| Title | : | Blood at the Root (Inspector Banks, #9) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0380794764 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780380794768 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published December 1, 1997 |
In the long shadows of an alley a young man is murdered by an unknown assailant. The shattering echoes of his death will be felt throughout a small provincial community on the edge—because the victim was far from innocent, a youth whose sordid secret life was a tangle of bewildering contradictions. Now a dedicated policeman beset by his own tormenting demons must follow the leads into the darkest corners of the human mind in order to catch a killer.
Delving into the complicated human psyche, Blood at the Root showcases Peter Robinson’s singular talent in an exceptional novel of suspense that will linger in readers’ minds long past the final page.
Blood at the Root (Inspector Banks, #9) Reviews
-
Inspector Banks' ninth case, begins with badly battered corpse of a young man being found which leads to an investigation that appears to involve the mixing of the worlds of neo-Nazis and organised crime. Competent and interesting tale in which Banks draws the wrath of his superiors, has some serious relationship issues with his wife and some unforeseen issues with one of his own team. 5 out of 12
2011 read; 2009 read -
With the introduction of neo-Nazi sympathizers, Blood at the Root, the ninth installment in the Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks series, takes a particularly dark turn. And I could not — please forgive the cliché! — put this riveting novel down! I devoured it in two days’ time.
Jason Fox gets himself stomped to death in an alley after leaving a pub at closing time. When the Eastvale police discover that young Fox was a lieutenant in the neo-Nazi Albion League, things get complicated enough. But they’re going to get even more complicated — complicated enough to threaten Banks’ job. To say any more would be to cheat readers.
Very important: Blook at the Root (previously published as Dead Right) ends on a shocking cliff-hanger. You’ll want to have the next book in the series,
In A Dry Season, which won both the Anthony and Barry awards and was a finalist for the Edgar Award, at the ready! Thank God my public library had it as a downloadable ebook so I didn’t have to delay! -
Inspector Banks Among the English for England
Although written back in 1997, years before the plight faced by Syria's refugees, author Peter Robinson penned a novel concerning national pride cloaked in vicious racism and intolerance. James Flood is found beaten to death in Banks' never peaceful Eastvale.
After the battered corpse is identified by Forensics, young members of Eastvale's Pakastani residents are prime suspects. Flood had a run in with George Mahmood at a local pub. He didn't take kindly to being run into by a G..d....d Paki.
Banks may have racial tension on the rise. It won't do. It's just not PC, nor good for the town's image.
Worse, James Flood was the technical Guru for a Neo-Nazi crew, the Albion League, headed up by a smooth talking chief, Nevil Montcombe, who not only has the ways to attract the local disaffected young to his growing ranks, but the money to pay the best Solicitors and Barristers to protect his interests.
While Banks is dealing with sticky political wickets on the job, his personal life is on the skids. He and wife Sandra have split.
It's enough to put Banks deep into his bottles of Laphroaig Scotch. It's bloody Hell when Chief Superintendent Jimmy Riddell suspends Banks for not properly investigating the Flood case when Banks own subordinates find an easy solve to the murder. Case closed.
Or is it? Banks may be suspended, but he's not a man to leave loose ends hanging. Especially when his experience tells him the evidence doesn't add up.
Robinson continues to write at the top of his game. Banks continues to develop as an increasingly complex man, torn between duty and family.
Bank's ninth appearance is a cracking good read. Robinson writes another first rate police procedural. This series just grows stronger with each successive entry. Excellent. Read it. -
“Someone … kicked seven shades of shit out of him … sometime after eleven o’clock last night.”
Jason Fox, an angry, young, white man, up to his neck with hatred, racism and xenophobia in the local neo-Nazi group, the Albion League, is stomped to death in an alley outside a local pub after closing time. Racial tensions rise to the boiling point when it seems open and shut that a group of men of color – Pakistani and Arab, to be more painfully precise – are the killers but insufficient evidence demands that, according to the law, they must be released.
DEAD RIGHT is a superb word play title for a first-rate police procedural that deals with an issue that is front and center in headlines today all around the world. Banks continues to be the Inspector Banks that his growing legion of fans expect him to be – an observant, accomplished investigator who knows his place is in the field and would rather be any place other than behind a desk “co-ordinating”; a lover of classical music, most notably opera (he loves Cosi Fan Tutte), accompanied by a couple of fingers of good Scotch (Laphroaig is a special favourite); a family man who misses a daughter newly out of the house and off to college; and, a faithful and loving but less than dutiful, attentive husband who is duly shocked by a wife looking for some time and space to herself.
