I'm very impressed
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I haven't read any of his other books and I picked this up because it was cheap. And I have to say I am really impressed. The writing flows and is easy to read and the storyline is fantastic and enjoyable. I found this unputdownable and will definitely be chasing up some of his other books to read now.
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The twist that never was
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Ian Rankin is quoted on the front cover of my edition of this novel as saying "Watch out for those twists - they'll get you every time". Well, the same quote was used on the cover of another of Robinson's tales, AFTERMATH, and I'm beginning to wonder what Rankin and others are on about. There wasn't a mega-twist in either of these stories and the outcome in each case was rather predictable. In Piece of my Heart two whodunits are presented side-by-side, with a 36 year gap in between. As the Summer of Love is drawing to a close in September 1969, a young woman is found stabbed to death just after an open-air rock concert in Yorkshire; WW2 veteran and now DCI Stanley Chadwick hunts down the killer. Meanwhile our more contemporary hero DCI Alan Banks is trying to find out who clubbed a music journalist to death with a poker in a rented Yorkshire cottage. Needless to say, the two murders are linked and with nothing much else to do, the reader must try to guess who did it back then and who did it more recently before all is revealed and we can close the final page.
This story needed a dramatic twist to make it special, and if truth be told it never came - so it's nothing special. If anything it's a journey of nostalgia for the author who, I would wager, had a similar liking for the many rock bands mentioned in `the 1969 story'. These included Led Zeppelin in particular (nothing wrong with his musical taste, then) and Pink Floyd, the Who, the Rolling Stones and others who defined that generation. Personally I think there was far too much name-dropping of groups, the singers and their songs, because it could be said that it was at the expense of some decent fictional character development, which would have been a great deal more interesting - and remember, I'm an ardent fan of all the bands mentioned. Most notably I felt that after 436 pages I hardly knew anything more about central character Banks than I did at the beginning; there are occasions when Robinson dips his toe, if not his pen, into the waters of the personal life outside of Banks' police career but these moments are so fleeting - even the coverage of a potentially emotive issue as the death of his brother - that nothing ever really sinks in, nothing leaves an impression and by and large both of the parallel stories here are just well-written and mildly interesting police procedurals. For crime fiction lovers such as myself, who has read countless forensic, psychological and evidence-gathering police procedure novels, we want more than this, something to put some flesh on the bones of the story. And when we read whodunits, we want to care about the innocent and hate the guilty. This novel fails to really move the emotions such that when we do eventually find out who thrust the knife 36 years ago and who swung the poker this year, there's little sense of satisfaction, no glory rush of justice and no punching of the air while we whisper `Yeah! Got him!'. This wasn't a bad story, and the author, I'm sure, is a talented writer, but I can't help but feel that he had an off-day with this one and that he has the ability to do better. I'll try again with Peter Robinson, but next time I won't be expecting any juicy twists at the end.
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Excellent
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In the crowded world of fictional detectives/investigators, Peter Robinsons Inspector Banks series stands out - a new Banks novel is always worth reading. Banks himself is a satisfyingly complex creation, and if you have read any of the series, you will know that his love of music features heavily.
So it is no surprise to see this novel use a '70's music festival as the centrepiece of the tale. Robinson has 2 separate threads woven brilliantly together, linking the past with the present, and the efforts to solve both cases running side by side. It is a tribute to his style that this never becomes tiresome, each unwinding to a satisfying and credible conclusion.
If you have not yet discovered Peter Robinson as an author, then be warned - if you buy this you will have to get hold of the rest of the series - this is highly recommended for all lovers of Detective fiction
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Enjoyable & worthwhile
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I've read a few of the Inspector Banks' series, and this was one of the better. I still can't quite place the writing style - its not energetic, its not boring, its not overly narrative - it does the job and is interesting enough but sometimes misses "something".
Regardless, the plot(s)are both good. The Sixties one does have a huge amount going for it, and the characters there could be a whole new series, but it is really the later one that is the finisher and it really is a good one.
Overall, you'll enjoy it ( I took an extra 30 minutes at a lunch break since I was so interested in the gripping end - that's a recommendation in itself ! ) and it is sensibly and relatively well-written.
Good characters, good scene-setting ( albeit a touch too much detail at times )..but why are all the characters called by their christian name except the hero-detective ?
He's always "Banks", never "Alan"...ah, well, one of life's mysteries...
Enjoy !
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A well written tale of parallel crimes a generation appart
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I really enjoyed this book.
It was my first go at this author and I found it very easy to read and well written.
The story charts two murders, 30 or so years appart, both in Yorkshire. The story goes from one case to the other, flitting back and forth but it isn't difficult to follow, far from that, you feel yourself getting swept up in the momentum of both cases as they get close to being solved; the more recent of the two seemingly more and more linked to the first.
The case in 1969 is that of a young girl, murdered at a rock festival in north Yorkshire. She is killed by a stab wound to the heart which removes a piece of the organ, so severe is the blow. The only hint to something ritualistic is that of a small cornflower painted on her cheek. The detective in charge of this case is thrown onto the world of hippies, music and drugs when it seems the murder might be related to the Rock Festival held in the village of Brimleigh. As the case progresses he is torn appart and his Victorian values are brought crashing down around him when it seems his own 16 year old daughter might be involved with a group of hippies involved with the dead girl. This eventually goes on to make him do something he would never have dreamed of in the past, ok, solving the case but was it the right man?
The murder in 2006 is that of a 30 something music journalist who comes up to Yorkshire form London to do a piece on an aged, mentally unstable 60's/70's rock group member. He meets his untimely end and it is down to the detectives in modern day North Yorkshire to piece together the crime and the possible associations this crime might have with the murder of the young girl in 1969.
The cases are inextricably linked and the story dives between the two crimes effortlessy, not losing the reader.
I was charmed by the inoffensive writing style and descriptions of the characters.
I will definitely try more of theis author's works.
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