Past Reason Hated: A Novel of Suspense

I am a huge fan of the DCI Banks books, and although all of them are very good, a few stand out - this being one of them. For one, I was listening to it around Christmas time, and it is set around that time. For another, it fleshes out Banks's character quite a bit, and makes frequent references to his musical tastes. In fact music seems to play a big role in this book. So much so, that I bought the CD of music mentioned in the book, and went on to write a review about the CD as well!



Vivaldi wrote four different versions of Laudate pueri Dominum (RV600-RV603), differing in tone and mood. Personally I used to like the RV600 version the best as it is the most solemn. RV601 can be somewhat more frivolous, and many sopranos seem keen to let their vocal skills loose on it, making it sound even less solemn and too "frilly" in my opinion. So, I have never been too keen on RV601.

The Magda Kalmar RV601 recording seems to play a key role in trying to uncover who murdered a young woman, and the why. According to Banks, this version is also the best of all the Laudate pueri versions and recordings. Thus intrigued I bought it and played it as the soundtrack to the book, as Peter Robinson does in a way, by mentioning it in the narrative as playing, over and over again. I have to agree with Banks, it is a great recording and makes for an interesting experience in combination with reading the book.



Of all the Banks books, this book conjures up most of an "athmosphere" for me, draws you in, makes you want to draw the curtains and put the Kalmar CD on - it is in fact almost like a classical who-dunnit (excuse the pun....).



It is easy to see why the rest of the series became so popular, and long may Peter Robinson write the Banks mysteries....