Customer Reviews

Strange Affair (Inspector Banks Novels)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" Proverbs 17:17. How prophetic that Peter Robinson starts his fifteenth novel, "Strange Affair: A Novel of Suspense" with a quote about friend and family. Detective Chief Inspector, Alan Banks has received a phone message from his brother Roy requesting "Help, It may be a matter of life and death." I found this novel in Amazon's top 100 list, and since I love great English mysteries I picked it up. What a find. Oh, I love this new series.

DCI, Alan Banks, is a man who is driven to find the truth, and a man who does not feel the need to follow rules of law and order.
His brother has called and has now gone missing. A young woman who is found shot to death in her car, Jennifer Clews, has Alan's name and address on a piece of paper on her body. What is this all about? Detective Annie Cabbot is about to find out. Coincidence that Alan and Annie are ex-lovers and have left their relationship in tatters? It makes this all the more interesting. Past history is hinted at, and some of it updated so if you have not read the previous fourteen novels you are still in the picture.

DCI Alan Banks starts the investigation of finding his brother, and interviewing all of those who may know something about the sometimes shady work Roy was known to pursue. Alan is recuperating from a fire in his home that was started by a lover of DI Annie Cabbot. In the meantime Annie is investigating Jennifer Clewes murder, and the connection between Jenn and Alan's brother Roy. In the background is another investigation of several young women who were attacked at night on lonely roads in Yorkshire. The investigations take us into London and back to Yorkshire, and the colors, tastes and sounds of the UK are brought to life by Peter Robinson's imaginative writing. It has been said that Peter Robinson is incapable of writing a dull sentence! The trio of investigations all come together,and the findings of conspiracy, corruption, murders and mobsters bring these mysteries to a singular fantastic conclusion.

At first I was leery of another DCI who was a tough guy that loved his whiskey. But DCI Alan Banks is a man of his own. The complex characters that surround Alan Banks all have their own peccadilloes and are brought to life in this suspenseful and evocative mystery. I have found a new friend in DCI Alan Banks and plan to read every one of the other fourteen novels. A great new mystery-suspense and this may be of the best new British novels. A true find. Smooth as whiskey. Heartily recommended. prisrob

DI Annie Cabot needs urgently to get hold of her colleague and former lover DI Banks. A woman has been found in a crashed car with a bullet in her head and Banks name and address in her pocket. But he is nowhere to be found. This is because he has left for London in a hurry after received a puzzling but clearly urgent `phone message from his businessman brother Roy. And now Roy too seems to have disappeared.

At the time I write this, this almost entirely London-set procedural is the most recent of the Banks series. It is also one of the very best, well written, intriguing and expertly plotted with richly drawn and believable characters. I can recommend it highly and am looking forward to number 16.

In Strange Affair Inspector Banks continues to mature as a character. In it he has his brilliant moments, his life lessons learned and times "when he just doesn't get it". Meanwhile the plot is absorbing and intricate. One of the nice things about these books is that a new reader can start with any book and understand where Banks's head is at now.
I look forward to the next installment.

Strange Affair is the 15th book of the Inspector Banks series, an outstanding series of police procedural crime novels set in Yorkshire, England. In recent books, Banks has suffered some traumatic experiences, particularly at the end of the previous book, Playing With Fire . It seems to me that Peter Robinson has written Strange Affair as a sort of bridge to future Inspector Banks books and is one that will appeal mainly to the devoted fans of the Inspector Banks series.

The fire that destroyed his house and put him in hospital 4 months previously has also affected DCI Alan Banks psychologically, sending him into a depression that he has trouble fighting through. When the story opens he is on an extended holiday which is interrupted when he receives a phone call from his brother Roy, who sounds as though he may be in some trouble. Alan and Roy have never been particularly close and Roy has always sailed close to the wind as far as his business dealings were concerned, but when Banks can't get in contact with him, he grows more than a little concerned. With nothing better to do, Banks sets off for London to find out what could make his brother sound so nervous.

