Review by Booklist Review
Celebrated suspense writer Robinson returns with the latest in the long-running series starring Yorkshire DCI Alan Banks (after Many Rivers to Cross, 2020). In between "murdering" pints of ale, Banks and his team are investigating the gruesome death of crooked property developer Connor Clive Blaydon, found disemboweled in his pool. Someone seems to have really hated this guy. When a videotape of a brutal rape committed during one of Blaydon's wild parties surfaces, the investigation broadens, and Banks' friend Zelda, a former sex slave now devoted to stopping trafficking, gets involved. Both Banks and Zelda come up against two old enemies, both of whom are now working together, and find themselves sharing a harrowing ordeal. Banks travels to London and Paris to meet with police colleagues while his team journeys around the countryside in an all-out attempt to identify the rape victim, find justice for her, and solve Blaydon's murder. Fans will welcome this latest Banks adventure and revel in what Michael Connelly calls Robinson's "clear eye for the telling detail."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Robinson ably balances multiple plotlines in his intricate 27th novel featuring Det. Supt. Alan Banks (after 2020's Many Rivers to Cross). Banks's police consultant friend Zelda, who has developed a database of sex traffickers in her job at Britain's National Crime Agency, has returned to Chisinau, Moldova, in search of the director of the orphanage where she resided until the director sold her, at 17, to sex trafficker brothers Goran and Petar Tadic. A decade later, in France, she killed Goran and escaped to London. The tension rises when Petar, eager to avenge his brother's murder, kidnaps Zelda, and Banks investigates. Meanwhile, Banks's dedicated team, Det. Insp. Annie Cabbot and Det. Constable Gerry Masterson, seek the victim and perpetrator of a rape caught on a blurry video at a party given by a crooked property developer. Annie and Gerry's investigation intersects credibly with Zelda's case, and Robinson deepens the character of Banks, who is increasingly disillusioned with his police work and resentful of its emotional toll. Fans will wonder what lies ahead for his career and personal life. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Property developer Connor Clive Blaydon has been murdered, and as they look at footage from the numerous spy cams Blaydon has scattered about his mansion, DCI Alan Banks and his Yorkshire team feel sure they'll spot the culprit. Instead, they witness a brutal rape that shifts the entire premise of the case. From Edgar and Dagger in the Library winner Robinson; with a 75,000-copy first printing.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Investigating the murder of a mob-tied developer and the possibly related rape of a young woman, DCI Alan Banks finds himself in the crosshairs of the Albanian Mafia. At the center of the investigation is Zelda, a sex trade survivor on whom Yorkshire's Banks developed a major crush in Many Rivers To Cross (2019)--an attraction he can't act on since she's the romantic partner of one of his best friends. Abducted at 17 from an orphanage in Moldova and horrifically abused for years, she has been using her skills as a super recognizer to help Britain's National Crime Agency track sex traffickers. But a cloud of suspicion hangs over Zelda--real name Nelia Melnic--following the unsolved murder of a Croatian trafficker who violated her and her possible involvement in another killing. While Banks looks into the murder of the developer, his female colleagues DI Annie Cabbot and DC Gerry Masterson trace the history of the rape victim until the dots between the two criminal cases connect. The plot, which also features a Banks nemesis from the past, may be one of Robinson's knottiest. Full pages are devoted to the volleying of questions about possible motives and methods and what led to a suicide. But Robinson pulls the reader in with deft characterizations, powerfully understated action scenes, and strong locales--while leaving space for this amateur musicologist's usual legion of song and album references. The title of the book is taken from a Bob Dylan song included on the mortality-obsessed album Time Out of Mind. For Robinson, it would seem, things can never get dark enough. A strong addition to the Banks series that suggests tantalizing possibilities for the next installment. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
