Rating: 
Summary: For a leisurely read, this mystery will not let you down
Review: "They were linked in his mind in some odd way. Not technically, of course, but two very different boys from very different times had ended up dead before their time, and both had died violently. Banks wanted to know why, what it was about these two children that had attracted such cruel fate." So thinks Detective Alan Banks as he seeks answers to the mysteries currently on his plate.CLOSE TO HOME by Peter Robinson is the latest in the Alan Banks mystery series and the Yorkshire Detective Chief Inspector demonstrates why the mystery genre continues to draw new fans. The discovery of the bones of Graham Marshall, a boyhood "mate" of the inspector, leads him back to his hometown in hopes of helping to resolve the case. Solving a 30 year-old murder would be difficult enough, but when the threads begin to unravel cover-ups and well kept secrets, the task becomes almost impossible. Meanwhile, in his own bailiwick, another youngster has disappeared. This time it is fifteen year-old Luke Armitage who may have been kidnapped and then murdered. The pieces of evidence surrounding the case just don't fit and, once again, determination and dedication finally help uncover the key elements. The two investigations are conducted simultaneously and Robinson moves the action effortlessly between Yorkshire and Peterborough. With his co-worker and former lover, Detective Inspector Anne Cabbot, following leads in the current case, Banks can spend time with DI Michelle Hart working on the Graham case. The women and the characters in each location are well defined so you never find yourself wondering which case is being discussed. CLOSE TO HOME offers plenty of crisp dialogue, seasoned with enough English flavoring to make it interesting. On this side of the ocean we smile as we get an inside look at pubs named The Pig and Whistle and The Woolpack. And did you know that in England a police lineup is called an identity parade? A book of mug shots is a villains' album? And to waste time is to piss about? I haven't quite figured out all the ramifications of "sod" and maybe I shouldn't even ask! Peter Robinson also has a knack for including trivia and triggers nostalgic feelings when he flashes back to the 60's. The pace of the story was a little slow at times but never enough to distract from the unfolding stories. Avid mystery fans will be delighted with the opportunity of solving these two cases along with the police. For a leisurely read, CLOSE TO HOME will not let you down. --- Reviewed by Maggie Harding
Rating:
Summary: Good read, better than some.....
Review: CLOSE TO HOME is a well-written mystery, or should I describe this book as two mysteries. And, although the protagonist for both stories is Inspector Banks, a policeman in the village of Eastvale in Middle England, the series is not a police procedural as such. Also, forensics while important are not described in all their gory detail. Rather the forensic results are used to shape the investigation.
Mystery #1 involves the disappearance 30 years earlier (1965) of Alan Banks chum Graham, whose bones are recovered in the opening chapters. Because Graham's body has surfaced (literally) the case is changed from "missing 16-year old" to murder. It takes a while to determine the actual cause of death, but suffice it to say a corpse does not bury itself.
Mystery #2 involves the current investigation into the disappearance of a 15-year old boy whose famous musician father committed suicide years earlier, and whose stepfather and mother are frantic with worry.
To complicate matters, Banks is working on case #1 with his old girlfriend Annie, and case #2 with his new friend Michelle. Both female detectives experience their moments of peril, but Banks is able to neatly juggle the investigations and both women as well as a trip to yesterday when Emma Peel reigned on tv and the Krays reigned on the East End of London.
I liked the Inspector Banks book,IN A DRY SEASON, but I thought the novel that followed a silly excursion. In CLOSE TO HOME I find Inspector Banks is back on my list of good mysteries to read even if he is a bit macho for my tastes.. Give me Miss Marple any day.
Rating: 
Summary: you call this wordy story a thriller? give me a break
Review: good writer, but pathetically lengthy and wordy. snail paced story with no climax or surprises at all. read like a nostalgia of an old man's blahblahblah. the author unnecessarily put his own hobby of collecting and listening to old songs into play with the bore-to-death bland story of two murder cases not thrilled in the least. the main character, banks, of this series is just a mediocre copper and actually did not help solving the murder cases but got beaten up and got laid once. and if you could call this a novel of suspense and felt suspended during watching, you definitely never got on a roller-coaster so far in your life. fire your no-brain editor next time and hire one who could slash your original script at least 200 pages, save some papers, save some time waste for the readers. to me, any reviews over 3 stars were just falsely over-rated. this is a novel uninspired, uninteresting, and most of all, too unimportant to give a review.
