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DS Jimmy Suttle #4
The Order of Things
The fourth novel in the Jimmy Suttle series, from 'one of the UK's finest crime novelists' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY), author of LAST FLIGHT TO STALINGRAD 'There is no-one writing better police procedurals today' Sunday Telegraph D/S Jimmy Suttle is called to a brutal murder in the picturesque Devon village of Lympstone. Harriet Reilly, a local GP, has been found disembowelled in the bedroom of her partner, climate scientist Alois Bentner. Suttle's estranged wife, Lizzie, has abandoned Portsmouth, moved to Exeter and returned to journalism, hearing rumours of a local GP offering mercy killings to patients meeting certain criteria. The name of the GP is Harriet Reilly. So begins two investigations of the same crime. Operation Buzzard , with D/S Suttle at its heart, and Lizzie, piecing together her own version of the events that led to Harriet Reilly's death. The fourth novel in the Jimmy Suttle series is a story of ultimate betrayal, reaching much further and wider than its Devon roots.
272 pages, Paperback
Published January 17, 2017
6 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Graham Hurley
69 books151 followersGraham Hurley was born November, 1946 in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. His seaside childhood was punctuated by football, swimming, afternoons on the dodgems, run-ins with the police, multiple raids on the local library - plus near-total immersion in English post-war movies.
Directed and produced documentaries for ITV through two decades, winning a number of national and international awards. Launched a writing career on the back of a six-part drama commission for ITV: "Rules of Engagement". Left TV and became full time writer in 1991.
Authored nine stand-alone thrillers plus "Airshow", a fly-on-the-wall novel-length piece of reportage, before accepting Orion invitation to become a crime writer. Drew gleefully on home-town Portsmouth (“Pompey”) as the basis for an on-going series featuring D/I Joe Faraday and D/C Paul Winter.
Contributed five years of personal columns to the Portsmouth News, penned a number of plays and dramatic monologues for local production (including the city’s millenium celebration, "Willoughby and Son"), then decamped to Devon for a more considered take on Pompey low-life.
The Faraday series came to an end after 12 books. Healthy sales at home and abroad, plus mega-successful French TV adaptations, tempted Orion to commission a spin-off series, set in the West Country, featuring D/S Jimmy Suttle.
Launch title - "Western Approaches" - published 2012. "Touching Distance" to hit the bookstores next month (21st November).
Has recently self-published a number of titles on Kindle including "Strictly No Flowers" (a dark take on crime fiction), "Estuary" (a deeply personal memoir) and "Backstory" (how and why he came to write the Faraday series).
Married to the delectable Lin. Three grown-up sons (Tom, Jack and Woody). Plus corking grandson Dylan.
You're very welcome to contact Graham through his website: www.grahamhurley.co.uk
Or direct on seasidepictures@btinternet.com.
Series:
* D.I. Joe Faraday
Directed and produced documentaries for ITV through two decades, winning a number of national and international awards. Launched a writing career on the back of a six-part drama commission for ITV: "Rules of Engagement". Left TV and became full time writer in 1991.
Authored nine stand-alone thrillers plus "Airshow", a fly-on-the-wall novel-length piece of reportage, before accepting Orion invitation to become a crime writer. Drew gleefully on home-town Portsmouth (“Pompey”) as the basis for an on-going series featuring D/I Joe Faraday and D/C Paul Winter.
Contributed five years of personal columns to the Portsmouth News, penned a number of plays and dramatic monologues for local production (including the city’s millenium celebration, "Willoughby and Son"), then decamped to Devon for a more considered take on Pompey low-life.
The Faraday series came to an end after 12 books. Healthy sales at home and abroad, plus mega-successful French TV adaptations, tempted Orion to commission a spin-off series, set in the West Country, featuring D/S Jimmy Suttle.
Launch title - "Western Approaches" - published 2012. "Touching Distance" to hit the bookstores next month (21st November).
