The Pure in Heart: A Simon Serrailler Mystery

By Susan Hill

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Sep 2, 2008
• ISBN: 9781590208205

Susan Hill

Susan Hill is a writer and Bible teacher with an MA in theology and a BS in journalism. She and her husband, John, live in Nashville, Tennessee, with two unruly goldendoodles. 

Reviews for The Pure in Heart

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The second Simon Serrailler mystery, with the focus rather more squarely on Serrailler as the main protagonist (but with a number of other excellent characters as well). Another good mystery, this one also got me excited to read the next in the series.

[janesteen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Where I got the book: audiobook from Audible. ***SPOILER WARNING***This second novel in the Simon Serrailler series is more loosely written than the first, a trend that continues through the other books I’ve read in this series. The police procedural—in this instance a case of child abduction—proceeds alongside the lives of the Serrailler/Deerbon families, a bit like flipping between a soap opera and a detective mystery on TV. In addition, Hill starts using a technique she often employs later, that of introducing a seemingly unrelated subplot that you can easily guess is going to tie into the mystery at some point. I’d read the next novel as a standalone a few years ago, so I knew the biggest reveal, but I still enjoyed listening to the story unfold in Steven Pacey’s well-paced narration.For the first time, we see into Simon Serrailler’s head, and learn that he was in fact attracted to Freya Graffham, one of the main characters in the last novel. Her death seems to have precipitated Simon’s feelings about her to the point where he stops responding to longtime f**kbuddy Diana’s messages, the first of many instances of somewhat immature behavior on Simon’s part that start to show up in the series. We also learn that Simon is very fond of his younger sister Martha, who is severely disabled, and there’s a whole subplot with the staff at her care home that should go somewhere but doesn’t—it’s interesting because Hill is an interesting writer, but from the point of view of plotting it’s a serious loose end.The abduction case is not so much of a procedural as a telling of how such events affect the victim’s family and the police officers trying to find the child. The novel concludes in a way that you could either find incredibly realistic or incredibly frustrating depending on how much you’ve decided you like the series, and also in a huge come-on for the next book. I think most readers will see one or two of the twists in the plot coming from a little way off, although Hill always plants a red herring or two to pull you off the scent. The soap opera dominates in this episode of the series, so it’ll annoy you if you’re mostly looking for a mystery but keep you enthralled if you enjoy the Serrailler family and appreciate Hill’s inventiveness and realism with her minor characters.

[majkia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Second in Hill’s Simon Serailler series, is just as deep and complex as her first. Simon, on vacation in Italy, is called home to the bedside of his sister. In her 20s she has the mind of a baby, and has been ill and in a home all her life, but Si cares deeply for her and rushes home when it looks as if she’ll succumb to this latest illness. He arrives home just as a 9 year old boy has gone missing.As with the first mystery, Si and his family figure prominently and at times the mystery of the boy takes second place to the mystery of Si himself, and his complex and multifaceted family and their friends. We delve into what it means to love, how we love, how we view the world and how we learn to deal with the tragedies and horrors it holds for us.

[ehines_20 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I suppose the mystery is always just a vehicle for us to examine questions like What binds us together as a society? Or as a family? Or what binds me together as a distinct personality? Hill, though, pretty decidedly subjugates the demands of genre to these bigger life issues. Her characters aren't quite up to the task of helping us think these through without the distraction of a compelling plot, though . . . they're just a bit too sketchy. But there's promise and this is a series . . .

[solla_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Pure in HeartThis is a Simon Seruiler mystery, which means that aside from the particular mystery, it has the backdrop of Chief Superintendent Simon Seruiler, an artist detective with an attraction for and a reluctance to be committed to women, along with his sister, Cat, a doctor, and her family, and his father, mother, and later stepmother, along with various other characters who continue for varying lengths through the novels. The location is the cathedral town of Lafferton, in England, not tiny, but not too big. Simon is a likable and interesting character, despite his imperfections. He has strong emotions and connections with his family. His sister, Cat, is the heart of the extended family, and the one he goes to for comfort. Simon plays somewhat of a father role for his nephew, Sam. This backdrop is interesting in itself, and then, the extended family is often drawn into the particular mysteries as well, with lingering effects on them.This particular mystery begins with the snatching of a little boy from in front of his home while waiting for a ride to school. In Portland, Oregon, where I live, I suspect almost anyone reading this book will have thoughts of Kyron Horman, who vanished a few years ago, either from school or between home and school, and still not found. In the novel, the little boy is David, nine years old, nicknamed Doodlebug by his mother. From time to time there is a selection in his voice, trying to talk or plead with the kidnapper. As he remains missing we see the effects on his family.Around the central theme of a child missing, there are other dramas. One of them centers on Andy Guntan, just released from prison after serving time for an unintended murder during a robbery, and trying to create a life without resorting to crime again.I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

