All the Colors of Darkness

by: Peter Robinson

Published by: William Morrow (February 17 release)

Reviewed by Shawn Remfrey

Inspector Banks is called back from his vacation to help figure out a murder/suicide case. Mark Hardcastle is found hung from a tree, and his lover, Laurence Silbert, is found brutally murdered. As soon as they start their investigation, they realize that something is amiss. No one who knows the couple can believe it’s a simple murder/suicide. Then it comes to light that Laurence was an MI6 agent.

DI Annie Cabbot is working on another case. It seems there’s a new player in town where gangs are concerned. No one’s giving up his name or whereabouts, and people are getting hurt.

Will Inspector Banks even survive his latest case? Where does MI6 fit into the puzzle? How can a murder/suicide be anything other than that?

I really enjoyed this book. Inspector Banks and all of the supporting characters are so well-played that I couldn’t help but know and like them. There are some great plot twists as well. I found myself blinking in one section and going back and rereading it because it was so unexpected.

Since this is the 18th book in the series, I wasn’t sure if I would have trouble–not having read the first 17. I found though that the way Peter Robinson writes, it wasn’t a problem. I was able to jump right into the story, and without knowing any history, it still made sense.

The problem I had with this book is that it was too easy to put down, and too difficult to pick back up and resume reading. It is not for the light reader who wants something they can quickly skim through over a latte. This book requires you to think, which would be a wonderful thing for me if I didn’t have children running around all day. I found that even the slightest distraction pulled me away from Inspector Banks.

I think this would be an amazing book for a book club to read.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Author’s Web site: http://www.inspectorbanks.com