Has recently self-published a number of titles on Kindle including "Strictly No Flowers" (a dark take on crime fiction), "Estuary" (a deeply personal memoir) and "Backstory" (how and why he came to write the Faraday series).
Married to the delectable Lin. Three grown-up sons (Tom, Jack and Woody). Plus corking grandson Dylan.
You're very welcome to contact Graham through his website: www.grahamhurley.co.uk
Or direct on seasidepictures@btinternet.com.
Series:
* D.I. Joe Faraday
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 29, 2015
If you love reading, read this.
I've been reading crime fiction for a long time now and maybe due to a surge in popularity of the genre there seems to be a race to the bottom going on: ever more ludicrous plots involving unbelievable coincidences; a cranking up of the body count; weirder and nastier psychopaths at every turn; in-your-face pretence of police procedure; bad sex; bad prose; and then there's Tony Parsons. Even the latest Rebus book is a self- congratulatory exercise in onanism.
But then there are a few beacons of excellence remaining, and one of those that shines bright is Graham Hurley.
This is the fourth in the Jimmy Suttle series that follows on from the excellent Faraday/Winter novels, and like the previous books Mr Hurley not only writes a gripping detective story but also shines a light on some of our pressing and important issues. It's not so much a detective story but more a book about life that attached itself to a crime novel.
Previously we've had Mental health and it's appalling treatment in this country; the problems facing returning war veterans; Britain's colonial past. This time we get a run through euthanasia, global warming and the ability of man to destroy our planet interwoven with a gripping plot.
We get the usual well thought out story; great characters; fabulous, funny and moving dialogue and a grasp of policing that is without equal in this country. Enough to satisfy any true fan of the genre. But we get so much more . Not a polemic, but a straight-to-the cutting point about issues that affect us all and put forward in a way that worms into your brain better than a thousand dry academic texts .
If you love literature and have an interest in our complicated screwed up world , I urge you to buy this book .
I've been reading crime fiction for a long time now and maybe due to a surge in popularity of the genre there seems to be a race to the bottom going on: ever more ludicrous plots involving unbelievable coincidences; a cranking up of the body count; weirder and nastier psychopaths at every turn; in-your-face pretence of police procedure; bad sex; bad prose; and then there's Tony Parsons. Even the latest Rebus book is a self- congratulatory exercise in onanism.
But then there are a few beacons of excellence remaining, and one of those that shines bright is Graham Hurley.
This is the fourth in the Jimmy Suttle series that follows on from the excellent Faraday/Winter novels, and like the previous books Mr Hurley not only writes a gripping detective story but also shines a light on some of our pressing and important issues. It's not so much a detective story but more a book about life that attached itself to a crime novel.
Previously we've had Mental health and it's appalling treatment in this country; the problems facing returning war veterans; Britain's colonial past. This time we get a run through euthanasia, global warming and the ability of man to destroy our planet interwoven with a gripping plot.
We get the usual well thought out story; great characters; fabulous, funny and moving dialogue and a grasp of policing that is without equal in this country. Enough to satisfy any true fan of the genre. But we get so much more . Not a polemic, but a straight-to-the cutting point about issues that affect us all and put forward in a way that worms into your brain better than a thousand dry academic texts .
If you love literature and have an interest in our complicated screwed up world , I urge you to buy this book .
April 11, 2016
This book is stuffed with unexamined biases. Suttle demonises a "bull dyke" for being predatory and (horror of horrors, fat) and Lizzie, a writer/journalist in her 30s, carries on as if she's about to be raped by same over a dinner. And Suttle's partner beats a dog to death with a baseball bat. Did Graham Hurley really intend to make Suttle, and his policeman and his estranged wife, Lizzie, quite so repellent?
June 13, 2016
This is a steady and entertaining crime mystery story.
Set around Exeter in the time just after their floods a couple of years ago, the police try to solve a particularly gruesome murder with the help of the book's heroine, the lead detective's ex-wife, Lizzie. There is enough going on otherwise to make this more than a standard murder mystery, centring around relationships between the police officers, and the surrounding cast. Also, and of most interest, is the climate change link. The murder was in the house of a scientist renowned for his views on climate change, and he is the chief suspect.