[bookswoman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When nine-year-old David Angus goes missing while waiting at his own front gate for a ride to school it sets off a chain of events that seem to rock the world of DCI Simon Serrailler. He gets caught up in the hunt for David while dealing with the illness of his younger sister, Martha, who is profoundly handicapped, and also recovering from the death of Freya (see The Various Haunts of Men, her first book in this series).

Like the first book there are no easy answers to the *why* of crimes like murder and kidnapping. There are several sub-stories going on here, Simon's sister Cat is not working as she comes closer to delivering her son, a young ex-con named Andy is caught up in a new world after six years on the inside, Cat's friend Karin is recovering from cancer and dealt a personal blow so needs to cope with her own crisis, and the Serrailler parents are dealing with each other and the tragedy of Martha. Through it all the kidnapping of David is affecting everyone but his own family most severely.

Hill is a wonderful writer who manages to pull you along in the story even when tackling tough issues like murder and kidnapping.

I'm glad there are more books in the series to read.

[bluesgal79 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A bang-up sequel to a bang-up first in series (The Various Haunts of Men). I am THIS close to ordering a copy of the third and fourth in the series from England. Hill breaks every rule in the genre to brilliant effect. Brava.

[meredy_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Six-word review: The crime is not the mystery.Extended review:Fie. Either this author doesn't play fair or the marketers, promoters, and cover blurb writers are misrepresenting her work.This second novel in the series billed as "Simon Serrailler mysteries" shows us a good deal more of the difficult, elusive character of Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler than did the first installment, in which he was little more than a peripheral presence. But here again we don't see him solving any crimes. I'm starting to wonder if we ever will.Structured similarly to the first novel of the series, this book unfolds episodically from the points of view of several characters each in their turn, not always giving any indication as to which of them is important or why. I almost said "important to the plot," except that as before there isn't much of a plot.There's nothing wrong with a character-driven story, and this one is certainly that. But again, a novel billed as a mystery and featuring police detectives as principal characters gives rise to certain expectations. If I'm disappointed in the conclusion, the author may not be at fault, but I must ask: is the genre label correctly applied?If I say much more, I will be guilty of publishing spoilers. So I'll just add that my appetite for continuing with the series has diminished. Perhaps my curiosity about the development of the Serrailler character himself will be enough to lure me on, and perhaps it won't. If I continue, however, it will be without my usual confidence that the conventional promises will be fulfilled.

[jenners26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The second book in the Simon Serrailler series (the first book was The Various Haunts of Men), The Pure In Heart takes place just a few months after the events of the earlier book, which ended with a huge shocker that left me reeling. For this reason, I wouldn’t read this book without having read the first book. These are not really “horror” books but they do deal with the darker aspects of life.THE BASIC STORYDCI Simon Serrailler cuts short his trip to Venice to return home to the cathedral village of Lafferton when he receives news that his sister Martha is on death’s door. Upon his return, Simon is thrust into a case that requires his immediate attention: the disappearance of a boy named David. Intertwined with the Serrailler family drama and David’s disappearance is the story of a man recently released from prison who is finding is difficult to go straight.MY THOUGHTSLike the first book, this is really more about the village and citizens of Lafferton than it is about Simon Serrailler (thought we do get to know this enigmatic character a bit more than we did in the first book, where he barely made an appearance). The plot’s main focus is the disappearance of the boy and how it wreaks havoc on his family. I thought this aspect of the story was well done. In the face of an unthinkable tragedy, the family begins to self-destruct rather than finding strength in each other. In addition, the way that Hill describes David’s fate left me feeling like I had swallowed a stone.The story about the ex-con who is trying to go straight was less compelling to me, but I suspect that Hill might be setting things up for the next book. However, it was easy to see how someone determined to do right might find themselves veering off-track and finding the “real world” a less attractive alternative than prison.Like the first book, the narrator changes from chapter to chapter. I love this aspect of Hill’s writing, and I never knew where she might take us. (She is not afraid to kill off characters!) In addition, there were some developments at the end of this book that seemed like they were laying the groundwork for future stories. I do plan on continuing on with the third book, The Risk of Darkness, and seeing how things play out.The bottom line is that if you are looking for a well-written and multi-layered crime novel that is more than just “who done it,” this series would be very satisfying.

