On this occasion, Chief Superintendent Harpur and ACC Desmond Iles were almost prepared to forget their differences and get on with the job in hand. Once Panicking Ralph started panicking they were doubly sure. It finally looked like Ron 'Planner' Preston was about to make his first mistake... A mistake big enough to lead Harpur and Iles straight to the source of the crime...
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Who the justice,who the thief"(King Lear),
By F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Take: A Detective Colin Harpur Novel (Hardcover)
This is an entry in the UK police procedural series about"Harpur"and "Iles"but for much of the time the police take a back seat in the story,which revolves around a payroll robbery.The chief architect of the robbery is "Planner Preston" a cautious,meticulous thief who lives quietly with wife and daughter and whose existence is outwardly humdrum and normal.Other gang members are his usual sidekick the motherly "Mansell"and two out of towners recruited for the deal .They are younger men and more prone to violence specially the tattooed "Darren"Preston is getting inside information from the firm marked for robbery and from the police in the form of bent copper"Leckie" We witness the build up of tension within the gang and intercut from there to the no less tangled web of relationships within the police. Harpur is having an affair with the wife of a colleague,which since that person is a trained marksman and fond of using a gun ,is not a deperately good idea.Iles,his superior is troubled by his wife's affair with another man and agonising over the paternity of the child she is expecting We are given background information on the character's lives with details of amateur dramatic productions ,debilitating illness etc all adding to the depth of characterization.There is a great deal on the generation gap among the criminal elements The robbery and its planning gives the book its main theme although there is a murder thrown in for good measure The police do not emerge from the book with any credit.At least two of them are psychotic,and another an adulterer,and the organization is shown as being more adept at cover up than integrity .One almost but not quite ends up rooting for the bad guys It is a book I always felt while reading,had been cocstructed and assembled rather than written.Well put together and deeply cynical it made me want to delve further into the series but not as a priority
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good - But Goes On a Little Too Long,
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Take: A Detective Colin Harpur Novel (Hardcover)
The sixth book in the Harpur & Iles series is a deceptively simple cops and robbers procedural. A very careful local criminal has assembled a crew for a payroll robbery. Harpur & Iles get a very vague sense that something is in the air, but have no idea what. They must race to discover what the job is, without tipping off the suspects. Meanwhile, the hoods must hold it together as the pressure of waiting mounts, and circumstances alter, both in terms of risk and reward.
As usual in James' books, the plot is simple, while the characters are less so. There's the wonderful "Planner" Preston, the mastermind of the heist who is nearing middle age and simultaneously vying for the title of the world's most cautious criminal and struggling with getting old. Also on the team is "Mother" Mansell, a nervous nellie of a different sort, who is the crew's self-appointed guardian of mental health, constantly checking up on how everyone is doing. There are the two out-of-towners brought in for additional manpower, one of whom is disconcertingly sharp, the other disconcertingly attractive. And for extra muscle, local loose cannon "Hopper" is added to the team. The disparate crew grows increasingly edgy over several weeks as they iron out the plan, work their inside contacts, and try and figure out if the police have any hint of the heist. On the other side, Harpur and Iles are both heavily distracted by their private lives -- Harpur with his ongoing affair with the wife of a subordinate, and Iles with the possibly ongoing affair of his pregnant wife (which was the main storyline in the previous book, Come Clean). Getting little tidbits of information here and there, they start to piece things slowly together, more by chance than design. This all builds up to a chaotic climax as the heist goes all pear-shaped -- as does the police response. James juggles all the strands capably and as usual, the dialogue is fun stuff. However, the pacing isn't quite as good as usual, as some of material gets a little repetitive.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good one from a master,
By
This review is from: Take: A Detective Colin Harpur Novel (Hardcover)
Bill James' Harpur and Iles novels are a great pleasure -- this is one series I actively pursue, checking for new ones whenever it seems one might be due. This is up to James' high standards, with memorable crooks and the brilliant character of Desmond Iles contrasted, as always, with the more methodical and much more ethical Harpur. Their uneasy alliance is one of the greatest, and funniest, relationships in mystery fiction. I recommend every book in this series for wonderful characters -- Panicking Ralph is worth a series to himself -- plus tremendous action and lots and lots of humor.
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