My chief criticism is that the sexual antics are really not for me, and detract from a story that would have been stronger if it was shorter.
Set around Exeter in the time just after their floods a couple of years ago, the police try to solve a particularly gruesome murder with the help of the book's heroine, the lead detective's ex-wife, Lizzie. There is enough going on otherwise to make this more than a standard murder mystery, centring around relationships between the police officers, and the surrounding cast. Also, and of most interest, is the climate change link. The murder was in the house of a scientist renowned for his views on climate change, and he is the chief suspect.
My chief criticism is that the sexual antics are really not for me, and detract from a story that would have been stronger if it was shorter.
February 23, 2016
I always try to find a quiet place to read Graham Hurleys' novels, uninterrupted, as he always gives the reader something to reflect upon as well as a gripping plot and believable characters - both good and bad.
In the "Order of Things", Jimmy Suttle is part of the team investigating the shocking and sickening murder of a woman. She is found in her partner's bedroom and he has disappeared.
The police procedures are expertly written (as usual) and they seem sharper in that they focus on one case to be resolved. I found this to be more exciting than last novel. It moves along at a good pace as Jimmy (and the Police Team) and Lizzie, his estranged reporter wife, unearth information at different times.
In "Sins of the Father", I felt that I didn't really understand Jimmy but in this novel he becomes a sturdier character. He has personal struggles and the fact that he veers from doing the right thing to the wrong thing at times brought him alive for me. His estranged wife is still managing to invade his work and home life driven to get her reporter's story and complicates things for Jimmy in both parts of his life.
I was surprised by the ending, which is a good one, and I can't wait for the next in this series.
In the "Order of Things", Jimmy Suttle is part of the team investigating the shocking and sickening murder of a woman. She is found in her partner's bedroom and he has disappeared.
The police procedures are expertly written (as usual) and they seem sharper in that they focus on one case to be resolved. I found this to be more exciting than last novel. It moves along at a good pace as Jimmy (and the Police Team) and Lizzie, his estranged reporter wife, unearth information at different times.
In "Sins of the Father", I felt that I didn't really understand Jimmy but in this novel he becomes a sturdier character. He has personal struggles and the fact that he veers from doing the right thing to the wrong thing at times brought him alive for me. His estranged wife is still managing to invade his work and home life driven to get her reporter's story and complicates things for Jimmy in both parts of his life.
I was surprised by the ending, which is a good one, and I can't wait for the next in this series.
February 3, 2016
A magnificent book. Once again the author shows what can be done within the basic police procedural format. In my view he is criminally under-rated.
The vicious murder of a local GP in a small village outside Exeter leads the reader into a labyrinthine plot involving climate scientists and voluntary euthanasia. Thought provoking and intelligent, with well-drawn characters and a sympathetic protagonist in DS Jimmy Suttle, The Oder of Things will live long in the memory.
The vicious murder of a local GP in a small village outside Exeter leads the reader into a labyrinthine plot involving climate scientists and voluntary euthanasia. Thought provoking and intelligent, with well-drawn characters and a sympathetic protagonist in DS Jimmy Suttle, The Oder of Things will live long in the memory.
September 12, 2016
WOW this mystery has it all! If you are interested in climate change...and its fallout for mankind you will love this book.
January 24, 2020
First off, let me hold my hand up. I am not a fan of police procedurals. I read this book for the Crimes & Thrillers reading group I attend. That said, this book doesn’t always read like a police procedural.
A woman is found brutally murdered in the bedroom of a seaside cottage near Exmouth, owned by a climatology expert who subsequently disappears. D.S. Jimmy Suttle is charged with the investigation, which rapidly stalls until his ex-wife—an investigative journalist who has just had a best-selling book and is now in need of another—begins her own investigation into the victim.