[julie10reads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A gripping and unusual procedural focusing more on the characters’ complex lives than the crimes. The disappearance of a small boy disorders the lives of many people. DCI Simon Serrailler (The Various Haunts of Man, 2007, etc.) is recalled from his Venetian sketching holiday by his father. His younger sister Martha, physically and mentally challenged from birth, is dying. Martha recovers only to die suddenly in her sleep, leaving Simon bereft. His attention shifts when a young boy goes missing while waiting for his ride to school. The whole force work night and day searching for a lead. The stresses on artistic, introspective Simon, who’s obviously modeled on Adam Dalgleish, mount as his team continues to search for the boy they fear is dead while pursuing their other cases. Summary BPLExposition is slow in this new-to-me Simon Serailler series. The story (#2) unfolds in character arcs much like a crime investigation TV show and as many of the key characters are related either by blood or marriage, there is considerable and intentional focus on familial relationships. Action is scarce, particularly at the conclusion. More cannot be said without spoiling the end of The Pure in Heart.Simon Serailler compels the reader’s interest without actually doing much. Ms Hill draws his inner life in wonderful detail; a troubled, talented and complex man who happens to be a police detective. 6.5 out of 10. Took marks off for the unsatisfying nature of the conclusion. Recommended to readers who prefer their mysteries character-driven by attractive, intellectual English detectives.

[katiekrug · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like neat, clean, tied-up-with-a-bow resolutions to your crime novels, then this one is not for you. The Pure in Heart is the second in the series featuring Simon Serrailler, and like the first (The Various Haunts of Men), it’s a well-written and thought-provoking read. I found it a bit slow and ponderous for the first 50 pages or so, but after that, I was pulled into the story – actually stories, as there are several parallel plot lines. What Hill does so well, and differently from a lot of crime writers, is explore the effect of tragedy on those left behind. That is where her concern lies, not in the actual whodunit.Her character development is organic and never forced, and she beautifully renders a sense of place. I found her writing to be exquisite in places:There had been a place she had kept secure, a place in which there had been a small bright patch of warmth and hope into which she had been able to retreat. No one else knew that it was there but she had relied on it because in there was the truth, that David was alive and well and would come home. Alan had sent a blade slicing through the wall and all the light and brightness and hope had leaked out and turned black, a pool of darkening blood on a floor. The place was empty now, the air foul and contaminating. He had killed the last resource she had. Now there was no hope or comfort.” (page 218)While there were no easy resolutions to any of the multiple storylines, I finished the book with a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment.

[christinelstanley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like Susan Hill's take on crime thrillers; I think she reflects the frustrations and hard slog of running a case well. I usually like the characterisations and plot development more, but found this one a bit laboured, hence four stars rather than five. I’m sure that this story-line has further to go, and I have the next three books of the series waiting to be read. Beautifully written as always.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First Line: At first light the mist was soft and smoky over the lagoon and it was cold enough for Simon Serrailler to be glad of his heavy donkey jacket.Still brooding over the death of a fellow officer the previous year, Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler is on holiday in his beloved Venice, Italy, to bury himself in his art. Instead, he receives a phone call from his father telling him that if he wants to see his younger sister alive, he'd best get on a plane now.Simon does, but the scare turns out to be a false alarm. He briefly considers going back to Venice, but then nine-year-old David Angus disappears while waiting for his ride to school, and Serrailler knows he must stay.There are several subplots going in The Pure in Heart: the young boy's abduction, Simon being stalked by an ex-girlfriend, a young man just released from prison who finds out how hard it is to stay on the straight and narrow, the deteriorating health of Simon's sister... but they are all skillfully interwoven and Hill kept me turning the pages with her fluid, visual writing style and the depth of her characterizations.When I read the first book in the series, The Various Haunts of Men, I lamented that there was very little of Simon Serrailler in what was billed as a Simon Serrailler mystery. There is no lack of him in this book, and I can see now that the first book sets the series up brilliantly.Hill has a marvelous gift for making characters and situations come alive. I felt ex-con Andy Gunton's frustration at trying to find a decent job that he actually liked and his intense dislike of being forced to stay with his grudging sister. I felt how the members of Simon's family were being pulled apart by the health of the youngest sibling and the age-old question of how a severely handicapped person can have quality of life.The subplot that had the tightest hold on me as a reader was that of the abducted boy, David Angus. Hill shows in agonizing detail how a good marriage can be pulled apart at the seams by such an overwhelming tragedy. Hill kept my focus on the boy by interspersing short chapters that were David trying to talk with his abductor. Those chapters put me in that little boy's shoes, and they were also a lifeline: as long as those little italicized chapters appeared, I knew David was still alive. That was a brilliant device to make the reader every bit as emotionally involved as all the characters in the book who were so desperately searching.Is it necessary to read The Various Haunts of Men before picking up The Pure in Heart? No. Hill provides enough backstory to keep the reader from being confused but not so much that it bogs down the pacing of the story.It may not be necessary to read the first book in the series before you read the second, but one thing should be necessary: that all of you who love beautifully written and plotted mysteries filled with characters who live and breathe on the page should get to know Simon Serrailler.

