I decided to read this book on the basis of a blog recommendation, forgetting I had read and disliked the only other instalment in this series I have read. The plot of this one was intriguing and well done, but I gave up reading in disgust at the end of chapter 10 and skipped to the end just to find out whodunnit.

The portrayal of the female characters was extremely problematic: Banks' immediate team seems to be entirely made up of women, two of whom fight over him in a bizarre and emotionally unconvincing scene which comes out of nowhere; Banks reflects that they are 'bitches' before romancing a woman 30 years his junior, who finds men her own age 'far too shallow'.

No more Peter Robinson for me. ( )

Banks investigates the mysterious death of Gavin Miller, an apparent recluse with few friends and dismissed five years previously from the local college. He was an alumnus of Essex University, a hotbed of leftist political groups in the early 1970s and Banks has to try and find a link with Miller's past which might explain his death. As usual, Banks' unorthodox methods bring him into conflict with his bosses as well as his team at times. Interesting cast of characters with references to a time I was also at university, in Salford, so there were some personal resonances. ( )

First Inspector Banks novel I have read, although I have watched several episodes of the television series.

A man in his late fifties is found on the ground by a railroad tunnel, apparently jumped or thrown from the bridge above. The bridge was abandoned long ago and is in the middle of nowhere, not easily reached by vehicle.

It turns out the body is of a former college professor who was dismissed following allegations of sexual misconduct with two female students. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks notes that the man looks much older than his years, as he is undernourished, emaciated. He also carries 5,000 pounds in his pocket. It isn't long before Banks concludes that this is not a suicide, even though Gavin Miller might have had reason to end his life.

Banks forms a team including DI Annie Cabbot, DS Winsome Jackman, and DC Geraldine Masterson, and tries to take advantage of the strengths of each. The investigation branches wider and wider, beginning with the accusations of sexual misconduct four years previously and extending back to the seventies, when Miller was in school. Was he really a "pervert"? Did he know something or someone from the 1970s that led to his death?

It's a well-structured procedural, with many interviews revealing Robinson's facility with dialogue and its use in developing characters. Good character development and plot. ( )

I love the Inspector Banks series. Banks is always defying his bosses instructions when pursuing an answer to a mystery. Thank goodness because if he didn't, nothing would get solved. Actually this book did not have a tidy solution at the end, and that was a little disappointing for me, and that is why I've given the book 4 stars instead of the usual 5 that I usually give. Banks and his team are called in to investigate what appears to be either a suicide or accident when a down and out ex-college professor is found face down on a disused railway track. And the more that Banks digs, the more people get drawn into the net, so that when it is determined that the man was murdered, Banks pursues his prey in the higher echelons of society, even after he was warned off by his superiors. Banks and his wonderful team uncover secrets long buried for 40 years, and if those secrets are brought out, they could change the face of the political outlook in England. At some risk to himself, Banks confronts the actual murderer and finds out the whole story, but is warned off again by his superiors and a delegate from MI5. He decides to let the secret lie, and lets the investigation die down. Robinson's writing skills are excellent and his character development is spot on, and that is why I love this series so much. This is one of the better police procedural series out there. ( )

In terms of the twists and turns of a good detective story, this is up there with the best. I did not work out the perpetrator before Mr Robinson explained it so, why award only four stars?

It is difficult to answer that question without revealing the criminal (which I would not like to do because this might be read by someone who hasn't completed the book or, even worse, myself before re-reading it!) I will give the analogy of some Sherlock Holmes novels, in which, Lord So-and-so is allowed to retire to the drawing room and put a bullet through his brain, rather than have his family face the disgrace of having a murderer in their midst. The fact that this cover up leaves the murdered housemaid still with the reputation of a common prostitute, who was killed by a client, is ignored.

I am not naïve enough to believe that, in real life, such miscarriages of justice do not occur and, I would not expect Mr Robinson to pretend they do not, either. I was hoping that my hero, DCI Banks, would collude a little less readily and that the author would not assume that the solution was an acceptable one.

Banks ends the novel with a new girlfriend who is connected with the whitewashed family and I, for one, will feel no sadness if I read that he has been dumped in the next tale in the series. ( )