DEAD RIGHT is vintage Robinson materiel and a most satisfying read. Detective Constable Susan Gay’s infatuation with Banks is left hanging and readers will be wondering where that will go (or not) in the next instalment. Count me in.
Paul Weiss -
A young man is found beaten to death outside of a bar after getting into an altercation with three young men of Pakistani heritage. It turns out that the victim was a member of a Neo-Nazi group dedicated to making Britain great again. The group has published rants against immigrants, Jews and homosexuals. Although this book was published in 1998, it is still timely today. It's sad how stories dealing with bigotry never seem dated.
Inspector Alan Banks is in charge of investigating the case, which is not as straightforward as it first appears and the list of suspects grows. I liked Banks and I liked this book. It is not necessary to have read any of the other books in this series, although I am sure that I missed some of the nuances of Banks' relationships. That doesn't bother me since I don't read police procedurals to learn about the personal lives of the detectives. I learned just enough about Banks here, and not too much. I intend to read more of this series.
Some aspects of the police work seem quaint today. For example, this was before cell phones and the police station did not have Internet access so a police officer had to go home to check out the website of the hate group.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, James Langton, was very good. -
I am a fan of the Inspector Banks series but unfortunately have read them out of sequence which makes some of the situations and characters superfluous in this early entry. Nevertheless, it is still a good read once you put yourself in the time frame of the story.
A rabid Neo-Nazi is found beaten to death outside a local bar which leads Banks into the ugly world of racism on his local pitch. It also involves some of his Pakistani friends which, to his sorrow, drives a wedge in their relationship. He soon learns that the small Neo-Nazi group who may be responsible for the murder has a little more than just racism on their agenda which may explain the killing of one of their own members. Following some vague clues and his intuition brings down the wrath of his hated superior, Jimmy Riddle. who is a nasty piece of work. Banks is put on leave, facing termination from the force but continues to develop the case to a successful conclusion.
Not one of the best of the series, it is still worth a read, especially for the fact that Banks punches Riddle in the mouth which fans of the series have been waiting on since its inception! -
The discovery of a dead body in an alleyway starts off another case for DCI Alan Banks.
Author Peter Robinson continues his fine series of crime stories with another good entry, ably read by actor Neil Pearson. Robinson slips in plenty of lovely moments of humour amidst the darkness. Some of the funniest parts derive from the detective's love of classical music & his intense dislike of karaoke & country & western.
It's not the best entry in the series, but it's still good entertainment. -
When a 21-year-old racist is beaten to death in an alley near a pub, it is thought the work of three local Asian-Brits. But the investigation by Banks and DC Susan Grey leads in a different direction. The head of the white-power group with which the victim is affiliated is into more than just hate politics, and the young man has run afoul of desires that have nothing to do with race. Banks pursues his investigation while his wife is ending their 20-year marriage, making it so much more fun for him. Susan has the hots for Banks but keeps it to herself. Banks’ personal life includes having lunch with a musician lady-friend. Susan is betrayed by her boyfriend, who is pumping her for information on Banks and then forwarding it to their boss, Riddle.
-
A young man is found brutally murdered in an alley outside the bar he'd been drinking in. The victim is a loathsome white supremacist, racist member of an extreme right wing fringe organization. Still, DCI Banks' job is to find the murderer (or murderers) while avoiding enflaming racial tensions in the area (where he relocated to from London for a more quiet life!).
I enjoyed learning a little more back story of DCI Banks' family situation and the mystery was engaging enough to keep me turning the pages but not as interesting as the other ones I've read so far.
Still, entertaining enough to keep me going. -
It’s been nearly a year since I read the previous book in the Banks series, and at the rate I’m going, I will remain over twenty years behind. Remarkably, Robinson is still writing new ones, (he’s up to book 25!) so I definitely need to catch up a bit.
This 9th book, alternatively titled Dead Right, is where everything changes for DCI Banks, but also takes into the dark realm of the far right movement.
A young man has been found stomped to death in an alley in Eastvale after a night out in the pub, where he had an altercation with a youth from the local Asian community. The victim is discovered to be a high ranking member of the Albion League, neo nazis who call for the expulsion of all non-whites from Britain. Arresting the suspects leads to claims of racial discrimination, and with no evidence, the police let them go, leading to claims of favouritism - they really can’t win. DC Susan Gay helps find an important witness but when Banks’ nemesis reappears, a whole new dimension to the case opens up.
