The Woodcutter

By: Reginald Hill

Narrated by: Jot Davies

A fast-moving, stunning new standalone psychological thriller – from the award-winning author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series.

Wolf Hadda's life has been a fairy tale. From humble origins as a Cumbrian woodcutter's son, he has risen to be a hugely successful entrepreneur, knighted for services to commerce, happily married to the girl of his dreams.

Then early one morning, there comes a loud knocking at his door and the fairy tale ends. Within months he is universally reviled as a convicted fraudster and paedophile, abandoned by his friends, divorced by his wife, cut off from his daughter, and his company Woodcutter Enterprises has collapsed. All his protestations of innocence can do is guarantee he will serve the whole of his lengthy sentence.

Then, after seven years, prison psychiatrist Alva Ozigbo makes a breakthrough. Wolf begins to talk. And soon, under her guidance, he is released on parole, and returns to his rundown family house in rural Cumbria, apparently seeking nothing more than a quiet life in complete seclusion.

But there is a part of Wolf's background that only a very few know anything about, a few early unaccounted for years when he disappeared from home and was known to those who employed him as the Woodcutter.

And the Woodcutter is looking for the truth, and with the truth, revenge.

Alva Ozigbo is also still seeking for the truth. Innocent or guilty, he is clearly damaged goods, and the more convinced Alva becomes of his innocence, the greater her concern that he may be about to do something that will put him back inside forever….

©2010 Reginald Hill (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

'An outstanding novel of force and beauty [which shows] Hill's elegant writing, erudition and imagination' The Times

'He quickly proves he's lost none of his sardonic wit, punch and complexity … You'll be hard pushed to find another crime writer with his verve … Hill uses every trick in his arsenal to elucidate. The result is an epic, unbeatable mystery' Financial Times

'A big, fat mystery which has the enduring power of a myth … Hill proves once again that the driving force of a successful crime novel is character, not incident … The heights of the Dalziel & Pascoe series aside, Hill has never written a better book' Evening Standard

'Reginald Hill's books are as good as crime fiction gets and this one is as good as he gets … A tragic, funny standalone mystery … History is rewritten with brilliant originality and verve. The combination of wit and humanity is characteristic of this most inventive of crime novelists – warmly recommended' Literary Review

'Hill's plotting is brilliant, the jokes first-rate, the prose supple: it's his humble awe at the English language that enables him to be a minor master of it' Daily Telegraph

'To give more of plot would be to destroy the great pleasure this complex and accomplished novel offers … Added to his colourful prose and involving narrative are acute psychological insights, beautifully realized characters and landscapes, an examination of the nature of justice, political rage, humour and enough word games to keep any bookish crossword-puzzler happy for hours … The Woodcutter combines romance, fairy tale and tragedy in one of the most gripping crime novels of the past few years' TLS