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A Cure for All Diseases | 
 enlarge | Author: Reginald Hill
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £0.01
You Save: £17.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 22209
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9
ISBN: 0007252676
EAN: 9780007252671
ASIN: 0007252676
Publication Date: March 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Weekday orders sent from the UK within 5 working days; Cover artwork may differ; 70,000+ Amazon orders sent out;
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 A muddled read December 30, 2008
I'm usually a great fan of the Dalziel and Pascoe novels, but this is one of the poorer ones. Frankly the first 200 or so pages are not worth reading and are very dull. It's only on Page 205 (in my paperback edition) when the murder finally happens that the novel actually commences. If I were you, I'd start there and you've lost nothing. I can also recommend skipping entirely any of Charley's boring and long-winded emails - they're not worth the read either. Other than that, the rest of it is fine. Though there are far, far too many exclamation marks scattered throughout the book, which gives an unfortunately amateur feel.
The one really good thing is at least we do get a lot of the marvellous Franny Root - he's fabulous and holds the book together. More power to his elbow, as that's a hard task indeed.
One for the committed fans only, and let's hope Hill is back on form with the next one.
 Fat Fighters December 29, 2008
The Fat Arm of the Law is indeed back, sort of. It's not just the principal character which is overweight, as this ultimately frustrating book drags on rather too long and is very unsatisfactorily concluded.
Neither the crime nor the victim are a great surprise and a lot of fun is to be had in the build-up of the various protagonists/suspects, but, once the crime has been committed, the book's momentum is lost. Perhaps taking so much out of its usual context is unsettling and the arrival of Pascoe and Wield seems more like an invasion, but it gave me the impression the author has lost some affection for the characters and is perhaps becoming bored with Dalziel and Pascoe.
This book reminds me of much of Dick Francis' output, a good story spoiled by a weak conclusion. I would almost go so far as to recommend avoiding this one, especially having enjoyed The Death of Dalziel more than any other in the series. My hesitation in doing so is that half of this book is very enjoyable, but that is spoiled by the messy, frustrating and implausible conclusion. The format, in six parts, is insignificant and seems rather pointless.
 Stop the moaning!!! December 9, 2008
I'm staggered at the amount of moaning about this book! For goodness' sake [1-star reviewers please note correct apostrophe] can't you respect a quality author trying to stretch the boundaries? I'm not that well-read in Jane Austen but know enough that she [to whose followers this book is dedicated] was in many ways ahead of the game in her own time. To the initiated [or at least those who listen to Mr Hill's drift] there are all sorts of clues, many wryly amusing. If you're going to appreciate a writer like Hill, stay with him, go the distance. Frankly, it's you who will be found wanting. Enough. Having said all that, the book is not the writer's best but he's hamstrung in trying to get fatman back to base within a reasonable timescale. Can we now bid farewell to Franny Roote though, please - I'm fed up with him.
Too clever by half! November 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a great fan of the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill. So as other fans of the charactrs have already said I too was greatly looking forward to catching up on the latest escapades from our 'Heroes'.
Sad to report, I was bitterly dissapointed with this book.
It was a cross between a Victorian style Jane Austen 'Dear Diary' format and the bluster of Andy Dalziel of mid Yorkshires finest.
I found the very large chunks of the book given over to the emails.....did I say emails! I mean tomes between psycholigist Charlotte Heywood and her sister 'somewhere in Africa' tedious and slowed the plot down. I realise it was used to build a theme for the books, but surely there could have been some other way of doing this or at least cut down the emails. Nobody sends stuff of that length by email surley .
I feel maybe Reginald Hill, needs to think carefully, about how he writes the next Dalziel and Pascoe novel or he will lose a lot of readers who quite frankly will be bored.
Keep the intellectual aspirations out of your Detective novels Reg'! Save it for your other books.
Failed experiment November 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm only half-way through this book (having read all previous Reg Hill books) and can say that I nearly abandoned it. The first part, which is almost all in the form of email correspondence, is far too lengthy - I don't care if it's setting the scene, I was constantly waiting for something to happen.
My main complaint is the lack of punctuation in the emails - I use emails every day and can't understand why we have to have a separate grammatical style for them. The word 'shed' primariliy conveys a wooden building at the bottom of the garden; but not in these emails - it's actually 'she'd' without the apostrophe. (Other examples - wed, im, couldnt, hed, hes etc). WHY? It annoyed me intensely and reduced my enjoyment of the book. Does Mr Hill think that to emphasise the email style all he has to do is omit apostrophes?
I have now just reached part 2, which I see is written in Mr Hill's usual style and I shall continue to the end.
Mind you, having said all the above, should Mr Hill write and publish another book - I will almost certainly buy it!
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