Close to Home: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Trevor Dickinson was hungover and bad-tempered when he turned up for work on Monday morning..." (more)
Key Phrases: new town expansion, missing notebooks, commando knife, Graham Marshall, Luke Armitage, Martin Armitage (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Having already shown, in 1999's In a Dry Season, that he can plumb historical homicide for gripping modern drama, Peter Robinson goes further in Close to Home, telling parallel stories about teenage boys lost in a grownup world, decades apart. The first is Graham Marshall, a childhood pal of Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, who vanished mysteriously in 1965, the supposed victim of a pedophile. Hearing that Graham's bones have finally been unearthed, Banks quits his vacation in Greece and heads to his hometown of Petersborough, England, hoping to assist the investigation--and, perhaps, assuage his guilt over his friend’s fate. Meanwhile, Banks's colleague and ex-lover, Annie Cabbot, is busy probing the recent disappearance of 15-year-old Luke Armitage, the sensitive, brainy son of a rock star who committed suicide during Luke's infancy. After Cabbot catches hell for interrupting what may or may not have been a legitimate ransom payment for Luke's return, she seeks Banks's advice, drawing these two plot lines neatly together.

As this intense and intricately crafted puzzler develops, blending fiction with a bit of fact (the Kray brothers, who ran a criminal ring in London's East End during the mid-20th century, play off-camera roles here), Robinson explores Banks's troubled relationship with his parents, especially his working-class father, who "had never approved of his choice of career." He also raises doubts about a famed copper who’d originally tackled the Marshall case, involves Banks romantically with a damaged detective whose investigative diligence threatens her safety, and shows Cabbot as someone better and stronger than merely Banks's protégé. Working with themes of lost youth and the dark secrets hidden in small towns, Robinson delivers in this 13th Banks novel a police procedural of remarkable human depth. --J. Kingston Pierce

From Publishers Weekly

In this 12th novel to feature Det. Chief Insp. Alan Banks, the brooding Yorkshire policeman is called back to England from holiday when someone discovers the remains of his old childhood friend Graham Marshall, who disappeared from their hometown in 1965. It's a journey back to Banks's own past and the provincial town of Peterborough, where he assists Michelle Hart, a local detective, on the case. He's also advising his colleague (and former lover) Annie Cabbot as she investigates the more recent disappearance of another teenager: Luke Armitage, the introverted, intellectual son of a British rock star who committed suicide when Luke was a baby. Like P.D. James, Robinson works on a large, intricately detailed canvas (sometimes too detailed-even the minor figures get at least a thumbnail sketch). The plot is richly complex, with lots of forensic science, a fair bit of English criminal history (the Kray brothers, legendary '60s-era London East End gangsters, make an appearance) and some internecine police department feuds. There's a fair amount of action and lots of suspense; someone doesn't want Hart or Banks to pursue the decades-old case, and Cabbot has her hands full with a plethora of unsavory suspects in the Armitage case. Along the way, Robinson probes more abstract ideas: the illusory nature of nostalgia; the dark, secret lives of small towns; middle age; and the oft-lamented challenges of going home again. This satisfying and subtle police procedural has a little bit of everything.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (February 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060198788
• ISBN-13: 978-0060198787
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,022,189 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 13 in The Inspector Banks Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong Finish, May 30, 2003

By	Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Peter Robinson's Close to Home is an excellent crime/suspense novel that actually gets stronger as it goes along. The novel concerns the unexplained deaths of two teenage boys, over thirty years apart. Inspector Banks returns home from a Greek vacation to deal with the discovery of the bones of one of his old classmates who had been missing since the mid-sixties. The story of this murder is juxtaposed with the story of a young man who has disappeared and is soon discovered dead. The novel is full of suspense and plenty of red herrings. It's an enjoyable read, especially at the end. Frankly at the start I was a little wary. I've read a couple newly-discovered bones mysteries lately, and wasn't exactly searching for another, but this one keeps getting stronger as it goes along to its satisfying finish. Enjoy.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely brilliant..., February 6, 2003

By	tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Two incidents scarred a 14 year old Alan Banks in 1965: the first was a near assault at the hands a derelict (and possible pedophile/murderer), and the second was the disappearance of his good friend, Graham Marshall. Banks, has always feared that his failure to report the attempted assault may have resulted in Graham's disappearance and death. Now, when Banks reads in the newspapers some 40 odd years later, that Graham's remains have been found in a field, he immediately returns to his childhood home in Petersborough in order to offer whatever help the police officer currently in charge of Graham's case (the fetching DI Michelle Hart) is willing to accept, and to hopefully discover what happened to Graham and, finally, to close one of the more painful chapters of his life. And while a seasoned policeman like Alan Banks knows full well that all kinds of dark and painful secrets are likely to be uncovered and aired while a murder investigation is being conducted, not even he is fully prepared for the level of corruption that he and Michelle soon find themselves in the middle of...

This is, I think, the best British police procedural that I've read in the past 4 months at least. I liked the manner in which Peter Robinson juxtaposed the investigation into the long ago murder of Graham Marshall with the more current one of Luke Armitage (another teenage boy with secrets) so seamlessly. And I thought that the manner in which Robinson handled the various motifs -- Banks' memories of what was going on that fateful year, Banks' difficult realtionship with his working-class parents, the fact that parents (no matter how loving) actually have very little idea of what's going on in their children's lives, Annie Cabbot's initial handling of the Luke Armitage case, etc -- was really well done. I also liked the manner in which the authour drew things out, all the while slowly building on the level of suspense/tension (as each new plot development is revealed) so that you really had that on-the-edge-of-your-seat feeling.

"Close to Home" proved to be a totally engrossing mystery novel that was incredibly hard to put down -- the characters were well drawn and fully developed; the subplots were intriguing, full of rich detail, atmospheric and vivid imagery; and the narrative style was subtle and nicely nuanced. My vote: "Close to Home" is definitely one of the early contenders for best mystery novel of the year.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Entry, April 3, 2003

By	bill runyon (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This Peter Robinson mystery is one of the best available,
and it is truly difficult to put down once started.
The hero, Chief D.I. Alan Banks is a complex character, in
both his professional and his personal life, and this book
continues his evolution as he continues to think about his
ex-wife, as well as his 2 children and their careers, and as
he wonders frequently where his personal life is headed.
Plus, he is facing "burn-out," as the murders and criminals
he faces routinely blunt his emotions and feelings, and he
fears he is withdrawing from some of his professional life.
The story revolves around 2 missing children, one of which
becomes his current case when the teen-age boy is found dead,
and the other of which was his buddy when he disappeared in
1965. There are so many parallels, Banks worries about both
cases, and he is drawn to the investigation of the old 1965
case in his hometown of Petersborough, while handling the
investigation of the other boy in his own jurisdiction of
North Yorkshire.
While Banks worries about his relationship with one of his
detectives, Annie, he meets up with an intriguing red-haired,
green-eyed woman detective, Michelle, who is working the
old 1965 case with new clues. So Banks has a lot on his
mind as he unravels one mystery, and he gets fully involved
in the second.
Both cases involve personal danger to both Banks and his staff,
and there is plenty of action, as well as the intellectual
stimulation Robinson puts together, and this is a very
satisifiying book, and one that is highly recommended.
Plus, you can learn a lot about English countryside life
and work, while Banks visits his retired parents and makes
the rounds while helping with the 1965 case.
Entertaining and fun.