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The Various Haunts of Men
- Simon Serrailler 1
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
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Summary
You should listen to Susan Hill's brilliant Simon Serrailler trilogy in the correct order which is as follows:
- Book 1: The Various Haunts of Men
- Book 2: The Pure in Heart
- Book 3: The Risk of Darkness
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What listeners say about The Various Haunts of Men
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- Despina
- 02-01-21
Awful
I’m so sorry I persevered listening till the end and wasted my time. 6 hours into the book and nothing had happened. I waited and waited. The story is tedious and disjointed, the characters - shockingly dull and impossible to like or sympathise with. The book is simply saturated with stereotypes and infuriating comments and observations along the lines of ‘it might even be possible for a woman without children to find meaning in life’.
Then there is the stigmatisation of alternative medicine and the good, noble and heroic medical practitioners of Lafferton trying to put an end to such complimentary practices in the area and save the vulnerable Lafferton community from the bad charlatans. Yes, that childish. Somehow everyone in this book who is not a GP, a member of the police or else fully qualified to help others professional appears to be depressed, ill, vulnerable, gullible or simply incapable of looking after themselves. On the other hand, the noble professionals bake pies for charity, sing in the church choir, draw masterpieces, go the extra mile for their patients and generously patronise everyone else, because they obviously know best. Give me a break. If this is a detective/mystery novel then I’m a carrot.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Sammy J
- 22-12-19
Not for me!
I really fancied this, but it was such a slow starter I gave up!! The narration was awful. Got a refund, just not for me!!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ann D
- 15-09-16
Good stuff!
Who was your favorite character and why?
DC Nathan, flawed, sweet and believable.
Any additional comments?
This is a well written and unusual piece of crime fiction. The characters are well drawn and it is pacey. I only have two minor gripes. Firstly, for a DS, Freya seems unable to employ any physical defense of herself. Given the training in the British Police Force, that isn't very believable. Secondly, although this narrator is very good in respect of pace, voice etc, he makes most of the characters sound like they have sprung from BBC received English of the 1960s, and I find that rather distracting. Nevertheless, the quality of the writing and the clever story will see me purchasing the next book in the series.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Linda jh
- 01-05-16
Terrible!
Susan Hill has been one of my favourite writers in the past but this had me asking myself if it was a Mills and Boone book, or was it a different Susan Hill? Not so.
The embarrassing crush that Freya has on her DCI is totally inconsistent with a professional detective sergeant, or any other professional woman. The country yokel accents of the 'monkey faced' detective and a uniform sergeant do not sit well with the 'proper' accents of the other ranks and other 'middle class' individuals in the story. As a former police officer I find it frustrating that Hill has not done her research into the police service.
A move into CID is not a promotion!
it is highly unlikely that a detective constable would speak to his sergeant the way he does in this book ....and certainly not in the whining voice that is sometimes used.
If a doctor went to see a patient regarding a complaint of assault or sexual assault the last thing they would do would be to ask the police to go along before they had ascertained what had occurred. The police would hardly expect to be called to go and wait outside a house while a doctor interviewed someone to ascertain if an assault had taken place.
Does Ms Hill really think that a detective sergeant will have encountered many psychopaths? It is unlikely that a police officer will meet many or any in their career!
Amazing that there is no mention of mobile phones until very near the end of book..... I assumed it must have been originally written in a time before mobile phones, otherwise why have they not have been usefully used earlier in the story? To support this assumption of an earlier era I cite the use of comments like 'yonks' by a 40 year old ...hardly a term used today. Similar expression were used elsewhere which made me cringe.
To read a book containing many characters, which need to be defined by voice, cannot be easy, but I found the narration 'over the top.'
If the book had been read aloud by a woman I suspect that the perfume YSL would almost certainly have been read as Yves St Laurent ...no one to my knowledge refers to YSL by its letter format.
Hardly a Simon Serailler novel, since he is only occasionally in it!
Obviously a number of people did enjoy it from the reviews, but I have to confess amazement that some of the critics who wrote reviews in the national newspapers spoke highly of the book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- G. Myers
- 17-05-15
A can't put down book
My first Susan Hill book and it will not be my last, a combination of excellent plot characters and narrative means I am heading for the store to buy my next Susan Hill today.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Sue
- 14-02-15
Brilliant storytelling, superb writing!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
A terrific read, great characters and storyline. You become drawn into the twists and turns of the plot as if you are on a rollercoaster ride, it is hard to stop listening to Steven Pacey's strong narration and by the end you feel emotionally drained.
What did you like best about this story?
The characters were well drawn and totally believable as were the places.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I must admit to shedding a few tears at the end!
Any additional comments?
Brilliant book, one of the very best I have listened to and I can't wait to listen to more from Susan Hill.
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3 people found this helpful
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- G. Ryan
- 14-01-15
Gripping
Excellent author, very sympathetic characters and extremely good reading by Steven Pacey. I will be going straight on to the next book in the series.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ben
- 24-12-12
Well read, but poor characterisation
The story is well read, with the characters brought to life such as they are by the narrator. However, this is the major problem of the novel as the story is populated by stereotypes and the dialogue is clunky and difficult to believe in. This is a real shame as the story starts well and creates a powerful atmosphere; the plot of the story is similarly cleverly put together. But the characters, especially the central ones are wooden, and don't ring true; which makes them irritating rather than interesting, and hard to care about.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Teresa evans
- 24-11-19
The various haunts of men
Lovely book love these stories keeps you listening. Narrator is lovely clear and precise love it.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Barbara
- 14-04-17
"Men are our subjects and the deeds of men"
Any additional comments?
If there's a better book on Audible, I've yet to come across it. No-one has a better grasp of how to multiply plausible suspects, build genuine suspense and dread, or grow believable, likeable characters than Susan Hill. Her heroines and heroes are the stuff of sagas - but fallible, and like most of us, often lacking in vital insights. Her villains are horrific without being mustachio-twirling pantomime baddies. You read and you think, yes, I'd end up dead too: I wouldn't have escaped that situation either! She spins intersecting plot lines effortlessly, and makes the simplest activities engaging. In this book, an able and courageous detective gets onto the trail of a lethal predator. Distracted by her problematic feelings for a colleague, she is slow to see the danger building as the investigation jolts information and evidence free in unpredictable ways, creating even more danger and tension. (I'm sure I'm not the only reader who wanted to stand up and shout "BEHIND YOU!!!!!!" at various points.) The plot is set against the background of a cosy/creepy community of New Age and alternative healing practitioners and aficionados in a small semi-rural community. Crystals, dandelion tea, séances, reflexology and psychic surgery: do any of these connect the disappearances under investigation?
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