Book Review: Fell of Dark

Book Review: 'Fell of Dark' by Reginald Hill

4 / 5 Stars

British author Reginald Hill (1936 – 2012) was a prolific author of crime fiction, with his ‘Dalziel and Pascoe’ series of novels his best-known works. He did write novels in other genres, including thrillers, suspense, and science fiction, of which ‘Albion ! Albion !’ (written under the pseudonym 'Dirk Morland" is an example).

‘Fell of Dark’ (192 pp.) was published by Fontana Books in 1972. 

(In British vernacular, a ‘fell’ is a hill, particularly a hill situated in a moorland).

This book has one of the most lurid cover illustrations I’ve ever seen for a paperback. Are the contents as intriguing as the cover would seem to imply ?

The novel is set in the early 1970s. Its first-person protagonist is a thirty-three year-old businessman named Harry Bentink. Harry’s marriage is under some strain, and Harry decides it’s a good idea to take a lengthy vacation in the Lake District, hiking the paths in the sublime and wholesome summer weather. Accompanying Harry is his fast friend from college days, Peter Thorne. Psychologically troubled, and ‘queer’ to boot, Peter at times requires special handling. But Harry remains dedicated to their friendship.

The hiking vacation is fully as rewarding as Harry hopes it will be. He and Peter even have a brief exchange with two attractive young women, who also are out on the trails. But on the following afternoon, when Harry and Peter descend the fells to the rail station at Ravenglass, they discover two policemen waiting to take them into custody. The bodies of the two girls have been discovered in a gully, and the police have concluded they were strangled and raped. 

Initially confident that his innocence easily will be established, Harry discovers that there are eyewitnesses to his and Peter’s encounter with the girls on the fell. When Superintendent Melton dissects Harry’s clumsy alibis with distressing ease, Harry makes a fateful decision to escape the police and take his chances as a fugitive. But the moorlands of the Lake District offer no kind shelter for a fleeing felon........

I wrestled a bit with my choice of stars in rating 'Fell of Dark'. The novel is slow to start, and the early chapters in which an insouciant Harry engages in verbal fencing matches with Superintendent Melton are over-written and tedious. But on page 62 the narrative, which seems to be heading into courtroom drama territory, takes an abrupt and unexpected turn and transitions into a chase drama. This is engaging and reflects the author's familiarity with, and affection for, the landscape of the Lake District. There are sufficient plot twists and turns to keep the chase sequence from getting too stale. 

In the opening pages of 'Fell of Dark', Harry Bentink is depicted as something of a twit. He is very much the self-centered everyman, who finds himself suddenly thrust into traumatic circumstances, and as a result, his personal attitudes and complacencies get a much-needed overhaul. In this sense, the novel is a something of a discourse on personal redemption through hardship.

The novel's penultimate chapter, which discloses Whodunit, is well-composed and avoids the overly complicated rationale that dooms many mystery novels. 

Summing up, those who persevere through the rather banal initial chapters of 'Fell of Dark' will find the novel becomes more engaging, and takes full advantage of its picaresque, uniquely British setting. It's deserving of a Four-Star Rating.