Hanging Hill

By: Mo Hayder

Narrated by: Julia Barrie

Length: 15 hrs

Publisher's Summary

What if you found yourself divorced and penniless? With no skills and a teenage daughter to support? These are questions Cal has never really thought about before. She’s always been a bit of a dreamer. Until now. Her sister Zoe is her polar opposite. A detective inspector working out of Bath Central, no one would guess that she hides a crippling secret that dates back 20 years. Then Cal's daughter gets into difficulties, and Cal finds she needs cash fast. With no one to help her, she is forced into a criminal world of extreme pornography and illegal drugs. Two sisters intent on survival. Until one does something so terrifying that there's no way back….

©2011 Mo Hayder (P)2011 Isis Publishing Ltd

Brilliant

If you could sum up Hanging Hill in three words, what would they be?

gripping, shocking, brilliant

Any additional comments?

As a fan of the walking man series it was a pleasant surprise to find Mo Hayder's other work equally as entertaining

Is this really by Mo Hayder?

I love Mo Hayder's books. Great literature they're not, but they are always suspenseful, dark, disturbing, pacy page-turners. Or they were until Hanging Hill. This is a very lacklustre novel that doesn't get going until the half way mark and bears few signs of the aforementioned Hayder trademarks. And on top of that it's read by a woman whose timbre and tone is more suited to chick-lit than a thriller. Extremely disappointing on all counts.

Tension filled

As usual from Mo Hayder frighteningly good. Had to keep listening at every opportunity and wasn't disappointed at all. Certainly wasn't expecting the ending but that's typical of her. Keeps you thinking about it long after you finish it

A good listen

I like Mo Hayder and liked this book a lot. It kept you guessing and interested all the way through

Excellent read

I have enjoyed most of Mo Hayder books in written form and thought I would try this. I am very glad I did so it is well narrated and it kept me royally entertained and working for longer so that I could carry on listening.
The story is excellent and in typical Mo Hayder fashion there is a scorpions sting in the tail, I will not say more for fearing of spoiling but do try this, you will not regret it.

A bit disapppointing

I normally love the Mo Hayder books, however I found this all a bit "far fetched". As normal the book is dark and twisted, however not quite as dark and twisted as normal. To me the plot was full of coincidences, a few to many for my liking, and the characters acted in the most extraordinary ways, ways in which people would just not react in those situations. I just found it all a bit unbelievable and I really didn't like the ending. Not up to the normal standard, a bit confusing and disjointed...unlike her other books which I would highly recommend.

A good read but lacking reality

The story focuses on two estranged sisters in their 30's. Zoë, is the beautiful police officer with Amazonian attributes. She's a fighter but emotionally stunted and self abusive when her troubles come to a head. Sally is the stereotypical well to do housewife who had become overly reliant on her husband, that is, until he leaves her and starts a new family. She then has to learn the hard way that her carefree ways don't necessarily serve her well when she has a teenage daughter to look after and ever increasing bills and repairs to pay.

Separately, these women become involved in the tangled web that occurs after a local schoolgirl is brutally and sadistically murdered. They each have to make dangerous decisions and work together to try and keep themselves and those that they love, safe from harm.

Very enjoyable if a little implausable for instance Zoe's past life and self harming would never in the real world have eluded her employers, never mind her boyfriend. She placed herself in situations which were at the least illegal, again this would go totally out of character of a zealous, hard-working police officer. There were too many coincidences within the plot and finally the "twist in the tail" totally negates any previous idea of the motive for the original killing.
The "twist in the tail" scenario could have fitted other characters in the plot just as easily as the one that was chosen and I was left feeling dissatisfied with the ending, which rathet spoilt the whole book for me. Yes i know its fiction, but there has to be, for me, a tolerable element of reality to make it work.
As always, just my opinion!

Love her writing

Loved this book ~ the end is very clever and I didn’t see it coming. Love all of her books