Customer Reviews

All the Colors of Darkness (Inspector Banks Mysteries)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Peter Robinson's books are always worth reading. I've enjoyed all of his Inspector Banks mysteries and was looking forward to number 18. Of course all the major characters are back as are the locations in the fictional Yorkshire Dales towns his fans have come to feel so familiar with. This latest entry in the series takes Inspector Banks back to London for much of the story, and Robinson tries some new subject matter, including a homosexual relationship and international terrorism, neither of which comes off very convincingly.

In All the Colors of Darkness an openly gay theatrical figure is found hanging from a tree, and the body of his mysterious lover is found badly mutilated. Robinson uses and acknowledges plot elements and themes from Ian Fleming's 007 novels, Hitchcock's North By Northwest, and even Shakespeare's Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library). Overall it just seemed a little too over-the-top for my taste. Even more disappointing are a tangential plot about thugs in the East Side Estate and an extraneous Al Qaeda attack.

If you are reader of the series, then you will want to read this one and see what happens to the continuing characters. If you are new to the Banks series, I'd say start at the beginning with Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Mystery or with a better entry in the series (my personal favorite is still In a Dry Season) or even with his standalone thriller The First Cut: A Novel of Suspense.

Reading the 18th book in the Inspector Alan Banks series is very much like sitting down for a chat with an old friend. For many of us, Banks is comfortable, familiar, someone in whom we have an interest , a person for whom we've come to care. Whatever the case, we know in advance that the time spent together will be sometimes surprising , always satisfying. So it is with All The Colors Of Darkness.

We now find a very content Alan Banks who "stretched and almost purred" as he awakes. After all, he's with Sophia, a rare beauty who's a bit of a mystery to him but a delightful one. It's his weekend off and he and Sophia are hosting a dinner party in the evening. Thus, he's not at all agreeable when he receives a call from his associate DI Annie Cabbott saying that his help is needed. Sophia is no more understanding about Alan's sudden departure than his former wife was about their canceled plans, his unanticipated absences.

However, as concerned as he is about disappointing Sophia Banks soon finds himself caught up in one of the most challenging cases of his career - nothing is as it appears to be, it is far worse than he could have imagined. Two men are dead.

The first to be found is Mark Hardcastle whose body is hanging from "a length of yellow clothesline on a low bough...his feet about eighteen inches off the ground." Mark was gay, a set designer at the Eastvale Theatre, and evidently well liked. The second body is that of his partner, the affluent Laurence Silbert, who had been brutally beaten to death.

Jealousy? A lovers' quarrel turned deadly? A murderer then stricken with remorse a suicide? Detective Superintendent Gervaise is willing to accept that explanation. Banks and Annie are most definitely not.

As is his wont Robinson orchestrates intriguing plots, allowing the pieces to gradually fall together. For this reader there was a bit of slowness from time to time, especially during a luncheon meeting between Banks, Sophia and her parents. I found myself a bit lost with the author's historic description of nearby St. Andrew's and remembrances of T. S. Eliot quotes. That said, Robinson has done a yeoman's task of creating a compelling mystery set in places he knows well.

- Gail Cooke

When Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot spells out her and Detective Chief Inspector Banks' theories about their latest case, their superintendent's response is "It...sounds far-fetched to me." I couldn't agree more. "All the Colors of Darkness" is one of those mysteries in which the reader is led on a wild goose chase of sorts (Shakespeare, spies and 9/11 are all thrown together haphazardly), only to end up at a conclusion that's both mundane and implausible. (And that's only one of the two cases the book covers. The other, involving gangland trouble on a council estate - yawn - is forgettable and pointless.)

This is certainly a step up from "Friend of the Devil," the last Banks novel, but it's still not one of this series' best. As in the latter, I think Robinson is biting off more than he can chew. Unbelievably, on top of the grisly murder/suicide that sets the novel in motion -- as well as a failed romance with a spoiled young Londoner -- Robinson throws Banks smack into the middle of a major terrorist attack, leaving him "smeared with blood and God knew what else," and questioning Man's inhumanity to Man. (It's a puzzling plot development, given that, once introduced, Robinson seems to have little interest in pursuing its monumental implications. As a device, it's remarkably arbitrary.) Banks is obviously heading for a major crash, given his black moods and heavy drinking...but I'm not sure I want to go along for the ride. Not that I have anything against hard-drinking, depressed detectives, mind you, Ian Rankin's John Rebus being a prime example. But at least Rankin leavens his Rebus novels with dry humor; the Banks series is no laughing matter.

And I'm over the constant musical references. I officially don't care what Banks has on his iPod any more than I would expect him to care what I have on mine. As I have no idea what most of the pieces are, it doesn't in any way illuminate the action or give me a better understanding of the character's state of mind.

I was excited by the appearance, halfway through the book, of a young, spunky female PI, one Tomasina (Tom) Savage. I wondered if perhaps Robinson were introducing her as the potential star of a new series. I for one would find that a welcome break from Banks and his troubles; might be that Robinson could use one as well.

