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Published Jul 2011
528 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Wolf Hadda's life has been a fairy tale. From his humble origins as a Cumbrian woodcutter's son, he has risen to become a hugely successful entrepreneur, happily married to the woman of his dreams.
A knock on the door one morning ends it all. Universally reviled, thrown into prison while protesting his innocence, abandoned by friends and family, Wolf retreats into silence. Seven years later, prison psychiatrist Alva Ozigbo makes a breakthrough. Wolf begins to talk, and under her guidance he is paroled, returning to his family home in rural Cumbria.
But there was a mysterious period in Wolf's youth when he disappeared from home and was known to his employers as the Woodcutter. And now the Woodcutter is back, looking for the truth - and revenge. Can Alva intervene before his pursuit of vengeance takes him to a place from which he can never come back?
The Woodcutter is a treat that both lovers of the Dalziel and Pascoe series and newcomers to the always masterful work of Reginald Hill will devour.
"Starred Review. Hill combines an edgy tale of betrayal and revenge with the trappings of a modern-day fairy tale in this sly, enchanting stand-alone." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. A grim-dandy psychological thriller... There's nothing drab about this dark and compelling novel, although some of its characters are dreadful human beings." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. The epic scope of this riveting psychological thriller resembles Jeffrey Archer's Kane and Abel series and is highly recommended for serious mystery readers." - Library Journal
"Engrossing work from a genre stalwart." - Booklist
"Hill's plotting… is brilliant, the jokes first-rate, the prose supple: it's his humble awe at the power of the English language that enables him to be a minor master of it." - Daily Telegraph (UK)
"Another gem from the creator of Dalziel and Pascoe. Rich characterisation, sparkling dialogue and wry humour flavour the text.... Verdict: exquisite." - Herald Sun (Australia)
"Reginald Hill's books are as good as crime fiction gets and this one is as good as he gets." - Literary Review
"There is something of the fairytale about The Woodcutter, a big, fat mystery which has the enduring power of a myth. ...The heights of the Dalziel & Pascoe series aside, Hill has never written a better book." - The Evening Standard (UK)
This information about The Woodcutter was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Reginald Hill has received Britain's most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, for lifetime achievement as well as the Golden Dagger Award for the Dalziel/Pascoe series. He also writes another mystery series featuring Joe Sixsmith for St. Martin's Press, and pens thrillers under the name Patrick Ruell. Born in 1936, Hill taught secondary school and college until 1980, when he decided to pursue writing full-time. He lives with his wife in Cumbria, England. Visit him online at www.randomhouse.com/features/reghill/.
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