Back in Yorkshire, DI Annie Cabbott has been called to a murder scene on a quiet stretch of road where a young woman sits in her car, having been shot in the back of the head. It's bad enough find a murder victim on your patch, but is even more perplexing when absolutely no motive can be found for the killing. But the clincher that really attracts Annie's attention is the piece of paper found in the victim's back pocket with Banks' name and address written on it.

The bulk of the story takes place in London with Banks' attempting to trace his brothers last known movements and Annie investigating the background of the dead woman. The focus of the story alternates between Banks and Cabbott and it soon becomes apparent that the two cases are connected: it's just a matter of time before the coppers from Yorkshire bump into each other in London.

The majority of the books in the Inspector Banks series deals with police solving crimes by following a set of procedures, hence the description police procedural, and a great deal of each book is devoted to the crime itself. While Strange Affair contains an investigation that follows this style, the main focus is on the characters, their pasts and the way they have been affected by them. Banks goes through a re-evaluation of his life thanks to the disappearance of his brother and through the reaction of his parents. Annie brings to mind a couple of failed relationships, in particular her former relationship with Banks and the one that ended disastrously in Playing With Fire.

Once Banks' state of mind has balanced itself again we are able to focus on a darn good mystery that ties Roy Banks in with the Yorkshire investigation conducted by Annie Cabbott. From a slow, careful and rather introspective beginning the story swells to an outstanding conclusion full of emotion that tests both Banks and Cabbott's self control.

DCI Alan Banks reminds me a great deal of Ian Rankin's Inspector John Rebus. Both men prefer to work alone, reluctant to share their theories with their colleagues. Both are driven by their need to see justice done, allowing the job to take over their lives to the detriment of personal relationships. Heck, both men have a female subordinate who is the source of sexual tension to one degree or another. Both series are outstanding police procedural series featuring interesting, fully fleshed out characters.

Peter Robinson has put a lot of effort into his characters, developing them painstakingly over the past 14 books and it continues in Strange Affair. Banks' past is hinted at as part of the explanation for his depression and a newcomer to the series could come along and enjoy this book, picking up on the tidbits from the past and perhaps even finding their interest piqued enough to go back through the series and see how Alan Banks came to become a Detective Chief Inspector.

I've read almost all of Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks books and have never been disappointed. This one is no exception. This is without a doubt one of the most suspenseful, intelligently written series of mysteries on the market. Just one note: Normally, a reader can pick up any book in this series and have no problem with references to past books. However, I would recommend reading "Playing With Fire" prior to "Strange Affair". But whatever you do, read it.

Is there no end to the genius of this writer? I have read everything he has ever written and he only gets better.

I especially like getting into the lives of his continuing cast of characters. Over the years I have followed Banks from a married man with children, just starting out in the police profession, to a divorced man with various female relationships . We are still in touch with all of his emotions, his taste in music and food and all of the other personal items that make him so real.

Each year around this time, I find myself elated to receive his latest and then angry that I have to wait another year for the next. Between Peter Robinson and Ian Rankin, each February and March give me a priceless literary gift.

Just when you think that all of the truly intriguing plot lines have been taken, along comes Peter Robinson. "Strange Affair" left me a little breathless and full of admiration for Robinson's ability to weave a complex story around the brittle and edgy Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his sometimes love interest Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot. In reading fiction, I get really tired of babysitting flawed characters who are written with the expressed desire to add quirkiness, but Banks and Cabbot are not gratuitously damaged and they make bad decisions that seem logical in the light of how humans are wired. In this case, a beautiful young woman is found in her car on a deserted stretch of road with a bullet in her brain and Alan Banks' address in her pant pocket. Is this murder tied to two other similar murders in the same region? And why in heavens name does she have Banks' address on her person? The answer won't be forthcoming because Banks is on holiday in pursuit of his own demons, namely an estranged brother who has left a desperate message asking for help and then disappeared. This journey takes Banks to London and submerges him in the shadowy and unexpected world of his brother's business dealings and situations where he has no authority and no backup. While Banks is trolling the underbelly of London's stock speculators and arms merchants, Cabbot is following the trail of the dead girl back to London and trying to reach Banks through his relatives before an official APB must be issued to find him for an explanation of his connection to the dead girl. The clock is running and Robinson does a masterful job of weaving the parallel stories as they get closer and closer to each other and then collide with a tremendous crash. This is something like the 15th book in this series and it is well worth it to go back to the beginning. My favorite was "In a Dry Season", which sported one of the most unique plot lines I can ever remember. The one to avoid is Robinson's first book entitled "The First Cut". It is completely original but a little unbelievable and not nearly as well written as his subsequent work.

