The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter
Reginald Hill

A fast-moving, stunning new standalone psychological thriller – from the award-winning author of the Dalziel and Pascoe seriesWolf Hadda has lead a charmed life. From humble origins as a woodcutter’s son, he has risen to become a hugely successful entrepreneur, happily married to the girl of his dreams.A knock on the door one morning ends it all. Thrown into prison while protesting his innocence, Wolf retreats into silence. Seven years later prison psychiatrist Alva Ozigbo makes a breakthrough: Wolf begins to talk. Under her guidance he gets parole, returning to his rundown family home in rural Cumbria.But there is a mysterious period in Wolf’s youth when he disappeared from home and was known to his employers as the Woodcutter. And now the Woodcutter is back, looking for the truth – and revenge.

REGINALD HILL

THE WOODCUTTER

Copyright (#ulink_6c9f9744-e161-5211-a546-0c6ffbc92fb2)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Harper HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Published by HarperCollins 2010

Copyright © Reginald Hill 2010

Reginald Hill asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780007343874

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2015 ISBN: 9780007343898

Version: 2015-09-18

For John Lennard

a poet among critics

a true friend to writers

and a fountain of knowledge

who by imagining what he knows

helps us to know what we imagine

‘Insensé, dit-il, le jour où j’avais résolu de me venger, de ne pas m’être arraché le coeur!’

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Alexander Dumas: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

Contents

Cover Page (#ud0b4896b-1392-57de-a954-d0ca9ffcc927)

Title Page (#ud300a2b5-502f-5b1f-b3ed-1935d3219e92)

Copyright (#u155dd043-6c93-54c6-bf0e-d9df8b135c55)

Epigraph (#u2b12fe6a-a9de-5c2f-8a5f-ced78e94d8d0)

PROLOGUE (#u7eced605-9994-5120-b967-f2b1929a7241)

1 (#u2508b0bd-ff94-57d1-92c0-f77d1bf19b69)

2 (#u1520ccb2-a9cf-5cd3-aee3-7bcb797fd650)

3 (#u458f7627-fa48-5d6f-a319-851d42e36a25)

BOOK ONE (#u64e7cd6c-d6d7-57a4-a684-9018ec23520b)

Wolf (#ubbd9f28f-0538-5ad4-ad9d-0ccf7505a6c6)

Elf (#u150b2397-7842-564c-b8dd-3bf03f2c52f5)

Wolf (#u40f7d1b9-123f-5349-b213-1c3481e1d1e1)

Elf (#u5b1cf695-7d82-501f-a8f9-02ce7db2960b)

Wolf (#uea7a1493-7722-50ad-9ac0-a786d1fced73)

Elf (#uab67b411-3d67-55a6-8059-cb6684683bc2)

Wolf (#u048d97f3-af4f-516a-98f3-f1aa3b89f710)

Elf (#litres_trial_promo)

Wolf (#litres_trial_promo)

Elf (#litres_trial_promo)

BOOK TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

1 (#litres_trial_promo)

2 (#litres_trial_promo)

3 (#litres_trial_promo)