It's not so much Reginald Hill's productivity that is amazing (although producing novels for nearly four decades is impressive enough); it's the unassailable quality of his writing that takes the breath away. With barely a misstep over the years, Hill's chronicling of the abrasive (but, of late, more accommodating) relationship between his mismatched coppers, the no-holds-barred Andy Dalziel and the more nuanced Peter Pascoe, has been non-pareil, with the author's plotting every inch a match for his spot-on characterisation (and not just of his detective duo -- there have been many sharply observed players introduced into the dramatis personae over the years). Of course, a title like The Death of Dalziel will set alarm bells ringing (as much, one assumes, for Hill's publishers as for dedicated readers), and there's no denying that putting the life of his corpulent copper on the line ratchets up the tension here considerably.

We're given a taste of Andy's corrosive wit as he and Peter Pascoe observe a video shop that's under surveillance by the security services for its supposed terrorist connections, but (before the reader has time to draw a breath), there is an explosion, and Dalziel is left lying unconscious, bleeding heavily and covered with debris, his body having shielded his partner from the worst of the blast. And for the rest of the book, while Pascoe tracks down the reasons behind the explosion (he doesn't buy the obvious explanation, i.e., would-be terrorists have blown themselves up by accident), Hill tries something radically different: we are taken into the consciousness of the critically ill Dalziel in his hospital bed. These sections (discursive, alternately funny and sad) are among the most successful in a very successful book. --Barry Forshaw

2007-12-21 Exploitative

Bit of a rip-off. I read the Dalziel & Pascoe series mainly for the interplay between the main characters so to have Dalziel in a coma for most of the book was a disappointment For me, Pascoe only works as a foil for the Fat Man and Ellie gets annoyingly in the way, though Wieldy is usually good value for money. Am not a fan of the TV series but would be interested to see how they try to bring this one to the screen.