Aftermath

Rating:
Summary: Here's to you Mr. Robinson!
Review: "Aftermath" is the most recent entry in the British police procedural featuring Superintendent Alan Banks. For those of you who have followed this series, you are in for quite a surprise.

Peter Robinson has done what very few authors of a series have been able to accomplish. He has taken a very popular series of books that were on the cozy side and with each succeeding book made the stories deeper and more meaningful and the characters richer and more complex. With this book, he has passed over from the rather mild British police procedural into the realm of Val McDermid land. In a brutally graphic manner, Mr. Robinson tells his story about a serial rapist and murderer while exploring child abuse, sexual exploitation, espousal abuse and the very dark side of the human psyche.

Along the way, Mr. Robinson adds more layers to the straight forward Alan Banks we met in the earlier books. We have come to discover that this is a complicated man who is in conflict about his broken marriage and the demands of his job. Mr. Robinson has paid the same attention to each character in this book, creating a rich and multi-dimensional cast of players.

One can only applaud him for taking this series in a totally new direction. I imagine it is not that easy for an author to fiddle with a wildly popular series. Mr. Robinson took that chance and we, the readers, are the beneficiaries of his willingness to explore new vistas.

Rating:
Summary: Award-Winning Robinson Comes Back Even Darker
Review: ...Peter Robinson's new mystery AFTERMATH not only succeeds--it succeeds masterfully. Alan Banks is back on the scene, doing his job. Robinson who could be basking in the glow from his recents awards instead tackles his most serious themes ever--domestic abuse, child abuse, torture, and sexual manipulation as well as murder. The crimes in the plot grow increasingly complicated as the book progresses, and Banks has his share of problems with the women in his life. AFTERMATH is dark. It is gritty. It may take place in the English countryside, but it ain't no cozy.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Human Story
Review: Acting Detective Superintendent Alan Banks has the challenge of his career with the discovery of a serial killer. It appears at first that the only thing that remains is to gather evidence and to determine if PC Janet Taylor used excessive force in subduing the apparent killer. Several difficult areas are explored: the serial murders around which the story is centered, together with child abuse, torture, domestic violence, and the excesive force question which might be worth a book on its own. Aftermath is as much the story of PC Taylor, Lucy Payne, and Maggie Forrest as it is of Banks. What happens to these three women is the "aftermath" of the title and stems from the abuse suffered years earlier by Lucy. How Robinson handles the issues and their fates is the true indicator of his mastery of the police procedural.

Robinson does not ask the reader to suspend disbelief; his novels are firmly grounded in reality with believable, all-too-human characters and events which are, unfortunately, all to familiar to our world. (Didn't we in my neck of the woods just go through the Sniper Case?) The impact Robinson's books have on the reader come from the way he handles these characters and events. In the hands of another writer Banks' problems with his divorce from Sandra, his tenuous relationship with Annie Cabbot and the ambivilence he feels toward Jenny Fuller, not to mention his own professional stresses, would be a big bore. Here each character is developed and displayed with mastery. A growing mastery as Robinson has (to borrow from the editorial review) grown before the reader's eyes from the first Banks novel, Gallows View.

I disagree with those who find this book boring, although I did find a few pages with what seemed to be padding, as with Maggie and her shrink. However, the other complaint, that Banks' personal life and relationships are irrelevant, misses the point: Banks the private man cannot be separated from Banks the investigator; these interpersonal relationships define him as much as his work defines him. Altogether a rewarding read and I look forward to the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: so glad I discovered him
Review: I have always avoided British mystery writers (my problem!)because of the difficulty with "flow", whatever that means! I am so glad I persevered. This was an excellent book, complex enough, frustrating enough; a good mystery with good character development. I wish there was glossary of terms however as one misses some of the subtle nuances. I will now read the previous books. Look forward to his next one!

Rating:
Summary: Aftermath
Review: I've enjoyed Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series for many years. His superb storytelling skills have made this series one of my absolute favorites. The characters are always unique and well thought out; the stories are interesting with different twists. Aftermath is no exception. Personally, Banks is at an impasse with the women in his life. Professionally, he's at his peak. The storyline is not necessarily unique but the telling is. Terence Payne, the bad guy, is badder than most; his crimes are even worse. Throw in some more thought-provoking discussion on wife abuse, an horrific tale of child abuse and its aftermath and you've got an A-one story. Don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Inspector Banks novels
Review: If you've followed Peter Robinson's books as he's progressed in his Inspector Banks series, you've seen how not only do the stories develop with greater depth and comlpexity, but also how the characters - especially Banks - grow and change. That's part of the joy of a good series like this; finding out more about characters and how they react.