STRANGE AFFAIR is Peter Robinson's 15th book featuring Yorkshire Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. This time out the setting is London instead of Yorkshire as Banks first looks into the disappearance of his brother, and then tries to make sense of his murder. As Banks delves into the life of his brother, he realizes how little he knew him. In a intersecting storyline, a young woman is found shot to death in her car in Yorkshire. The woman has a slip of paper with Bank's address and phone number on it in her pocket. Banks colleague (and former girlfriend), Detective Inspector Annie Cabot is called on to investigate that case.

Robinson has written another winner in his excellent Banks series. The novel is well paced and suspenseful without getting confusing. The characters of Annie Cabot and Banks continue to evolve slowly with each novel. Banks is rather depressed throughout this book after the fire that took all his possessions and his home at the end of PLAYING WITH FIRE. Luckily there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for Banks. I prefer him not to be quite so melancholy. I recommend the whole series even though this a stand alone novel well worth reading.

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of thirteen 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.

Inspector Banks receives a phone call from his brother Roy in London, something of a novelty in itself. But the phone call is quite disturbing and has an air of mystery to it. Banks immediately leaves his patch in Yorkshire and heads off down to the big city to seek out Roy. Meanwhile DI Annie Cabbot is called to the scene of a murder on a quiet stretch of road just outside Eastvale. A young woman has been found dead in her car. The strange thing is that the victim has Banks's name and address written on a piece of paper in the pocket of her jeans.

Meanwhile Banks is staying in his brothers luxurious, but empty house, uncovering more and more details about a brother, that he never really knew and didn't particularly like. Up north Annie tracks down the female victim's friends and colleagues. It seems that both trails are looking likely to intersect at some point and the consequences could be terrifying for both Banks and Annie . . .

Have you ever become so closely identified with your work that you cannot react in a relaxed way with friends and family? A CEO once told me that he had learned to be so skeptical that if his wife said it was raining, he would look out the window to verify the rain before responding.

That's the place where Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks finds himself in this novel. He's estranged from everyone in his life and isn't sure that he cares to change that. But when he runs into an attractive woman he had met in an earlier investigation, he's surprised when she responds with distaste to his suggestion that they have dinner. Well, so what, he thinks.

Banks is still recovering from almost dying in Playing with Fire. His home is gone and so are the photographs and other mementos that reassure most of us. He's not really back to work yet. His relations with his partner and ex-lover Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot are strained. Banks is divorced and doesn't speak with his children very often. He rarely contacts his parents. He's like a man in a daze . . . lost in the fog.

Into this slough comes an unexpected message from his slightly disreputable brother, Roy. Despite his alienation, Banks decides to follow through.

Banks soon finds himself walking in his brother's shoes . . . and learning a lot that he didn't expect to learn.

While this is going on, a young woman is found dead in her care with no obvious cause of death at first glance. Annie heads up the investigation, and her focus takes an unexpected direction with Banks's name and address turn up in the dead woman's pocket.

The story proceeds from there, pursuing two different mysteries for the two detectives.

The beauty of this book is in its intense consideration of the price that a job can cause us to pay in our personal lives . . . and even our very identities. It's well done, and you will acquire much food for thought.

The mysteries are only average, but their unfolding is done in elegant fashion . . . gradually chipping away at hints, clues and facts until only the reality remains. As a result, I felt like I was watching Michelangelo sculpt through much of this book.