Rating: 
Summary: "Engrossing story"
Review: I enjoy the writing style of Peter Robinson. I think he has a strong author's voice as far as being a writer goes. His characters are believable and his plots are always well-developed and interesting. I find these things to be a very appealing combination. I think most readers will appreciate the many talents of this writer's 'Close to Home.'
Rating:
Summary: "Engrossing story"
Review: I enjoy the writing style of Peter Robinson. I think he has a strong author's voice as far as being a writer goes. His characters are believable and his plots are always well-developed and interesting. I find these things to be a very appealing combination. I think most readers will appreciate the many talents of this writer's 'Close to Home.'
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I read this book on audio CD. It was modern, yet had the classic elements that keep you interested. The author treated me as if I was an intelligent reader! The plot was complicated in a good way, and it didn't bog down, although it is a long novel. I didn't want it to end. The conclusion didn't let me down; it wasn't predictable. The references to music, which accompany the story all the way along, will either delight you or drive you mad. I thought it was very creatively done. The reader, Ron Keith, was fantastic. I'm writing him a fan letter.
Rating:
Summary: The deaths of two young boys hit "close to home."
Review: In Peter Robinson's latest Inspector Banks novel, "Close to Home," Banks interrupts an idyllic vacation on a Greek island to look into the death of a childhood friend. Graham Marshall, a "mate" of Alan Banks when they were both teenagers, disappeared in 1965. A worker digging the foundation for a new shopping center unexpectedly uncovers a skeleton that turns out to be Graham's remains. Who killed Graham and why? Coincidentally, Banks, along with his former lover, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot, also begins looking into the disappearance of Luke Armitage, a troubled teenager from a well-known family. Banks has changed greatly over the years. He is mellower and more reflective than he has ever been before. Although he still likes to smoke and drink, Banks is beginning to feel the effects a bit more, and he is actually trying to cut down. In addition, now that his ex-wife and children have moved on with their lives, Banks has had a great deal of time to take stock of where his own life is heading. "Close to Home" has many of Peter Robinson's trademark touches. The author delves deeply into the psyche of his characters. Robinson takes the time to humanize the police officers, the criminals, and the suspects in his novels. The reader becomes involved with their predicaments and deeply invested in the outcome of the story. In addition, Robinson introduces another interesting female character, Detective Inspector Michelle Hart, a woman with a tragic past to whom Banks is attracted. In "Close to Home," unfortunately, Robinson missteps a bit. First of all, he has gone to the well once too often when he chose the "bones uncovered after many years" story line. This plot was used successfully in Robinson's own "In a Dry Season", and again in at least three other mysteries that I have read recently. I am surprised at this lack of originality in an author as creative as Robinson. In addition, at almost four hundred pages, the book meanders a bit and takes too long to reach its melodramatic denouement. In addition, Robinson is a little too heavy handed when he hammers home his recurring theme, which is that the past is never really behind us. Until we come to terms with the events of long ago, and until we exorcise the demons that plague us, we can never hope to face the future and find happiness in life. Robinson has expressed this viewpoint in his previous novels many times, but with more finesse and subtlety than he does here. I have come to expect a great deal from an author as accomplished as Peter Robinson. Although "Close to Home" is a serviceable mystery, it is not an excellent one.
Rating:
Summary: The deaths of two young boys hit "close to home."
