Customer Reviews

Dead Right : An Inspector Banks Mystery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those hunting for all Peter Robinson books, you should note that "Blood at the Root" was originally published in the UK as "Dead Right". Don't go ordering both....

Having loved Robinson's splendid novel, "In a Dry Season," I have become a big fan of this talented author. Even though "Blood at the Root" is not a top notch mystery, it still features the charismatic Inspector Alan Banks. Banks is a music-loving detective with marital problems and a penchant for drinking when he gets depressed. He is also having problems with his supervisor, who absolutely loathes him. In short, Banks is a flawed individual, but when he gets on the scent of the suspect, he is persistent in tracking down any criminal unlucky enough to be in his sights. Unfortunately, this time around, Banks is mired in a dull mystery. The plot revolves around neo-Nazi types who are trying to foster racial hatred in their community. One of their members is found brutally murdered, and the main suspects are Pakistani youths who had an argument with the victim before he was killed. The victim, as well as the other people who figure in this mystery, are not particularly compelling. However, I am still impressed with Robinson's sharp dialogue and his ability to delineate characters, and I will continue to read his work.

In Eastvale, England Sandra and Alan Banks were more and more going their own way. Before Alan, a Detective Chief Inspector, can sort his feelings, he finds himself investigating the murder of Jason Fox, whose corpse was found near a local pub. Alan and his associate Detective Constable Susan Fox soon learn that Jason had a racial confrontation with three Pakistanis. They also discover that Jason worked for the Albion League, who allegedly sells illegal drugs to blacks.

Alan's personal life intercedes when a frustrated Sandra asks for a separation on the grounds that they have nothing in common anymore. Alan also has problems with his superiors, who seem to want him off the case because their superiors have their own sting operation that Alan might muddle. Increasingly becoming depressed and melancholic, Alan, with the help of his loyal sidekick, relentlessly presses on to ferret out the truth behind the killing of Jason Fox.

The Alan Banks mysteries are getting better and better as Peter Robinson has matured to the point of being one of the top writers of English police procedurals. The root of what makes BLOOD AT THE ROOT so good is the increasingly humanizing of Banks, whose character is a depository of personal problems that he struggles to keep out of his investigations. The police's official inquiry and the wealth of well written secondary characters who stomp into Alan's personal space, add a genuine feel to the novel, turning it into one of the top five releases in the sub-genre for 1997.

Harriet Klausner

A young man is beaten to death in an alleyway at night. The plot thickens when his identity is discovered: Jason Fox, a leading light of the Albion League, a thoroughly unpleasant extreme right racist fringe group. As DCI Banks and DC Susan Gay piece the details of Fox's nasty story together, their lives complicate in other ways. Susan is embarking on a relationship with Gavin, a colleague from regional HQ. Meanwhile the state of Banks' marriage is going from bad to worse as is his relationship with his boss Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle. This book, whose British title is `Dead Right', didn't seem to me to be quite as good as its predecessor `Innocent Graves' but is nonetheless another pretty strong and worthwhile procedural from Robinson.

In this novel things are not as they seem. Inspector Banks is sent to investigate a beating death outside of the English pub areas. Everything seems cut and dried at first since the victim was a renowned racist who was seen arguing with a group of Pakistani youths. If it were that simple there would not be a novel.

The book focuses on hatred and drug dealing. Inspector Banks is having major personal problems that at times might hinder his investigation. This is my second Inspector Banks novel (PAST REASON HATED being first). I intend to continue reading the series because I have heard many positive things about the character in other novels. This book was good but not as good as the one I previously read.

I had never read any of Peter Robinson's previous books and didn't really know what to expect. Well there were really 'No worries'. The book moves crisply filling in the gaps of the story in a intelligent way and creating a interesting read. I really enjoyed the character of 'Inspecter Alan Banks' a complex and enjoyble creation. Plus he's a very good detective...

Robinson has really let his characters loose in Blood At the Root. At every turn, he and Susan Gay find themselves questioning themselves, their relationships and their professions. The story is topical and really interesting, but I was a little frustrated by some of the digressions. This is a great series

Peter Robinson always writes a fine novel: good pacing, well-developed characters, a plot which moves steadily and capably toward its denouement. And this one is no exception although the ending was, in my estimation, disappointing. But up until that point, Robinson lays out for us a feast -- or at least a nice lunch. He takes his characters, especially Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, through no small amount of emotional travail, which gives the book added poignancy. But the ending was weak in that ...well, you'll just have to see. I've read all Robinson's Banks books and this is a good one, just not one of his best.

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of a number of previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awards in the United States, Britain and Canada, and in 2002 he won the CWA Dagger in the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based.

Having said that I can understand to a degree why some readers may not like the books. Banks is a character that has grown over several books and the author is very comfortable not only with the character of Banks, but all the other character too. To me this makes the stories flow because the author instinctively knows how his characters are going to react in certain situations. The books are produced as a series and it is nice if you can read them all in the order they were written, but this is by no means compulsory as each book stands alone. They are what I would call `light' reading. By that I mean that they flow and not that they are third rate in any sense, in fact quite the opposite.

A young man has been kicked to death in a filthy alleyway. The victim is a known racist and at first it looks like the result of a pub fight gone wrong, until that is Banks learns that Jason Fox, the victim was a member of a white power organization known as the Albion League. Fox was bound to have enemies but who hated him enough to kill him? The young Pakistanis he had insulted in the pub earlier? Shady friends of his business partner, mark Wood? Someone who resented the teenager's growing power in a brutal and unforgiving organization? One thing is for sure Banks is not going to be short of suspects . . .

I've heard a lot about this series and how fantastic it is. I'm just going to assume I started with a not-so-sizzling entry. It started with a lot of potential, but never recaptured the promise of the first chapter. I kept waiting and waiting for the story to pick up again and it never really did. While it's not a bad book, it certainly didn't stick out as a particularly good one either. If I come across this author again, I hope I land one of the titles that has made Insp. Banks famous.