Gallows View by Peter Robinson

Last summer, I heard Peter Robinson read from his then new book Bad Boy.   After he finished reading I knew that I had to search out his first Inspector Banks book.  Luckily I was able to download the audio version from my library.

When Alan moved his family to Eastvale, in Yorkshire, he thought he would find the quiet life as compared to his previous post in London.  For a while it did work that way.  But as Chief Inspector he became involved in all the illegal going ons in town.  At first it was a case of break and enter at a few seniors houses. Next, there were several reports of peeping toms.  Banks had just arranged to work with Psychologist Jenny Fuller when was informed of a dead woman, possibly the result of another break and enter.  Life was no longer seeming so peaceful in Eastvale.

I was taken in by this audio book almost from the first minutes.  I didn't want to press stop.  In fact, I listened to the whole book twice over and found it just as gripping the second time.

I thought that with such a busy and complicated job, Banks would keep his home life simple, and perhaps he had been doing that.  That is, until he met Jenny.  There is something about her that he finds highly attractive and it's not just a physical thing.  He loves his wife Sandra and would never hurt her but....

With Jenny's help, he sets out to discover whether these cases could possibly be related and what type of person or persons could be committing them.  Banks is a very by the books kind of police, he dots his i's and crosses his t's, and when something doesn't make sense he digs further.  This is the type of story that a reader can really dig into.  Lots of details to ponder.  Not only do we get to follow Alan while he tries to sort out the cases, we get involved in his personal life.  He is becoming distracted by his interest in Jenny and I was left wondering if he would be able to keep that on a professional level.  I thought that the end of this book was perfect.  Great combination of diligent police work and of course a wee bit of luck mixed in .  I will definitely be reading more by Peter Robinson.

This unabridged audio book by Tantor Audio was read by Mark Honan.  8 hours 45 minutes.  Mr. Honan did a wonderful job of reading.  He brought the characters to life for me.  He was able to convincingly portray teenagers as well as seniors as well as male and female.

Thanks to Tantor Audio for the use of the cover image.

This is my 8th books for the 5th Canadian Reading Challenge hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.  All readers are invited to join.  Read 13 books by Canadian authors between July 1, 2011 and July 1, 2012. One book for each province and territory.