Friday, September 14, 2018

Friday's Forgotten Books, September 14, 2018



AFTERMATH, Peter Robinson

It is not until the end of the book that you realize that almost every character has an aftermath of sorts to deal with in this excellent mystery. DCI Banks has irrevocably lost his wife to a new love and a new pregnancy. The female detectives at police headquarters are reeling from issues arising from their own pasts. The neighbor who alerts the police of the crime is struggling with the past she has fled from. And, of course, there is the aftermath of a vicious crime of a decade earlier that Banks has to solve. This is perhaps the darkest Robinson book I have read. And normally, I would have shied away from all the violence it spews out. But Robinson does it so expertly that you are too far in before you realize what you are up against. And that is the reader's aftermath. Serial killer, serial rapist, it's all in here.

Mark Baker, THE GIRL WITH THE DACHSHUND TATTOO, Sparkle Abbey
Yvette Banek
Les Blatt, MURDER A LA MODE, Patricia Moyes
Brian Busby, THE GIRL AT BULLET LAKE, H.A. Cody
Crossexaminingcrime, THE PURSUED, C.S. Forester
Martin Edwards, A RAGE IN HARLEM, Chester Himes
Curt Evans, THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER, Bernice Carey
Richard Horton, THE IMPOSSIBLE BIRD, Patrick O'Leary
Jerry House, CREED, James Herbert
George Kelley, LUNAR: THE GOLDEN AGE OF LUNAR ADVENTURES,  ed. Mike Ashley
Margot Kinberg, DOWN CEMETERY ROAD, Mick Herron
Rob Kitchin, THE CITY IN DARKNESS, Michael Russell
B.V. Lawson, HOME IS THE PRISONER, Jean Potts
Evan Lewis, THE BUCCANEERS, Alice Sankey and Russ Manning
Steve Lewis, MURDER PLAIN AND FANCY, Gardland Lord
Todd Mason, THE SHAPE OF THINGS, ed. Damon Knight; THE UNKNOWN 5, ed. D.R. Bensen
J.F. Norris
Matt Paust, INTRUDER IN THE DARK, George Bellairs
James Reasoner, PULPWOOD DAYS, Vol 2, John Locke ed.
Richard Robinson, KILLER IN THE RAIN, Raymond Chandler
Gerard Saylor, THE REST IS SILENCE, James R. Benn
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, DEATH KNELL,.Baynard Kendrick
TomCat, THE LOCKED SAFE MYSTERY, Norman Pallas
TracyK, CHARLIE CHAN, Yunte Huang

12 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

I think Robinson's books are getting darker and longer lately. But yes, this one was particularly dark without turning me off the way some of the later books have. I'm still reading them all, though.

Gerard Saylor said...

DCI Banks has irrevocably lost his wife to a new love and a new pregnancy. Holy crap! I'm slowly working my way through the series meaning I am 25 years back, but that is a shocker.

Yvette said...

My post is finally up, Patti. Thanks.

J F Norris said...

Mine's up, if you be so kind as to add it to the roster. Thanks, Patti!

Murder on the Marsh by John Ferguson

Mathew Paust said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mathew Paust said...

Here's Yvette's: http://yvettecandraw.blogspot.com/2018/09/fridays-forgotten-or-overlooked-book.html

Steve Oerkfitz said...

I am a big fan of Robinsons. I have read all his books and have ordered the British edition of his new one on Ebay. It doesn't come out in the U.S. until January. Dark doesn't bother me. Light does. At the library today I noticed a whole display of mysteries involving cats. Ugh.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Sorry for the spoiler, Gerard. I forget people are at different rungs on the Robinson ladder. I saw that too, Steve. It's not for me and i wonder why cats seem so much more popular than dogs.

Gerard Saylor said...

No big deal on the spoiler. I am 25 years behind.

Todd Mason said...

Dogs are mostly very open about how they feel about everything. Cats can seem a bit more guarded. I suspect this cross-riffs well with mystery readers and readers generally.

Sorry things are not fun even by recent standards right now. For my part at the moment, I'm just trying to stay awake long enough to get what's necessary accomplished. (Day to day stuff...that sounds more apocalyptic than it should.)

Jeff Meyerson said...

I like (in a mild kind of "fantasy world" way) David Rosenfelt's dog-centered mysteries, but then, I am definitely a dog person rather than a cat person.

As for Robinson, if I didn't have so many other things backed up here - FOUR library downloads came in almost one on top of the other, in addition to everything else - I might consider the British edition, but I can wait for next year. Besides, if I need a Robinson fix, I still have my copy of his non-series book CAEDMON'S SONG (1990), set in Whitby on the Yorkshire coast (a place we know fairly well). I even got it signed by him at an earlier Bouchercon.

TracyK said...

I have read the first two Robinson books, have the next four of the series on the TBR. I did know about the wife, and that is one of the things that causes a problem when I don't keep up with a series. I hate to know that in advance but on the other hand, you can't avoid learning about it. Anyway, I will read another sometime soonish.