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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Banks is Back, Oct 6 2008
Ohh, it was with great happiness and anticipation that I settled in on the couch with the newly released 'All the Colours of Darkness'!
This is the 18th book in the Inspector Banks series from Peter Robinson. Every last one has been a great read and this one was no exception.
The series takes place in England and has followed the career of Alan Banks and his co workers. Just as interesting is Banks' personal life. Over 18 novels, it has been fascinating to follow the progressions of the character's lives. It gives such a realistic note to the books and makes the characters even more believable. Banks' fondness for listening to all types of music has more than once sent me on a search for a CD, just to hear what he has described.
Annie Cabot's (Banks' partner and ex-lover) latest case appears to be a suicide by hanging on a school property. However, when she finds the man's lover bludgeoned to death, Banks is called back to work from a weekend away. The case takes an even more curious turn when one of the victims is discovered to have worked for M16 - Britain's Security and Secret Intelligence Services. Even more curious is the speed at which the case is declared closed. Murder suicide - the end. Bank's supervisor, Inspector Gervaise, insists on him taking some time off and to accept that the case is closed. While agreeing, Banks decides to investigate further on the sly and enlists the help of Annie Cabot and Winsome Jackman. And they do discover more....
"Oh, jealousy, betrayal, envy, ambition, greed, lust, revenge. The usual stuff of Shakespearean tragedies. All the colours of darkness."
This case borrows from current headlines and as always is an intelligent mystery.
There is just something comforting about settling down with a Peter Robinson. I never bother reading the cover notes anymore - I just know that I'm in for a really good read. If you haven't yet discovered this award winning series, I encourage you to. They don't need to be read in order - each book is a great tale on it's own.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
All the colours of darkness, Sep 13 2009
I picked this book up with great anticipation, having read 4 others, In A Dry Season being the first, lucky me!
I was disappointed with this 18th book of Robinson's; I couldn't even finish it. I read half the book, and I found the story-line to be rather boring. It certainly wasn't up to this author's usual standard, based on his other books that I have read. I agree with Manning, if you are a new reader, don't start off with this one. You will be disappointed.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
"People don't beat their lovers to death, then hang themselves for no reason", Feb 13 2009
Robinson's novel is filled with surprises as his intrepid hero DCI Alan Banks is forced to investigate a shocking murder-suicide, trekking from his patch in Eastvale Yorkshire to cosmopolitan London. With a local police constabulary that is perpetually understaffed Banks and his colleague DI Annie Cabbot, are shocked by the apparent suicide of a local theatre director Mark Hardcastle his body found hanging from a tree in Hindswell woods. With DS Gervaise threatening to call him back, Alan is chosen to head up the case. Most likely, Mark's suicide was a result of an argument gone wrong, perhaps even a lover`s tiff, yet both Annie and Alan agree that the incident is rife with problems and inconsistencies. There is more blood on Mark's body that one would expect from a few scratches and the only witness in the case is from the owner of the local hardware store who testifies that Mark came in smelling strongly of whisky and he had appeared oddly calm and subdued.
Fielding enquiries at the local theatre company where Mark worked as a set designer, Annie and Alan learn that Mark had lately been a bit edgy after he had gone on a trip to London with Derek Wyman, a teacher at the Eastvale Comprehensive and a self-confessed theatre aficionado. Wyman is a happily married man with children and quick to explain to Annie and Alan that he and Mark were just amicable colleagues with a shared interest in theater and film. As the detectives continue their investigation, a portrait steadily develops of a young man who lived for his work. Although Mark always seemed cheerful, deep down he was very unhappy and unfulfilled until he met the as a wealthy sophisticate Lawrence Silbert.
When Silbert's is discovered at his home in a wealthy suburb of Eastvale, the case takes on the attributes of a murder with Mark as the culprit. The sheer frenzied violence of the crime scene at Silbert`s house, the blood and brains splattered everywhere, and the sense of pointless overkill prove to be too much for the Eastvale police. Apparently But Mark loved Laurence He and Lawrence were practically living together.. According to Wyman, Mark had a jealous nature, , he sometimes felt that Laurence was a bit out of his class, Mark may have had suspicions regarding Laurence's faithfulness, or lack of it. Was it crime of passion distinguished by extreme violence and overwhelming remorse? Certainly people don't beat their lovers to death, then hang themselves for no reason.
When a surprise revelation from Laurence's mother Edwina Silbert sends the investigation spiraling in a new direction, Mark enters a world of spooks and shadows, while Annie finds herself caught up in the criminal underworld of the ramshackle East Side Estate and its underage louts. Could Laurence and by extension Mark's death be in anyway connected with a clandestine world of secret intelligence services or is it a "hands-off murder, murder from a distance, murder by proxy?" Like trying to grasp a handful of smoke, Alan and Annie finds themselves in a convoluted web of supporting characters.
Every time Alan thinks he's taking a step closer to Laurence Silbert or Mark Hardcastle he's actually moving further away from them. Robinson's measured and controlled prose leads the reader on a multi-layered journey through an underworld where Laurence kept a large part of his life secret, his life shades of darkness, shadows, smoke and mirrors. The author beautifully captures a contemporary world of terrorism and spy networks, the symbolism of Othello an important plot element in this deceptive tale of jealousy and betrayal. Mike Leonard February 09.
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