Robinson's books can be a bit convoluted, but in a good way. This story of a serial killer, his wife, and her past, surprises at every turn, and, while the ending is somewhat to be expected, Robinson carries this out with brio and subtlety. Unlike some suspense novels, where a lot of focus is on shocking the reader, this book is all understatement. The Aftermath of the title, which refers to a female character's past and how this past comes back full circle, is harsh and painful, but Robinson tells this story with just the right amount of detachment.

Many people read suspense novels to see how good and evil interact. Others to figure out whodunit. In Aftermath, you get both. A must read.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic, but entertaining.
Review: Robinson does a fabulous job of combining some of the realistic
details of violent crime, and police work, along with making
the story an entertaining read.
There is a fine line between the technical details of crime and
police work, on the one hand, and the entertaining, readable
story-telling on the other, but this author knows exactly how
to handle this line, and "Aftermath" is a masterpiece of combining the 2 facets of crime-writing.
This book contains a few necessary "dirty" details, but no more
than is required for this story. Anyone who complains about too
much detail of blood, vicious and depraved motives, and twisted
personalities have no concept of what is present in genuine
crime and the shocks real police officers encounter.
The author touches on, and explores a bit, the very complex
questions of the level of responsibility of a woman involved in
a bloody crime along with her male partner. The fact that he
doesn't present some veneer-thin explanation, that might be
easy to understand, shows his understanding of the difficulty
of explaining and categorizing some of these relationships.
Robinson has said this novel wasn't based on the infamous Bernardo-Homolka case in Ontario, but there are some very
parallel facts present, and we should give credit for some
inspiration from a very real, and more horrific, case than his
work here could convey.

Here is a work that is thought-provoking, realistic and quite
entertaining. Most highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Like this would happen no way
Review: The book opens up with two young police constables stumbling on the house of a serial killer. In the basement they find the corpse of a young girl. The serial killer attacks one of the police with a machette and he is then killed by the other constable.

Unlike most murder mysteries which usually aim to find a killer this is one about the aftermath, thus the title. The questions revolve around whether the surviving constable will be charged with the murder of the serial killer and whether it will be possible to implicate the wife of the killer. There are naturally a number of other sub plots.

The problem with the book is that it deviates from what a police procedural should be. That is any police procedural depends on a certain degree of accuracy for its fascination. They reveal something about the process of investigation or the process of the law. The problem with this book is that its events are so far from reality it is hard to read without cringing.

One could not imagine in the real world that a police woman, giving away inches in height would be regarded as anything but a hero for dealing with a serial killer in the way described in the book. The idea that she would face investigation is laughable. In addition the process of the investigation is something out of cloud cuckoo land. Any police officer facing a murder charge would receive independent legal advice and be fully aware of things like the impact of changing a statement. Police deal with these issues day in and day out.

The other main plot hinge around whether the wife of the serial killer will be charged is also from arm chair amateur land. The evidence against the woman at the start of the book is that she lived in a house in which young woman were kept captive for weeks and then killed. There is circumstantial evidence of blood on her clothers and other material under her finger nails. The sort of case which would lead in most cases to a defendant being charged and found guilty with a jury deliberation of four or five minutes. However the author for some reason thinks this is not enough.

So the hero of the book a police officer investigates the matter. His long interviews with the wife are some of the most tedious, meandering, poorly thought out interviews of suspects that I have come across. Even a first year constable would not fall into the traps that he does. Questions are asked which are speculative, with no basis, aimed at electing answers unrelated to the charges. The aim in the book is to create a notion of a battle of wits between a crusty old investigator and a wily criminal. However in reality the questioning is so bad it would form a strong basis for any competent defence team to seriously attack the investigation. Not a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Best yet
Review: This is Robinson's best yet. The characterizations, the sub plots, and the plot itself are all excellent. And chilling.

Rating:
Summary: Aftermath : A Novel of Suspence
Review: This is the longest 466 page book that I have ever read. The the Holy Bible is a quicker read. It was the first Peter Robinson book that I've read and undoubtedly the last. Stephen King must have been paied handsomly to sing the praises of the Alan Banks series. I can't believe that a book of this calibur was even publised in such an overloaded genre. In the words of Simon Cowell, "this book was absolutly deadfull."