Aftermath: A Novel of Suspense (Inspector Banks Novels)
Penzler Pick,October  2001:The mystery novels of Peter Robinson (Aftermathis his  12th) are of increasing power and intensified intelligence. It's a dirty little  secret of the crime-fiction genre that many of its writers simply spin their  wheels, repeating over and over those old tricks which always have worked for  them. They coast on past successes and repeat the formula hoping, if not  assuming, that their fans won't notice.Writers like Robinson, however, actually seem to grow in front of our eyes,  delivering books of greater complexity each time. His previous two books,Cold Is the GraveandIn a Dry Season, were novels of  character and novels of crime, equally, and nowAftermathis here to  reward his fans and new readers alike.Like recent books by fellow English writers Reginald Hill, Val McDermid, and  Stephen Booth,Aftermathcenters upon a grim case in which attractive  young girls have disappeared, victims of a cunning psychotic killer whose  identity is well concealed behind a façade of respectability. Detective Chief  Inspector Alan Banks of the Yorkshire Police is in charge of the case, but he's  also got unavoidable personal distractions. His separated wife, Sandra, is  pregnant by her lover, Sean, and wanting the divorce he's been dragging his  heels over.There is nothing cozy about the kind of English mysteries written by Peter  Robinson, even if they do take place where picturesque rural villages make up  the landscape. He's not afraid of gore or deviance, of violence, or of any of  the baser emotions, and it's a raw old world behind the hedgerows and cottage  walls. IfAftermathis your first taste of his tough-tender sensibility,  it won't be surprising if you soon are hooked on the work of one of today's most  accomplished practitioners of detective fiction.--Otto Penzler--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.