Over the last couple of months I have not read a single book. It's a shocking confession for a bibliophile, but life sometimes gets complicated with work and family obligations. You find yourself exhausted at the end of a busy day, and your brain revolts at anything more taxing than binge-watching Game of Thrones. Of course, the hiatus demolished my plan to read (and review) 52 books in 2017. I have only achieved 2/3 of the goal (35 reviews in total), but as the great poet Meatloaf once said "Now don't be sad/ 'cause two out of three ain't bad." With my long silence, and the end of 2017, I was tempted to stop writing reviews all together. Life is busy, and I know I will have even less time to read and write reviews in 2018--why bother? But in the end I decided that I like the tension of trying to get a posting up by Sunday afternoon, and I engage more fully and more critically with texts when I know I must share my thoughts with others. In 2018, my reviews may be more sporadic; I will not set a goal for the total number of books (but I secretly want at least 26); and I hope any readers out there will forgive my recent silence and continue to follow along.
So after two months of reading nothing but legislation, policy documents and Hansard transcripts, I turned to an old and trusted friend to ease me back into books: Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks, or rather the recently promoted Detective Superintendent Banks. Robinson is one of those mystery writers who dutifully and somewhat miraculously publishes a new book almost every year. It is a quality that I greatly admire, and the Banks books are among a handful of series that I look forward to reading every year. So it came as a surprise to realize that When the Music's Over is actually from 2016 and not the most recent title in the series. Somehow I had managed to miss a year. Normally that would not matter, but When the Music's Over focuses on two "ripped from the headlines" stories from the UK. The first is the investigation of historical sexual abuse by popular television personalities and the second the grooming of underage girls by Pakistani gangs for the purposes of prostitution. Although only a year old, with the advent of the #metoo movement, some of the references and attitudes in the book already feel a little outdated.
Within the novel, Robinson weaves his story around two time frames. This technique is one of his specialties, and he always pulls it off beautifully. While lesser writers might lose their readers with sudden shifts in time and location, Robinson seamlessly joins the narratives. In the present, Bank's protege, DI Annie Cabot, is investigating the vicious murder of a young girl found beaten and naked on a quiet country lane. Meanwhile DSI Banks is investigating accusations that a former TV host had committed numerous sexual assaults on under-aged girls during the 1960s. Throughout he offers a richly layered exploration of the sociological contexts that these crimes occurred within, and the individual personalities of the investigators, victims and perpetrators.
Banks is less haunted by past traumas than many contemporary detectives; not for him the alcoholism and other self-destructive behaviours that plague the Rebuses and Harry Holes of the world. This brings a calmness to the novels, which makes them easy to recommend to readers who are perhaps not as hardcore in their tastes as I am. In other words, I would loan them to my elderly mother. However, in this instance the darkness of the crimes committed, the shocking levels of depravity, and the realization that it is all based on actual events makes me hesitate to recommend When the Music's Over to all audiences. But it is a must read for hardened mystery fans.
Four smileys out of five: 😀😀😀😀
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