[nocto_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked the first in this series, but completely loved this second book. You'll be disappointed if you like your crime novels to get everything resolved and tied up neatly by the end; this is in many ways more of a family saga that happens to feature a policeman and his work. I like it that way, it goes off at all kinds of tangents with minor characters which I found a really entertaining read. I could barely put it down, not because it's a page-turning thriller but because it's well written, interesting and I always wanted to know what happened next to the characters, even the nasty seeming ones.I'm not really sure to be honest why they bill them as 'Simon Serrailler' books as he's only really one of the cast, a central character here more than in the first book but not the only one.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is Book Two of the mystery series by U.K. author Susan Hill involving Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler and set in fictional Lafferton, a Cathedral city in the South of England. The Pure In Heart takes place one year after the events in Book One.Once again I have to say that this author displays remarkable courage in both her choice of subject matter and the way in which she tackles it. While her writing may not be comparable to Proust (although she does discuss tea and biscuits quite a bit), there are some lovely flights of prose here and there. Hill’s mysteries have realism and heart, and enough suspense to keep the reader interested.In Book One of the series, DCI Serrailler was largely invisible to us, understandable mainly as seen through the eyes of others. In this book, we get to know him, and I was quite surprised at the difference between the “real” Simon and the “idealized” version of his admirers from Book One.Simon Serrailler is one of triplets, and both of these siblings as well as the parents are physicians. This allows Hill to spend quite a bit of time integrating medical issues into the plot. Simon also has a younger sister, Martha, who was born so severely mentally and physically handicapped that she has spent her life in institutions, having the brain of an infant and very little motor function. At the beginning of the story, Simon finds out that Martha is once again struggling with pneumonia, and it is thought she might die. He is quite distraught, but more importantly for the reader, he and his family and the caregivers have several heart-felt discussions about quality of life and the pros and cons of compassionate death. Simon and his mother argue about it. His mother begins:"‘…She has no quality of life now and none to look forward to.’‘You can’t say that. How can you possibly say that, how can you know?’ Simon clenched his fists, willing himself to speak calmly.‘You’re not a doctor.’‘What the hell has that got to do with it?’‘Si…’‘You have no professional basis from which to assess her condition.’‘No, I just have a human one.’”The tension is affecting Simon’s mother and father as well. At night, arguing in their separate beds, “A sliver of moonlight was falling on the pale blue carpet through the chink she had left in the curtains.” She asked him a question but he didn’t answer:"In the end, still waiting for him to answer her, she slept like that, hands at her sides, and the moon slipped out and silvered the room again and the space between the two beds was the width of the world.”But some criminal cases are absorbing Simon as well. A nine-year-old schoolboy, David Angus, has gone missing while waiting for his ride to school. His family is in agony. The mother can no longer talk to her remaining child, Lucy:"She waited for a moment on the landing outside Lucy’s room. There were no sounds at all from inside. She gathered words up inside her head and tried to form them into sentences with meaning, to make shapes of the words which would then come out of her mouth and cross the air and be received by her daughter but the words were scattered about anyhow like spilled toys.”Additionally, there is a ring of car thieves in town. A recently discharged convict, Andy Gunton, tries to resist getting involved with them. He wants to get back on his feet despite all the odds being stacked against him. And here, Hill once again displays her compassionate understanding:"He thought back to prison. He had a glimmer of understanding why people sent themselves back there. Not that he would, not ever. But the world was difficult. Freedom was difficult. Nothing was as he’d expected it to be, everything, once the novelty of being out had worn off, was either a shock or a disappointment. He felt aimless and frustrated. He wanted to get on with something…life, he supposed. Was this his life? Hanging about the [neighborhood], spending hours making half a pint of cheap beer last in places like this, sleeping crammed in with his nephew…?”Some plot strands coalesce at the end, and some don’t. The outcome is neither all good nor all bad, but as close to reality as I expect one can come. Discussion: Simon is turning out to be quite interesting: competent, brooding, irascible, charming, self-confident, but lacking an understanding of his own needs and wants. His devotion to Martha seems more a function of how her presence soothes him than any particular characteristic of Martha herself, who, indeed, had no characteristics of which to speak. He wants a warm home like his triplet sister Cat, but doesn’t quite know how to go about finding it. In short, his character is intriguing enough to spur one on to read the rest of the series!Evaluation: This is an enjoyable mystery series that eschews dei ex machina and easy resolutions in favor of hard truths. I respect the author greatly for that!

