becomes obvious that the gunman will attack again and Serrailler is faced with the dual problem of solving the past crimes and preventing ones in the future: there's to be a high-profile wedding with royal guests at the cathedral which would have been enough of a nightmare for the force without the added problem of a gunman on the loose.  As if that wasn't enough to cope with, it's entirely possible that there are two gunmen at large.

Serrailler's private life never seems to go smoothly: his sister Cat Deerbon maintains that it's down to Simon's attitude to women, but this time it's Cat who's suffering.  She and her family have just returned from a sabbatical in Australia and it seems that it's not jet lag that her husband Chris is suffering from: before long it's obvious that it's a brain tumour and whilst there are things that can be done to ease the pain it can't be cured.  Simon and Cat's father, Richard was widowed about a year ago but he's met a widow some years his junior: Cat believes that Judith's good not just for Richard, but for the whole family but Simon can't get over his feelings of resentment.

If you like your police procedurals pure and unadulterated (and I'll admit that I would normally be in this camp) then this might not be the book for you, but I'll confess to having been drawn into the Serrailler family saga: I've no sooner finished one book than I've downloaded the next.  Part of this is down to susan Hill's exquisite writing and characterisation, but she's also an excellent storyteller and the Serrailler series is my summer indulgence.

I listened to the book as an audio download narrated by Steven Pacey, which I bought myself.  He's narrated the full series, beginning with [[The Various Haunts Of Men: Simon Serrailler Book 1 by Susan Hill|The Various Haunts of Men]] and Pacey has proved to be the perfect choice throughout the series.  He has an extensive range of voices, perfectly suited to the characters and they're consistent across all the books.  It's rather like listening to a play with added narration.

For another police procedural for which audio downloads are available we can recommend [[Quintin Jardine's Bob Skinner Novels in Chronological Order|Quintin Jardine's Bob Skinner novels]].

[[Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler Novels in Chronological Order]]

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