Lethal Intent [Hardcover]

Quintin Jardine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2005

Somewhere in Scotland the unthinkable is about to happen ? something that would shatter the very bedrock of society. And for Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner, deadlines are looming. Four ruthless, Albanian gangsters have infiltrated Edinburgh?s underworld and MI5 are all over it. They believe the thugs are trying to move into the city?s drug scene. But do they have a bigger, more audacious objective? Then the son of a police officer is found dead in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. A teenage prank gone wrong, or a foretaste of things to come? Meanwhile the police force is in trouble as Scotland?s unscrupulous First Minister plans to take it over, threatening to ruin anyone who gets in his way. How do you stop the man who holds the reins of power? It?s a triple threat for Skinner - and is his troubled marriage starting to cloud his judgement? As the crimes begin to collide, fragments of the truth are slowly revealed. Skinner and his team race against time to piece them together ? but it could still all come down to a shot in the dark...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jardine's 15th Bob Skinner police procedural opens promisingly, taking the reader inside the corridors of power in Scotland as an ambitious first minister plans to exert near-total control over the police force. While Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner makes a convincing hero, Jardine (Skinner's Rules, etc.) is less skilled at juggling his various story lines—the political struggle between Skinner and the first minister, the "accidental" deaths of children of high-ranking police officers and the hunt for Albanian terrorists. The denouement, which features a last-minute rescue of a British notable, will strike many as something out of James Bond, and only the subplot centering on a traitor within British intelligence redeems the novel. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"If Ian Rankin is the Robert Carlyle of Scottish crime writing, then Jardine is surely its Sean Connery." -- Glasgow Herald

"Jardine excels at coordinating the multiple crimes crucial to a police procedural and setting his coppers against the clock." -- Kirkus Reviews

“Much to savor.” -- Library Journal

“Spirited entertainment. Jardine’s randy blokes (and birds) in blue are reliable page–turners.” -- Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (July 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075530408X
• ISBN-13: 978-0755304080
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,481,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Perplexing, November 8, 2005

By 

Deborah Verlen "Deborah" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lethal Intent (Bob Skinner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Perplexing is indeed the word for this mystery. Jardine, in his 15th addition to the series, has, in my opinion, betrayed two of his main characters--Bob and Sarah. In this book, he has them both declaring that they never really loved one another; yet if you read the books in the beginning of the series, that makes a lie out of the statement. He further insults the reader by giving Bob a new love interest that makes you scratch your head in wonderment--the two of them have no chemistry together. Jardine then states that Bob has never gotten over his dead wife inspite of the fact that she was chronically unfaithful and disloyal--and Bob is a person that values the truth and loyalty. I discovered Jardine's Skinner series many years ago on a trip to Scotland. I've eagerly ordered them from Amazon.UK and pushed our local library to buy them, however, I think now, unless Jardine does something spectacular with the series and puts some depth into his characterizations, this may be the last book I buy or read of his. His characters are not all likeable (especially Bob's self-centered daugher Alexa), but they should grow and they should grow within their character's attributes. It cheats the reader when an author takes a character in a direction (which Jardine has been doing in the last three books) that makes absolutely no sense in the context of the whole series.