Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, First Chapter/Intros, originally hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea and now hosted by I’d Rather Be at the Beach; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.
Today’s feature is a new acquisition: The Comforts of Home, by Susan Hill: Simon Serrailler faces his most difficult case yet in the ninth installment of Susan Hill’s gripping mystery series.
For a long time, there had been blackness and the blackness had no form or shape. But then a soft and cloudy greyness had seeped in around the edges of the black, and soon, the images had come and these had moved forward very fast, like the pages of a child’s flip book. At first he could not catch any, or distinguish between them, but gradually their movement had slowed and he had made out faces, and parts of bodies—a hand, a thumb, the back of a neck. Hair. The images had begun to pulse, and balloon in and out, like a beating heart, the faces had swirled together, mingled then separated, and once or twice they had leered at him, or laughed silently out of mouths full of broken teeth.
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Teaser: He was very hot, his skin dry. When he got back into bed sweat was running down his face. (59%).
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Synopsis: Susan Hill—the Man Booker Prize nominee and winner of the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewellyn Rhys awards—returns with a hair-raising new novel, the ninth book in one of the most acclaimed mystery series of our time. Featuring the enigmatic and brooding chief police inspector Simon Serrailler, this intricate and pulse-pounding series follows a collection of grisly crimes plaguing the city of Lafferton—and The Comforts of Home is the most chilling and unputdownable installment yet.
In this gripping new thriller, Simon, eager to be back at work after recovering from a near-fatal injury, takes on a cold-case review for the Lafferton police about a girl who disappeared some years before. Meanwhile, his family adjusts to changes of its own; namely his sister’s marriage to Chief Constable Kieron Bright. But when events take an unfavorable turn for the Chief Constable and an arsonist goes on a deadly rampage in Lafferton, Simon’s personal and professional lives intertwine in more complex and devastating ways than ever before.
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What do you think? Do the excerpts compel you to keep reading?
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You’ve reminded me that this is a series I want to start–I know I have the first book around here somewhere.
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Thanks, Catherine, and I hope it’s okay to start later in the series…I guess I’ll find out!
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This sounds quite good from these excerpts. I’d keep reading.
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Thanks for visiting, Darlene, and I’m eager to find out more, too.
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I’ve read lots of good things about this author; sounds like a good one.
Here’s my pick -http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/2018/12/first-chapter-first-paragraph-tuesday_11.html
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Thanks for stopping by, Diane, and I am hoping to love it. Enjoy your pick.
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Great description in the opening. I’m curious about what’s happening to the character. This sounds like a series I’d enjoy.
My Tuesday post features excerpts from Joy That Long Endures.
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Thanks for visiting, Sandra, and I am also eager to find out what is happening. Enjoy your pick!
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Thanks for stopping by, Sandra, and I am eager to find out what is happening, too. It sounds terrifying. Enjoy your pick.
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Just looking at the first paragraph alone makes me think: woo, different. But it is compelling. I need to keep going to figure out what’s going on!
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I think so, too, Margot; thanks for stopping by.
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I never heard of this series, but it sounds like one I’d like. Those excerpts are intriguing.
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It is new to me, too, Yvonne, but it grabs me. Enjoy your pick.
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Sounds like it could be a good thriller. Thanks for stopping by Girl Who Reads.
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Thanks, Donna, I do love the sound of it, too.
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The intro didn’t grab me but I liked the synopsis so I’d keep reading.
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Thanks, Vicki, I like the synopsis, too.
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This is a new one to me, but sounds intriguing!
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Thanks, Tina, I’m excited about this one.
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Sounds very black / bleak at the beginning! I am intrigued.
Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog!
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Thanks for stopping by, Sassy; I think it does, too!
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