Meanwhile, his wife Sandra has had enough...
While this covers some very uncomfortable topics, and introduces some repugnant characters, the most interesting part was how the author shows all the different levels of racism, even from the “good” characters, including the police. Some of it seems quite prescient reading it in the run up to Brexit.
Robinson is both a master of plot and character, but also an evocative writer bringing every scene to life with just the right amount of detail.
The next book (In a Dry Season) is actually the first one I ever read in the series, and unfortunately I didn’t keep it, so probably will aim to buy/read it again before continuing on with this excellent series, which is definitely best read in order. -
I was more interested in Banks' personal life than the murder investigation. Usually, it's the other way round.
-
Full 5 ⭐ again with another Peter Robinson book!
Following life, love and work of DCI Alan Banks this will not disappoint you. OK as a stand alone, if you want to dip your toes into his world, BUT so much more can be discovered when you read from the beginning! -
To say I am a fan of Peter Robinson is putting it mildly. As I continue to catch up with the older books in the series, I continue to be impressed by his writing. It's interesting that this was published in 1998. It's post Thatcher Great Britain where the industrial jobs are gone, and frustration takes on an ugly anti immigrant flavor by native white Brits. Unfortunately many of them can't distinguish between someone who is native born vs an actual immigrant, not that it matters. When a young man is found brutally murdered and disfigured, it is soon apparent that there is far more to this case than meets the eye. It turns out that the murdered young man had a sordid past that his family didn't even know about, a life of racial hatred and association with a group advocating racial purity. It's really a chilling book, and is amazingly prescient.
-
Although another great mystery, I’ll have to say that I liked this Peter Robinson book a little less than his previous novels. The plot was solid and interesting but there was no great mystery or guessing game to this book. Inspector Alan Banks has a lot of personal things that happen to him, which will perhaps impact future books that Robinson has written and might just be the reason this particular novel was a more quiet mystery than others.
As I’ve said before...Robinson’s books flow with a special cadence that continues to make him one of my favourite mystery authors. Looking forward to seeing what Banks is up to in the next one! -
I read this out of order in the series, so many of the the events in Inspector Banks' life are old news, such as the collapse of his marriage. The details of a seemingly racially motivated murder lead to tension in Eastvale on the part of Pakistani citizens. Banks is definitely on the wrong side of his superior in the police department when he doesn't agree with the arrest of the confessed murderer. HIs intransigence leads to his suspension so he pursues the case as a private citizen. Good police procedural.
-
The plot is pretty convoluted and the ending is weak. The character of Banks is much better drawn than in previous books, and at last I see a glimmer of the Banks as portrayed in the recent TV series. Robinson is not too good at female characters; Susan Gay is pathetic. Published in 1998, it is now funny to read Robinson's explanation about dial-up internet. If you really want suspense and intrigue, try Phillip Kerr.
-
A bit convoluted, I’d say. As I read this series in order, this was my least favorite. Not bad; just layered in on itself. Maybe also a bit affected by the US President’s racist rants regarding duly elected officials being “sent back” as I read this novel with the identical ugliness at its core. But on a lighter note: who orders ‘lasagna and chips??”
-
DCI Banks has hit a rough patch: racial overtones in a murder investigation, leading to politically- sensitive micromanagement by top police officials; long-simmering marital instability brought to a boil and a sudden change at home; and a rash act which may just have cost him his career.
-
I was hooked from the start with this one but I hate when there’s no resolution to the story. It just ended so abruptly, no explanation so I was disappointed. I have now started the next one (In a dry season) and there’s still no explanation unless I am missing something.
-
More than once I checked the publication date to be sure it was from 98 and not 78. So very disappointed with the Banks novels in how dated they are.
-
It’s very very rare I struggle to enjoy the Inspector Banks novels but this one was so boring it took me ages .
-
3.5 lots of personal stuff
-
how come, no matter the situation, at some point the author always needs to point out that a female characters nipples are just rock hard for no reason? that’s all i have to say about this novel.
-
Enjoyable read as always. Robinson writes page turning, revealing narratives that are a pleasure to read. Excellent detective fiction and it's set in Yorkshire. What's not to like? Dead Right provides an essential part of the Banks' narrative as his life moves forward and his marriage weakens, but the job always takes precedence. One of the pleasures of Banks, is that he seems to be a relatively normal human being, not a loner, nor alcoholic, nor carrying demons through his life. Just a guy who likes his music and solving cases. Robinson often choses a social issue that he works on, here neo-Nazi groups and racism. 20 years on, it still feels relevant, sadly.