I do not recall reading a Peter Robinson before this book and so did not approach it with any expectations other than high hopes generated by the many awards Mr. Robinson has won. From the opening paragraph on, I was drawn to the characters major and minor, from police detectives Ian Banks and Annie Cabbot to minor players like the delightful Tom(asina) Savage, a tough private eye with a soft inside. I followed the book eagerly as much to get to know them better as to pursue the criminal investigation.
The deaths early in the book set up an interesting situation, however, and I was certainly interested in seeing how the "mystery" would be resolved.
About a third of the way through the book, a new element entered in the form of a British intelligence establishment run amok, intimidating innocent citizens, causing wanton destruction, and generally acting in a manner that is incredible to me even in a post-9/11 world. For example (SPOILER), in order to scare Banks away from investigating the case, agents break into his girlfriend's house and destroy all her precious heirlooms and artworks. Speaking of 9/11, the general mood of societal disruption was intensified by a clichéd, irrelevant-to-the-plot suicide bombing in London which, of course, Banks witnesses.
Despite wonderful descriptions of the beauty of the scenery, the buildings, and even the weather, it is clear early on that the picture of life Robinson paints is not a happy one, either for the characters or for large parts of British society. I was not expecting a "live happily ever after"ending, but there is no indication at all that anything will happen to redress the excesses of the intelligence establishment. I cannot find it credible either that the situations described would have occurred or that the authorities would have allowed them to go on as long as they did. I can suspend disbelief in the interest of suspense to a large degree, especially when an author engages me with great characters as Robinson has done, but this plot strained my credulity past the breaking point. I have to believe that this book is not typical of Robinson's plots, or he would not have won so many awards.

"Inspector Banks" is one of my favorite English detective series. Peter Robinson has written many fine installments. My personal favorites are "In a Dry Season", "Cold Is the Grave" and "Past Reason Hated" (which takes place in the Dales in the winter and is highly recommended winter mystery by the fire reading). All of the previous books in the series have been quite enjoyable with clever plots and interesting believable characters. I purchase them as soon as possible and savor them over the course of 1 or 2 days before passing them on to my wife and best friend. I keep hoping Masterpiece Mystery will film some of these. However, this book is another story, it was a disappointment in spades. It's like Peter Robinson trying to do Ridley Pearson or something. A complete misfire. My wife and best friend felt the same. As another reviewer mentioned, the frequent musical references are way overdone. Oh well, everyone has a bad day now and then. Peter, take a big breath and re-read some of your early works. Then sit down and write another great Inspector Banks mystery! I can't wait!!!

I've read all of the books Peter Robinson has written starring Alan Banks. Banks is an appealing, middle aged, music loving Yorkshire detective who used to be a happily married father of two but who in the more recent books is divorced and dating. Usually I read books in this series as quickly as I can turn the pages but I found this installment soon became a chore to read. The beginning of the book was compelling enough with the assumed murder/suicide of a gay couple being the focus of Bank's and returning character Annie's investigation. However when the plot took a turn to the world of international espionage the book really slowed down for me. I haven't given up on Peter Robinson or Banks but I hope the next book in this series has nothing to do with spies. And as other reviewers have noted Robinson's attempt to link the mystery to OTHELLO is not exactly subtle.

I was very disappointed in this book. Plot was overly complicated and unbelievable, the music references so many that I wondered if perhaps the author should write a book on music since he is so very interested in it, the landmarks permeated the text, too much too much too much.

The earlier books, especially the first ones, were more character driven and therefore interesting to me. With this Dark book, I find myself looking for excuses to put the book down and do something else.

Let's get back to the earlier writing which is complex without being pedantic, clever without being self conscious, and much more fun.

Until this book, I thought Peter Robinson to be the best writer of English mysteries around today. But All The Colors of Darkness is a great disappointment. It seems to be sloppily written - almost as if Robinson typed it on his computer but did not write it (to paraphrase Truman Capote). Just two examples - the attempt to tie in the plot of Othello into his current case becomes tiresome and is repeated over and over again; and the terrorist plot in London adds absolutely nothing to the plot.

Surely, Peter Robinson can do better than this and I will still eagerly await his next Inspector Banks book.

I have been a great fan of Peter Robinson's creation: Inspector Banks for a long time. This particular book came as a disappointment because of how great the last few books in the series has been. The narrative sounded tired, hackneyed, and uninspired.

The story starts with what is seemingly a murder suicide. Usually Robinson would work the initial premise into a multitude of possibilities, and then he proceeds to work his way through with equal parts dogged reasoning and uncharted instincts. In this case however, it feels like Robinson is on cruise control. The murder victims and the other supporting characters are really uninteresting people and while the author teases us with some cloak and dagger hints, he ultimately disappoints.

He devoted some time to Bank's romantic life and manages to make a complex man with complex and nonlinear thought process seem doddering and old. Even the usually interesting interplay between Banks and Annie Cabbot seem tired and boring.

I hope the next one is a whole lot better.

I always look forward to the new Peter Robinson thrillers. I have read all of them and enjoyed them all. Alan Banks and Annie Cabbot are like old friends. This books starts with a man found hanging from a tree in a park. Suicide is ruled cause of death but as the story progresses it becomes more and more of a mystery. The dead man is involved in a local theater group and his male lover is a very wealthy older man, whose past is a bit of a mystery. Before the book ends we find the theme of Othello as a murder plot device and Banks is being followed and threatened by M6 or perhaps M5. If the reader stays with the book, it is a very satisfying read indeed.