[lsh63 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this book to be very well written, and the character development is excellent. The Inspector is vacationing in Venice while thinking about the fact that he was oblivious that a fellow officer who was in love with him was brutally murdered. He receives a call to come home because is mentally and physically challenged sister, Martha, is very sick. While struggling with the news about his sister, he tries to solve the case of a young boy who vanished from in front of his home, which affects everyone, his own family included.Also a young ex con is trying to go straight, but is met with many difficulties along the way. I love this series, and the fact that I wanted resolution of my questions (i.e. Why didn't Simon and Cat's brother come home for two major events?, Who committed the kidnapping?) did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.

[scrabblenut · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found this book relentlessly dark and depressing, with no resolution to the crime. However, having enjoyed the first and fourth book in the series, I wanted to go back and fill in the gaps. I plan to read the next book as well, as this one felt like it was only half a book, and I do enjoy reading about Simon and his family and problems. Susan Hill certainly seems to like exploring the theme of death and loss and how it affects the loved ones left behind.

[drneutron_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Pure In Heart is Susan Hill's second Simon Serrailler mystery, and like the first, it's more about characters than solving the mystery. Set a year after the events of The Various Haunts of Men, Simon - and the town of Lafferton - is still recovering from the horrific murders. Now a boy is missing and Simon's leading the investigation. What's so engaging about the book, though, is how the disappearance affects everyone it touches. Hill's fantastic at creating characters that become real to the reader.

[fordbarbara · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Plot is stronger than the main character, which works very well here

[readingknitter01 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The underlying mystery/crime in this story (the abduction of a young boy) is hard to contemplate. But the surrounding stories and the character development (or revelation, more specifically) of the protaganist DCI Simon Serrailler and his family and friends are so rich and well-done. It's an excellent book- now i need to go back and read the first one in htis series.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

DCI Simon Serrailler is in Venice on a sketching holiday when a phone call comes from his father to say that if he wants to see his handicapped sister alive he needs to come come straightaway. Shortly after he arrives home the case that dominates this book begins. Eight year old David Angus is abducted as he waits on the footpath in front of his house for his ride ot school. As the investigation drags on, there are no clues to the whys and wherefores of the abduction, and the bereft Angus family disintegrates. I've tried to work out what it is that I so much like in these books. This is #2 in Susan Hill's Serrailler series, and the reader would be well advised to read #1, THE VARIUOS HAUNTS OF MEN, first. It is almost as if Hill has created a laboratory in which she can play with a couple of themes, the case of the missing boy, the ex-con trying to go straight, Serrailler's ex-lover who begins to stalk him, overworked general practictioners, against a rich tapestry of characters, particularly those connected with the Serrialler family, in the small cathedral town of Lafferton. In my mind's eye I can see these books becoming the basis of an episodic television series. Hill has me looking for #3 (THE RISK OF DARKNESS)