-
Blood at the Root is book 9 in the Inspector Banks series. This outing in the series definitely poses the question, what happens when the victim is someone who would be difficult to feel sorry for under any circumstances? A young man is found stomped to death and Banks begins his investigation. Upon finding his identity, they uncover a rather sordid association with Neo Nazis. The further the investigation drags on the more of a political minefield it becomes, with Neo Nazis on one side and members of the local community on the other. Great read in an excellent series.
-
A decent crime novel with some stellar character portrayal.
-
It's fall in Eastdale and Inspector Alan Banks has been called to a ginnel beside a rundown park where a young man's body has been found. It appears he's been kicked to death, and all his ID has been taken. With an artist's drawing of the victim's face, the police begin door-to-door visits in the neighbourhood. Susan Gay is lucky to speak to a lady who recognizes the face as Jason Fox, who's family lives across the street. The Fox family identify the body as that of their son, but since he didn't live in Eastvale and didn't know many locals, could it have been the results of an incident in the pub where some Asian youths had argued with Jason? In a few days the police learn that Jason was a high ranking member of the Albion League, a pro-Nazi group. The three Asian boys are arrested, but hoping to avoid a race incident, CC Jimmy Riddle instructs that they be released.
At home, Alan and Sandra discuss their increasingly separate lives. Sandra abruptly tells Alan she's leaving him to stay with her mum. Alan is devastated that his marriage may break up after 20 years. But the job beckons - he finds a ticket to Amsterdam on his doorstep. When he arrives and makes a rendezvous with the mystery man, he meets with Dirty Dick Burgess, his old nemesis from London Special Branch. Dirty Dick tells Alan that the Albion League's leader is involved in more than racist activities, but is intending to make money importing heroin into England. With the help of his friend in Leeds CID, Alan (under suspension from Jimmy Riddle) goes out on a limb to catch the killers.
This may be the last appearance of Susan Gay as she realizes she can't work with Alan anymore as she's fallen in love with him. Jim Hatchley is a minor character in this book, and at the end we don't know if Susan is gone for good. -
Admittedly this was the first Peter Robinson novel I have read so I fear I may have been a little unprepared in terms of appreciating the characters but I don't think that was what affect my opinion. I really wanted to appreciate and enjoy this book as I am a great fan of crime/thriller novels but I was so let down by it within the first few chapters. It was Robinson's style of writing that really made me squirm. It is way too obvious that he himself is still a novice at understanding the police force and is trying far too hard to use the typical voice of a police officer. He says things such as "Banks approached the door. He thought it would an obvious choice for breaking and entering." in a part of the story that has nothing to do with robbery/trespassing etc. It was a very simplistic approach to a narrative which made the whole thing seem a bit mediocre.
I fear I am comparing the style to Ian Rankin's novels which I find to be brilliant. He really captures the voice and attitudes of a police officer as though he were one himself in a way that Robinson seems to be merely attempting.
Additionally, the blurb almost reveals the plot to you so there is absolutely no suspense or mystery as you would expect with a crime novel. I found that I didn't care about Jason or what happened to him as I already knew why and how he'd been killed. Again, this is something you would never find in an Ian Rankin novel as his development of the plot is always controlled and well written.
I really did want to love this book but I'm afraid I doubt I'll ever feel inclined to read another Banks novel. -
A young man is found battered to death in an alley in Eastvale. What seems like a simple case of a fight after the pubs close going too far turns into a nightmare for DCI Alan Banks when it becomes clear that the dead man was a member of a sinister far right organisation. This is a story of friendship turned sour, confidences betrayed and it could just spell the end of Banks' career as the new Chief Constable seems to want to find fault with everything he does.
Banks has personal problems with his wife, Sandra, leaving him as she doesn't feel there is anything left in their marriage partly because he always puts work first. I enjoyed this tightly plotted story with its various strands all coming together in what seems like a conclusion but which actually has some more twists and turns to catch the reader out.
This is probably one of the best books in the series which I've read so far. Well written with believable and likeable characters and with villains whose motivations the reader can understand. Altogether this is an excellent series and I recommend it to anyone who likes police procedural crime stories which are more than angst ridden policemen hunting down vicious villains with blood spattering every page. Yes there is violence but it is described in a low-key factual style which somehow makes it more shocking than pages of graphic description would do.
