The Soul of Discretion

The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill
My rating: Unrated

My heart sinks every time I open a thriller and it turns out to be about rape or sexual child abuse, or, as is the case here, both. I happened to be watching an old episode of The Closer (series 3, episode 4), which also deals with sexual child abuse and murder, and it occurred to me that what is so often depressingly lacking in the work of thriller writers (and so abundant in good TV) is an outcome that emotionally satisfies the reader/viewer. It is certainly absent from this book by Susan Hill, best known perhaps for “The Woman in Black”. So why did I suggest the group try it?—which I truly regret, by the way. Where to begin?
Being a fairly recent title, the library had quite a few copies. I thought it would be interesting to compare how Hill tackles modern novels with those set in Victorian times. The blurb on the cover made no overt mention of the subject matter. Goodreads reviewers, when I checked it out there, rated it highly and some even mentioned that, although it’s the eighth in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone.
It can’t. The detective, Simon Serrailler, is barely developed (I only learnt that he had platinum-blond hair in the closing pages, destroying any hazy image of him that I had managed to build up). In contrast, a good third of the book is dedicated to his sister, who has nothing to do with his child abuse case and is only tangentially related to the rape that occurs (that has nothing to do with his case either). Cat drinks wine; she drinks water; she worries about her finances as she goes about her doctoring duties; she visits a terminal cancer patient and listens to the woman’s lengthy reminiscences. As this is probably in line with the series format, that ought to be fine for existing fans, but it is utterly frustrating for newcomers. Nor does it leave Hill any room to bring the book to an emotionally rewarding conclusion.
One for fans only, I suspect. But that’s just my own humble opinion…what do you think? Do let me know!


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