Review: In Peter Robinson's latest Inspector Banks novel, "Close to Home," Banks interrupts an idyllic vacation on a Greek island to look into the death of a childhood friend. Graham Marshall, a "mate" of Alan Banks when they were both teenagers, disappeared in 1965. A worker digging the foundation for a new shopping center unexpectedly uncovers a skeleton that turns out to be Graham's remains. Who killed Graham and why? Coincidentally, Banks, along with his former lover, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot, also begins looking into the disappearance of Luke Armitage, a troubled teenager from a well-known family. Banks has changed greatly over the years. He is mellower and more reflective than he has ever been before. Although he still likes to smoke and drink, Banks is beginning to feel the effects a bit more, and he is actually trying to cut down. In addition, now that his ex-wife and children have moved on with their lives, Banks has had a great deal of time to take stock of where his own life is heading. "Close to Home" has many of Peter Robinson's trademark touches. The author delves deeply into the psyche of his characters. Robinson takes the time to humanize the police officers, the criminals, and the suspects in his novels. The reader becomes involved with their predicaments and deeply invested in the outcome of the story. In addition, Robinson introduces another interesting female character, Detective Inspector Michelle Hart, a woman with a tragic past to whom Banks is attracted. In "Close to Home," unfortunately, Robinson missteps a bit. First of all, he has gone to the well once too often when he chose the "bones uncovered after many years" story line. This plot was used successfully in Robinson's own "In a Dry Season", and again in at least three other mysteries that I have read recently. I am surprised at this lack of originality in an author as creative as Robinson. In addition, at almost four hundred pages, the book meanders a bit and takes too long to reach its melodramatic denouement. In addition, Robinson is a little too heavy handed when he hammers home his recurring theme, which is that the past is never really behind us. Until we come to terms with the events of long ago, and until we exorcise the demons that plague us, we can never hope to face the future and find happiness in life. Robinson has expressed this viewpoint in his previous novels many times, but with more finesse and subtlety than he does here. I have come to expect a great deal from an author as accomplished as Peter Robinson. Although "Close to Home" is a serviceable mystery, it is not an excellent one.
Rating:
Summary: great crime novel
Review: Now, this is only my second taste of Peter Robinson. My first came when I eagerly read Gallows View the first Inspector Banks novel, and came away suitably impressed. Impetuous as I am, I decided to abandon series order and read this latest one. Naughty, but true. Needless to say, I am now positive that I have been missing out on a great series. In the summer of 1965, Graham Marshall, a young boy and friend of Alan Banks, disappeared into thin air while on his paper round. Now, decades later, some human bones are unearthed not ten miles from his home. They are quickly identified as Graham's. Alan Banks is holidaying in Greece (recuperating from his last, affecting case) when he reads of the discovery of his old friend's remains in a newspaper, and promptly decides that it's time to return to see if he can lend a hand. While all this is going on, another young boy disappears in Yorkshire, and while the dual cases are entirely unconnected, for Banks they still hold eerie similarities, as they echo each other across the gap of years. Then, curious memories begin to surface about his old friend. Memories which may have a bearing upon what happened, and memories that Banks now wants explaining... It is clear that Chief Inspector Banks has remained the likeable, delightfully realistic protagonist that I met in Gallows View, and I suspect that for long-term fans it'll be a great treat to meet, as we do in this book, his parents. This is often a very nostalgic novel, giving us insight into Bank's childhood at the same time as being both moving and haunting. The writing is clean and sharp, the plot is good (although nothing extra special) and structured well, he develops his characters adequately (in fact, I am probably missing out a little due to not reading the series in order), and they are very interesting. Although I would like to have got to know Michelle Hart a bit better. But then, I expect he's storing that up for the next one... The police procedural aspects are handled with the skill and knowledge of a seasoned profession, and at times he certainly shows himself to be more than qualified to challenge such greats in the field of British police procedure as Ian Rankin and Reginald Hill. The solutions to both parallel mysteries are satisfying and quite unexpected. Existing fans of Banks (and I now count myself most definitely among them) are sure to be pleased with this novel, as are readers new to him. (Although, those of you that are new to him, I would, in retrospect, recommend reading the series completely in order.) Ian Rankin clearly has some hot competition following hot on his heels.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular
Review: Peter Robinson's "Close to Home" is a gem...one sensational read. Reading it is like watching an exquisite ballplayer at work...he makes the writing look so easy that only a thoughtful examination will clue you in as to how ingenious the writing is.
Chief Inspector Alan Banks is called home from vacation when a body dumped in 1965 is unearthed. Turns out the body is that of Graham Marshall, a boyhood pal of CI Banks.
In his own district, Banks is investigating a missing person, turned kidnapping, turned homicide. The victim is a teenager, about the same age as was Graham Marshall when he disappeared.
"They were linked in his mind in some odd way. Not technically, of course. But two very different boys from very different times had ended up dead before their time, and both had died violently."
Banks has able assistants in both cases: Michelle Hart in the Marshall case and Annie Cabbot on the current case.
The police procedural on both matters is detailed, captivating and all three detectives have an instinct for crime solving.
Banks is a keen observer of humanity and a man of integrity...a marvelous protagonist. In each case the whydunit will uncover whodunit.
I plan to go back and read the entire series. This is the first British mystery that has grabbed my attention in forever.
The pages absolutely glided by.
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