Watching the Dark: An Inspector Banks Novel (Inspector Banks series Book 20)

I have read quite a few Inspector Banks novels by Peter Robinson and though I’ve read them out of order (Which is fine to do) I’ve grown very fond of the ethical, gruff and clever DCI Banks and have read enough to be both rewarded and frustrated by where he’s at professionally and personally now – as I’m sure Robinson intends.Watching the Dark is the twentieth book in the Banks series and in this novel we find the intrepid inspector investigating the murder of a convalescing peer, DI Bill Quinn, a man recently widowed and who, for some reason, never quite recovered from not being able to solve a case from six years ago about a young English woman who went missing in Estonia. When Quinn is found dead with a crossbow in his chest, and compromising photos are found in his room, Professional Standards in the form of the lovely Joanna Passero arrives to partner an irascible Banks on the case.Not long after Passero is assigned, another man, who appears to be an illegal European immigrant, is also found murdered. Connections between Quinn and this man and the cold case of the young woman start to emerge. It’s at that point that Banks understands he has to travel to Estonia and perhaps solve an old case in order to bring the current one to a close and find the killer. Given permission to travel overseas, he is furious and frustrated to discover that Passero is to accompany him. Able to get under his skin, it’s not sparks that fly so much as hair and teeth when Passero and Banks are forced to work closely together.Added to this is the fact that Banks’ old partner, Annie, who has also just come out of extended convalescence, has returned to work. Determined to find form and fast, Annie refuses the favours offered by Banks and their boss, except where it means being treated as a fully-functioning member of the team. Throwing herself back into her job, she’s forced to confront her fears and memories and finds, once she becomes heavily involved in the case that the professional can be and is personal as well.Nothing and no-one is as they seem in this case and the further Banks and Annie delve, the darker and deeper they’re drawn into the shady world of prostitution, illegal immigrants and drugs and the cruelty that other humans can and do inflict upon each other…I find the more I read these books and love them, the more uneven they can be as well. Robinson has a fabulous way of bringing the characters to life on the page but sometimes, just sometimes, their actions don’t always ring quite true and seem to solve a particular narrative purpose rather than be part of their motivation. For me, one example here, was the relationship between Passaro and Banks. While initially we understood that Banks was annoyed and felt hobbled by the presence of someone from Professional Standards, when he and Passaro have it out and, in his own mind he acknowledges that his beloved Annie also worked for that section and she’s not tainted, past novels tell us that Banks would have moved on and work at building the professional relationship with Passero. In this novel, it doesn’t happen and Banks’ attitude to Passero, particularly when they’re in Estonia and he reverts back to resentment, galled a bit. Banks is not a misogynist though, typical of his generation, he struggles sometimes with women and what they want, but he has always been respectful and appreciative of what they bring to their professional roles and the workplace – this is proven with Annie. With Passero, he becomes, as Winsome accuses him at one stage, childish. But then again, I also put this behaviour down to a growing sexual attraction that he might feel for Passero and the emotional toing and froing that can cause. Likewise, after Passero unloads to Banks about her personal life, the door is open down the track for romance, so perhaps my comments are unfair and this is what Robinson was setting up; but there were times in their relationship at least that the Banks we’ve grown to know and I guess rely on to be stable was not and that was disconcerting. Love might explain a great deal, however ☺Robinson also explores the seamy and seedy side of the underworld with ease, introducing characters you hope you never meet on a dark night. While at the same time, he also manages to bring the beauty of Estonia to life, the novel sometimes reading like a travel book, but as seen through Alan Banks’ eyes – not a bad way to view another country and culture.Overall, I really enjoyed this book as I have the other Banks in the series and will look forward to trawling back and discovering more of his life and cases and fleshing out the holes that currently exist in my knowledge of DCI Banks.

This is the first book I've read by this author. Since this is book 20, I suspect I've missed a lot of Banks' personal life, and by the events in his recent life that were referenced while reading the book, I'm pretty sure I'm right. Even with that, I didn't have any issues keeping up with what was going on.Banks is called out to the murder of a man who's been killed by a crossbow. Since he's dealing with a cop, the case ends up making Banks work with Professional Services. He's not happy about it, especially since his partner, Annie, is coming back after recovering from a serious injury.As the case progresses, Banks discovers that this isn't just a murder investigation. There's also a missing girl, blackmail, immigrants who are being mistreated, and corruption. Banks believes the murder and the disappearance of the girl are connected, but he has some trouble getting others to agree with him.Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's a little on the long side, and like most books I read that are this length, it could have been shorter. With it's length and the amount of twists and turns, it's no wonder that every case on the TV series is two episodes long! I found that the length didn't bother me, though. There is some minimal language and references to sex and rape in there.

