Took me a while to get into, but really held my interest after fifty pages or so. Improbable, but so is so much crime fiction -- and so much of life! ( )

Long, but a marvellous novel, with a complex and thoroughly clever plot. It has more in common with a fairy tale from Grimm than with Dalziel and Pascoe, however, I missed Dalziel's sardonic humour. No one but Reginald Hill could have given us this great read. ( )

Super book. Spies, betrayal, murder, intrigue and some downright horrible, selfish characters. I loved it. I have read and enjoyed some of his Dalziel and Pascoe books. This was totally different. ( )

Reading the last couple of Reg Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe books has left me wondering, has the old boy lost his touch? Hill has such a delicacy of touch in his writing that a slight loss of it doesn't mean that the results aren't a terrific read but as I reel somewhat and pause for breath on finishing The Woodcutter then I can only say that in any case the answer is a resounding NO!

This standalone novel is a tour-de-force. In so many ways it's unlike anything else he's attempted. For one thing there are very few laughs in it; it is dark, sometimes harrowing, but never for a second less than gripping, and beautifully written. The descriptions of the Lake District, where much of it is set, are worth the five stars alone, but that's not all.

One Hill signature is present; the literary allusions are all over it. There's more than a hint of Wuthering Heights about it but it's from fairy tales and ballads that it draws its energy. A poor woodcutter's son going out into the world to make his fortune and gain the hand of the rich man's daughter sets the framework, but this is Reg Hill and what comes after isn't for the faint-hearted nor for those who can't follow a dizzying assortment of characters, all of them tangled up in the same intricate web, and none of them with straightforward motives. And of course, there's a sting in the tail.

Only one problem. I never really warmed to the enigmatic central character. Maybe I'm not supposed to, but more likely it's in myself. Alva, the other central character, would have something to say about that no doubt.

One thing is clear in the end. It's a parable about the greed and materialism of our selfish modern world. And it's against them. Now there's a surprise!

Thoroughly recommended.


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Reading the last couple of Reg Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe books has left me wondering, has the old boy lost his touch? Hill has such a delicacy of touch in his writing that a slight loss of it doesn't mean that the results aren't a terrific read but as I reel somewhat and pause for breath on finishing The Woodcutter then I can only say that in any case the answer is a resounding NO!

This standalone novel is a tour-de-force. In so many ways it's unlike anything else he's attempted. For one thing there are very few laughs in it; it is dark, sometimes harrowing, but never for a second less than gripping, and beautifully written. The descriptions of the Lake District, where much of it is set, are worth the five stars alone, but that's not all.

One Hill signature is present; the literary allusions are all over it. There's more than a hint of Wuthering Heights about it but it's from fairy tales and ballads that it draws its energy. A poor woodcutter's son going out into the world to make his fortune and gain the hand of the rich man's daughter sets the framework, but this is Reg Hill and what comes after isn't for the faint-hearted nor for those who can't follow a dizzying assortment of characters, all of them tangled up in the same intricate web, and none of them with straightforward motives. And of course, there's a sting in the tail.

Only one problem. I never really warmed to the enigmatic central character. Maybe I'm not supposed to, but more likely it's in myself. Alva, the other central character, would have something to say about that no doubt.

One thing is clear in the end. It's a parable about the greed and materialism of our selfish modern world. And it's against them. Now there's a surprise!

Thoroughly recommended.


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