Author: Peter Robinson
Year Published: 1992
Genre: Adult fiction (mystery)
Pages: 322
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location (my 2019 Google Reading map): UK
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from a friend
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): It was a crime of ingenious evil: a seven-year-old girl taken from her home by a young couple posing as social workers. Chief Inspector Alan Banks fears for little Gemma Scupham, even as the motive for her kidnapping remains a mystery. No ransom is ever demanded, nor could Gemma's tortured, guilt-ridden mother afford to pay one.
And when the body of a young man is discovered in an abandoned mine, slain in a particularly brutal fashion, a disturbing case takes one more sinister twist, drawing Banks into the sordid depths of a malice more terrible and terrifying than anything the seasoned investigator has ever encountered.
Review: My parents are both reading this series of British detective novels and so I borrowed this book while we were on vacation. It is book 6 in a long series of Alan Banks detective novels, but I could easily pick up on who the characters were and didn't feel like I missed out by not reading the first five installments.
I really enjoy books set in the UK and detective novels so this one worked well for me. There are definitely British words and ideas in the book, which some Americans might find confusing, but for me, it was great (my family is all British).
The cast of characters is also good; it's an ensemble story and I can see that reading the series the reader would really get to know about Banks, his family, and his colleagues. While the crimes in this book have the potential to be really gruesome, the details are left to the reader's imagination rather than being spelled out, which I liked.
Challenges for which this counts: none
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from a friend
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): It was a crime of ingenious evil: a seven-year-old girl taken from her home by a young couple posing as social workers. Chief Inspector Alan Banks fears for little Gemma Scupham, even as the motive for her kidnapping remains a mystery. No ransom is ever demanded, nor could Gemma's tortured, guilt-ridden mother afford to pay one.
And when the body of a young man is discovered in an abandoned mine, slain in a particularly brutal fashion, a disturbing case takes one more sinister twist, drawing Banks into the sordid depths of a malice more terrible and terrifying than anything the seasoned investigator has ever encountered.
I really enjoy books set in the UK and detective novels so this one worked well for me. There are definitely British words and ideas in the book, which some Americans might find confusing, but for me, it was great (my family is all British).
The cast of characters is also good; it's an ensemble story and I can see that reading the series the reader would really get to know about Banks, his family, and his colleagues. While the crimes in this book have the potential to be really gruesome, the details are left to the reader's imagination rather than being spelled out, which I liked.
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