After the last Banks novel, the less than satisfactory Bad Boy, it was a pleasure to see that Banks is back in form in Watching the Dark, a thoroughly enjoyable police procedural. The plot is complex, involving two seemingly disparate crimes, but Banks has a gut feeling that there is some connection and sets about trying to unravel the knots. Annie Cabbot rejoins the team after her convalescence and quickly begins to make important discoveries (too quickly perhaps?). There is also a trip to Tallin, Estonia, where Banks tries to locate a young woman involved in a possibly blackmail of a murdered DI, as well as trying to see if anything new can be discovered about the disappearance of a young English girl six years previously, a disappearance that the DI had also investigated. Joining Banks' team is an attractive woman from the Professional Standards Division (same as Internal Affairs in the US) whose responsibility is to discover whether or not the murdered DI may have been "bent." The tension between her and Banks adds to the complexity. In the end, the dots are connected, including the connection with a couple of lowlifes involved in the exploitation of eastern Europeans brought to the UK with promises of jobs. Why the euphemisms? It's slavery, with all its ugliness and evil. The personal issues are settled and the two crimes solved, if not happily. The deeper problems of the sex trade and the exploitation of workers remain. The novel was engrossing and had the added blessing of not having Dirty Dick Burgess appear anywhere.

As usual well written and paced. This one splits Annie and Banks working two sides of two cases that seem linked and introduces a new cop who seems likely to recur in later books. All Robinson's characters are well etched and interesting without being cloying. Facts are investigated and analyzed methodically and logically. Always a pleasure

Generally when authors move their detective to a foreign country, the results aren't great - the Hong King Bosch story was particularly poor. This Bank's novel was ok, you still had a Yorkshire based investigation with Annie & Winsome and the Estonian portion with banks and a rather superfluous professional standards investigator.Typical number of plot problems, mainly the one around the Yorkshire farm housing the labourers requiring a range rover for the police officers to get there, but accessible by a Focus and mini-bus for the villains. Surely it was too remote and too time wasteful to base a migrant labour force.The rather weak tie-up that a bunch of Russian mafia killed one of their own because he had killed an innocent victim didn't exactly ring true either.Not sure 4 police officers would fit in bank's Porsche either for a trip to the pub.More generally it was a plodding plot with facts coming to the detectives as they talked to people with no real detection skills required and no real suspect pool either.As always the descriptions of both Yorkshire and Estonia seemed good, and its actually one of the better post Bad Boy books in the series - though that's a low standard

..... a sergeant?He has been referred to in previous books as promoted from DS with Annie Cabbott mentioning his higher rank. Now called DS Nowak again!! Bad enough in lesser authors but I expect better of Robinson. And as Banks ponders in the final lines the story ends with the instructionCOPY THE TWO LINES OF HTML BELOW, INCLUDING the nbsp line TO ADD TO THE END OF A CHAPTER.OK, nit picking. Maybe.When you have a good story and enjoy the prose/text in which it is written these are irritations that the reader might expect to be resolved. The first by Robinson remembering what he has previously written and the end piece by editorial staff reading the request and........ whatever.Great story. In this instance he has used a format seen in PLAYING WITH FIRE with a single investigation spawning a second course of action. Annie solves the original while Banks has a foreign jaunt intended as part of the original but resolving his obsession when sidetracked by an old case of the first victim.

DI Bill Quinn is killed by a crossbow bolt in the grounds of a police convalescent home. DI Alan Banks and his team at first think it could be a revenge attack which probably means searching through all his previous cases to find out who could have wished him dead and been in a position to carry out the crime. But there is a hint of police corruption in the air and Joanna Passero of Professional Standards is allocated to shadow the team. DI Annie Cabbot - newly returned to work following her injury in the previous book in the series is gradually finding her feet again.This is an interesting story featuring several strands including a missing young woman from six years ago, illegal migrant labour and another murder. In fact there are almost too many strands to the story so to me it came over as a little fragmented and I did lose track of the plot part way through and had to go back and refresh my memory. To a certain extent it is redeemed by the ending which I thought was satisfying.Inevitably in any long running series you get some books which aren't as good as others. Overall though this series is of excellent quality with believable and interesting characters, an authentic background and well constructed plots.

There was nothing to dislike. I just tried to work out who was the perpetrator, then deciding it wasn't who I thought only to think of someone else. Still not sure. I have enjoyed all this author's books and I like the way that the characters continue from one book to another. It keeps a wonderful continuity for me.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks continues with his crime fighting in Yorkshire, but this time the crime leads him to Estonia. A country not in the public eye, but one that comes alive under Peter Robinson's writing.DCI Banks is investigating the death of a colleague, DI Bill Quinn. He was killed on the grounds of a rehab for professional policemen. DS Annie Cabbott happens to be at the same rehab recovering from a work related injury. She has recovered enough to return to work, and she is the most trustworthy of Banks colleagues. While investigation continues, compromising photographs are found with Quinn and a young woman. That and other clues suggest police corruption,and a young very attractive Inspector Joanna Passero from Professional Standards is assigned to work with Banks. She goes with him to Estonia to follow up leads. All of this seems quite out of hand to me, and suggests a romance and a method to introduce a new character. All of this leads to a missing teenager, migrant labor issues, people trafficking and the afore mentioned police corruption.This is a very fast paced novel. The 20th novel involving DCI Banks, and I have read them all. Moving the crime enviornment to Estonia is a fascinating asset to this novel. The description and culture of Estonia has given me a different and new perspective of that part of the world. The crime involving greed and corruption is a new avenue for DCI Banks, and a most welcome one. Well done, Peter Robinson.Recommended. prisrob 04-16-13