For lovers of police procedurals there should be enough to hold your interest. Short, telegraphic sentences and plenty of talk about the MIR and the like, much of which went straight over my head.
When Hurley writes in detail about the characters, however, all that changes. He’s another writer entirely. He has a very elegant turn of phrase and a knack of making what they say seem real—no easy task when your characters are often experts in their sundry fields. It’s a pity then that I ended up liking none of them, the ex-wife least of all, though I did begin to wonder if she had a bipolar disorder that had gone undiagnosed. Nor was I ultimately convinced by anyone’s motives for their actions. Why did the scientist upsticks and vanish, for instance? Why then come back, and why obfuscate when he did? I suppose I may have missed something key here but, if I did, it was subtly insinuated.
Still it’s very hard to ignore writing this good. Let me quote a description of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major as an example:
A woman is found brutally murdered in the bedroom of a seaside cottage near Exmouth, owned by a climatology expert who subsequently disappears. D.S. Jimmy Suttle is charged with the investigation, which rapidly stalls until his ex-wife—an investigative journalist who has just had a best-selling book and is now in need of another—begins her own investigation into the victim.
For lovers of police procedurals there should be enough to hold your interest. Short, telegraphic sentences and plenty of talk about the MIR and the like, much of which went straight over my head.
When Hurley writes in detail about the characters, however, all that changes. He’s another writer entirely. He has a very elegant turn of phrase and a knack of making what they say seem real—no easy task when your characters are often experts in their sundry fields. It’s a pity then that I ended up liking none of them, the ex-wife least of all, though I did begin to wonder if she had a bipolar disorder that had gone undiagnosed. Nor was I ultimately convinced by anyone’s motives for their actions. Why did the scientist upsticks and vanish, for instance? Why then come back, and why obfuscate when he did? I suppose I may have missed something key here but, if I did, it was subtly insinuated.
Still it’s very hard to ignore writing this good. Let me quote a description of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major as an example:
“The music was truly divine, the theme picked out on the piano, then gathered up by the soaring strings and warmed by an oboe and a flute. It surged on, music to fly by, music for seagulls, music with no respect for either gravity or pain.”
April 14, 2018
It looks as if this is the last in the Jimmy Suttle series, which is disappointing but not surprising since it would be a challenge to cope with the fallout —physical and emotional—of the ending in this one. The good news is that apparently there is a new series and at least one new stand-alone in the works and I’m already hooked on the latter after reading only a short “taster”. As for The Order of Things, I enjoyed it very much. In addition to plot and character development we have two topical themes —global warming, and assisted dying—to ponder. The only quibble I have is that, in the end, neither of these themes plays a really pivotal role.
August 16, 2018
Graham Hurley always provides a rewarding read, an ignore-the-world-until-you're finished kind of read. Jimmy Suttle has to solve a brutal murder, negotiate a complicated relationship involving his girlfriend and his nearly-ex wife, while having a crash course on the politics of climate change. A compelling, involving story, perfect for a long journey .... or to keep you turning the pages, far into the night.
June 12, 2017
I've enjoyed Graham Hurley's writing since the early days of the Joe Faraday series. In this book, although the setting is portrayed as wonderfully as always, I found the plot somewhat forced and several of the characters almost over-the -top caricatures.
November 1, 2017
Not bad. It is a bit difficult as Hurley moves back and forth between Suttles investigation and his wife's. As well the is a lot of their personal lives that are not of much relevance.
September 23, 2018
His plots are getting steadily sicker, one needs a strange mind to write like this!
January 26, 2020
Really tough book to read. Liked the characters (mainly). Really disturbed by some of the story though.
November 1, 2021
Loved the story but not the ending. I suppose it is intended to lead to another book in the series, but it felt unfinished.
July 30, 2025
A solid procedural.
November 22, 2018
Entertaining and well-written as all Graham Hurley's book are. This read our of sequence for having been bought, with relief, on holiday in Australia - how expensive books are there!
