The blurb:
When Detective Inspector Bill Quinn is found murdered on the tranquil grounds of the St. Peter's Police Treatment Centre, and compromising photographs are discovered in his room, Detective Inspector Alan Banks is well aware that he must handle the highly sensitive -- and dangerously explosive investigation with utmost discretion. Because the case may involve police corruption, an officer from Professional Standards, Inspector Joanna Passero, is assigned to work with Banks. But the relationship is far from smooth, and Banks soon finds himself and his methods under uncomfortable scrutiny.
Banks discovers that Quinn's murder may be linked to a cold case involving a young English girl named Rachel Hewitt who disappeared in Tallinn, Estonia, six years earlier. A seasoned detective who follows the evidence and his own instincts, Banks is sure that finding the truth about Rachel will lead to Reid's killer. As he follows elusive leads in the dark, cobbled alleys of Tallinn's Old Town, it soon becomes clear that someone doesn't want the past stirred up.
Back in Eastvale, D.I. Annie Cabbot follows her own leads, clues that lead her into the heart of a migrant labor scam involving a corrupt bureaucrat and a loan shark who feeds on the poor. As the evidence begins to mount in both Tallin and Eastvale, Banks sees that the crimes are linked in more ways than he imagined, and that solving them may put even more lives in jeopardy, including his own.
Review:
I'm fond of detective novels and British police procedurals are among my favorites. I've been trying to figure out why I find them so delightful, how they differ from American detective novels. While I'd read one of Peter Robinson's stand alone novels, I wasn't familiar with his Inspector Banks series. I thoroughly enjoyed Watching the Dark. It's strong as a novel in its own right and I'm now interested in reading the earlier novels in the series.
When Watching the Dark opens at St. Peter's Police Treatment Centre, a luxuriously maintained nonprofit that gives injured and recovering detectives a serene and safe place to recuperate, to slowly prepare for a return to their work, I was really interested in the Treatment Centre and the fact that they had a nonprofit dedicated to give police officers the best care and luxurious spa like surroundings. It's something I wish we had here and in the midst of the budget cuts, higher taxes, etc. I can't help but wish for the resources such.
Inspector Banks is consistently polite, determined, slightly flawed, all of which makes him a fun character to read about. Peter Robinson adds to the mix the required presence of the beautiful Inspector Joanna Passero of Professional Standards which puts Inspector Banks ill at ease. He's attracted to her, resentful and wary of Professional Standards both for himself and for the victim Quinn. Come to think of it, Lee Child's Jack Reacher and John Puller, David Baldacci's hero in The Forgotten, are the only two of the internal investigators that I sympathize with. In most detective and police novels, the IA officers are fare from the heroes.
Banks and Passero figure out a complex web of crime over several jurisdictions and they do it in a credible, authentic way. I'm still trying to figure out how Peter Robinson made Banks so distinctive without giving him a larger than life personality. Bank's s detective skills, professionalism and recklessness when in pursuit ensure that the story moves at an engrossing speed while Banks' understated personality of politeness, loyalty and sensitivity endear him so that I felt that I knew him quite early in the novel. I quickly got invested in Banks' success and in the success of his colleagues, especially that of Anne Cabbot, formerly of Professional Standards. I very much enjoyed Watching the Dark and highly recommend it!
Banks and Passero figure out a complex web of crime over several jurisdictions and they do it in a credible, authentic way. I'm still trying to figure out how Peter Robinson made Banks so distinctive without giving him a larger than life personality. Bank's s detective skills, professionalism and recklessness when in pursuit ensure that the story moves at an engrossing speed while Banks' understated personality of politeness, loyalty and sensitivity endear him so that I felt that I knew him quite early in the novel. I quickly got invested in Banks' success and in the success of his colleagues, especially that of Anne Cabbot, formerly of Professional Standards. I very much enjoyed Watching the Dark and highly recommend it!
ISBN-10: 0062004808 - Hardcover $26.00
Publisher: William Morrow (January 8, 2013), 368 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
About the Author:
Peter Robinson's award-winning Inspector Banks novels have been named a "Best Book of the Year" by Publishers Weekly, a "Notable Book" by the New York Times, and a "Page Turner of the Week" by People. Robinson was born and brought up in Yorkshire, and now divides his time between North America and the UK.
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