Watching the Dark cover art

Watching the Dark

The 20th DCI Banks novel from The Master of the Police Procedural

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Watching the Dark

By: Peter Robinson
Narrated by: Simon Slater
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About this listen

 Banks is back - and this time he's investigating the murder of one of his own.

Detective Inspector Bill Quinn is killed by a crossbow in the tranquil grounds of a police rehabilitation centre, and compromising photos are found in his room. DCI Banks, brought in to investigate, is assailed on all sides.

By Joanna Passero, the Professional Standards inspector who insists on shadowing the investigation in case of police corruption.

By his own conviction that a policeman shouldn't be deemed guilty without evidence.

By Annie Cabbot, back at work after six months' recuperation, and beset by her own doubts and demons.

And by an English girl who disappeared in Estonia six years ago, who seems to hold the secret at the heart of this case . . .

(P)2012 Hodder & Stoughton©2012 Eastvale Enterprises Inc. Crime Fiction Modern Detectives Mystery Police Procedurals Suspense Thriller & Suspense Banking Fiction Crime

Critic reviews

Praise for Peter Robinson
'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps PIECE OF MY HEART, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league'
'Brilliant! . . . Gut-wrenching plotting, alongside heart-wrenching portraits of the characters who populate his world, not to mention the top-notch police procedure.'
Classic Robinson: a labyrinthine plot merged with deft characterisation
Robinson also has a way of undercutting the genre's familiarity. With a deceptively unspectacular language, he sets about the process of unsettling the reader
All stars
Most relevant
I have read listened to all of Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks novels and would rate this one among the best. It is plot-driven without too much of the author's weakness for filling the pages with stuff about music, drinking and smoking, though there's a bit too much of the last for my tastes. The story takes Banks to Estonia and involves the topical issue of people-trafficking and Eastern European organized crime into which is woven the story of a Yorkshire girl who went missing when on a hen-night in Estonia. I thought that the narrator added greatly to my enjoyment of the book as he is able to switch his voice among many different accents, ages and between sexes.

Well constructed detective story

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Just finished this book. Really like Peter Robinson's Alan Banks Good gripping storyline and held my interest to the end. Look forward to next instalment

Really enjoyable

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Peter Robinson books are excellent with so many twists and turns. You cannot stop reading it.

The storyline

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the reader has tried to use different accents for various characters but these are not convincing. Found myself wincing at the accents at some points instead of listening to the story,

Watching the Dark

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Great story, interesting characters, very innovative and believable. A breath of fresh air. Well read and very engaging.

Loved it.

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