December 30, 2016
Graham Hurley is one of those writer who just gets better and better. I was afraid that with demise of Joe Farady that I would lose interest, but he has managed to transfer all the interest and energy from the earlier books to the Jimmy Suttle series.
Hurley manages to lift the standard police procedural from the mundane and use it as a vehicle to address deeper questions than "Who done it?" part of his attraction I suppose.
This is a great tale which will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last minute. Since it is well written, fast paced and packed with incident it is ideal for devouring in a single session.
Enjoy!
Hurley manages to lift the standard police procedural from the mundane and use it as a vehicle to address deeper questions than "Who done it?" part of his attraction I suppose.
This is a great tale which will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last minute. Since it is well written, fast paced and packed with incident it is ideal for devouring in a single session.
Enjoy!
Read
March 11, 2016D/S JIMMY SUTTLE lives with the loss of a child. A marriage that fell apart.
However life goes on. But Lizzie his former wife is a writer and a journalist.
But a brutal murder happen in this pretty Devon village.
We learned from many pages that the main characters are not very stable.
"Lizzie in the nightmare months after her daughter died she'd lost all faith in redemption"
Alois Bentner a climatologist,brilliant----but often quite drunk is missing.
His partner GP Harriet Reilly was found mutilated----and pregnant.
Harriet helped patients suffering----made death easy.Dr.Gemma Caton with many
degrees-also very brilliant.But she was a little nuts.
Welcome to----THE ORDER OF THINGS.
However life goes on. But Lizzie his former wife is a writer and a journalist.
But a brutal murder happen in this pretty Devon village.
We learned from many pages that the main characters are not very stable.
"Lizzie in the nightmare months after her daughter died she'd lost all faith in redemption"
Alois Bentner a climatologist,brilliant----but often quite drunk is missing.
His partner GP Harriet Reilly was found mutilated----and pregnant.
Harriet helped patients suffering----made death easy.Dr.Gemma Caton with many
degrees-also very brilliant.But she was a little nuts.
Welcome to----THE ORDER OF THINGS.
June 17, 2016
I picked this up at the library when I was in a hurry and didn't have time for a good look. It was on the new additions shelf so I grabbed it and ran. New author to me but I was pleasantly surprised. A gruesome murder, the detective and his estranged wife both investigating, he as a cop, she as a journalist. Covering issues such as euthanasia, climate change and delving into the messy business of a marriage breakup, this novel kept me interested till almost the end. Sadly the ending stretched credulity, but I certainly enjoyed the journey.
January 11, 2016
Throughly enjoyed this book, it's always enjoyable reading books set in your local area, in this case Lympstone.
Compared to most crime fiction where the number of bodies mount up as the cops investigate the case this is only about one (or two) murders and revolves a lot around Suttle's private life.
The plot line around salmon was very interesting especially on reflection after reading the afterword.
Compared to most crime fiction where the number of bodies mount up as the cops investigate the case this is only about one (or two) murders and revolves a lot around Suttle's private life.
The plot line around salmon was very interesting especially on reflection after reading the afterword.
June 10, 2016
This started out as an acceptable, if unremarkable, murder mystery. At least it wasn't jumping about in time. But I'm afraid it deteriorated. None of the characters are credible or even likeable, and the plot is daft.
August 16, 2016
After Joe Faraday novels this comes as a guilty pleasure. Well written and full of promise a different approach to crime novels. getting the readers to know about police procedure and there methods,
a bit grisly but this is life.
a bit grisly but this is life.
May 22, 2020
Another powerful compelling book from this author. Although the main story is on the police investigation of a brutal murder the author also deals with climate change and assisted dying. As ever the author does awful things to his main characters and the ending is shocking.
April 4, 2016
Always enjoy Graham Hurleys books, but thought the plot in this one a little contrived. Despite that it's a good read.
March 29, 2017
I liked the way Jimmy and Lizzie were digging into the same case from different aspects. Neither of them use good judgment in some cases
April 13, 2017
Overall, I thought this was a good book. Hurley has finally hit is stride with this series.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews