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Title: A Necessary End by Peter Robinson ISBN: 0-380-71946-0 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 August, 1993 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: I loved Peter Robinson's "Gallow's View." "A Dedicated Man" slipped a bit. Now there's this one, which I didn't even finish. Too much procedure, not enough Banks. Not enough Jenny. The poor wife is nonexistant. That's where the story lies, not with Maggie's Farm. I will try some more Banks, but I don't know if I can keep going if they fail to engage.
Rating: 4
Summary: Inspector Banks investigates the murder of a constable.
Comment: The quiet town of Eastvale in Yorkshire is rocked by an anti-nuclear demonstration that turns violent. A police constable named Edwin Gill is stabbed to death during the demonstration and Inspector Alan Banks is on the case. Unfortunately, his superior is not the supportive and sensible Superintendent Gristhorpe but "Dirty Dick" Burgess, a sadistic, chauvanistic, hard-drinking CID Superintendent who has a hatred for "commies" and hippie-types. Burgess roars into town and immediately starts threatening the locals, using his bullying style of interrogation to get results.
With Sandra and the kids out of town for a few weeks, Banks has plenty of time to follow a few leads of his own. Most of his suspicions are centered around a commune known as "Maggie's Farm," where some sixties-type people live together. One of the residents, Paul Boyd, is a particularly suspicious character, since he has a lengthy police record. Banks wants to find out if Officer Gill was murdered deliberately or if his killing was merely a random act of violence.
"A Necessary End" is not notable for being a scintillating mystery. The resolution of the story is a bit anti-climactic. What Robinson does well is develop character. From the brutal Dick Burgess to the gentle and loving Mara (who lives in the commune), each character comes alive as a result of Robinson's vivid descriptive writing and realistic dialogue. I recommend "A Necessary End". It is a well-paced novel that is also filled with colorful and authentic Yorkshire atmosphere.
Rating: 4
Summary: An excellent police procedural and more
Comment: Banks is one of the more enjoyable fictional detectives because he's a whole person who can't be categorized. The same can be said of the other characters in this readable and satisfying book that, among other things, suggests that you can't tell a person by his politics.
Example: Inspector Burgess, the mean and sometimes mean-spirited visitor from London suspects reds under every bed, left-wing conspiracies behind everything and yet ... likes Billie Holiday. Osmond, who seems a knee-jerk left-winger, talks about the way all anti-nuclear people are presumed to be on the same page on every subject. They're not, he notes, pointing to the anti-abortion position of some left-wing Catholics.
All of this humanizes an interesting detective story. Robinson, who seems to have come to notice in "In A Dry Season'' is up there with the best of the mystery writers and this book is up there with his best.
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Title: Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Mystery by Peter Robinson ISBN: 0380714000 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Hanging Valley : An Inspector Banks Novel by Peter Robinson ISBN: 038082048X Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blood at the Root by Peter Robinson ISBN: 0380794764 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Wednesday's Child by Peter Robinson ISBN: 0380820498 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Cold Is the Grave : A Novel of Suspense by Peter Robinson ISBN: 0380809354 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 04 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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