Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks receives an urgent phone call from his brother asking for his help. He has never been close to his brother Roy, but alarmed by the message on his answerphone he sets off from the Yorkshire Dales for London to see exactly what the problem is. But on his arrival he finds his brother’s house empty and no-one knows where he is.

Meanwhile back in Yorkshire DI Annie Cabbott is investigating the death of a young woman found in her car. She had Banks’s name and address scribbled on a piece of paper in her pocket. Unaware that Banks has gone to London, Annie tries to find him to discover the link between them. Although officially on leave from work Banks, who is still recovering from his depression after the fire that destroyed his house and possessions, immediately gets involved in delving into Roy’s life whilst trying to find out what has happened to him. Just how has Roy made his money, what shady deals has he done, who are his connections? The more Banks discovers the worse it gets, until he fears for his parents’ safety, not just his brother’s.

A tense and gripping novel – I loved it and can’t wait to read more by Peter Robinson. ( )

Peter Robinson's Alan Banks series never fails to deliver a satisfying read. I have read several in this series and it always feels like you are revisiting old friends when you read the books from this author. ( )

Inspector Banks is still recovering from the fire that almost killed him when he gets a strange call from his brother. He goes to London to find him but doesn't, just his cell phone. Also, there is a young woman found dead on a road with Bank's address in her pocket so that the police, Anne Cabbot want to contact him about her murder. As usual, I enjoyed this mystery by Robinson ( )

What a book! Chief Inspector Banks receives a phone call from his brother just before he disappears. The brother is later found dead so Banks hares of to London while the brothers' girlfriend is desperately trying to get to Banks' cottage. She is murdered on the way and so begins an incredible journey into the murky lives of those who peddle flesh in the form of young girls taken against their will from eastern bloc countries. This is a gripping story which unearths a plot for one of the most heinous crimes I have ever heard of and reveals a side of Inspector Banks which is usually kept hidden. It seems he still has a long way to go before he really knows himself. ( )

On a warm summer night, an attractive woman hurtles north in a blue Peugeot with a hastily scrawled address in her pocket, while, back in London, a desperate man leaves an urgent late-night phone message on his brother's answering machine. By sunrise the next morning, the woman is found inside her car along an otherwise peaceful country lane, shot, execution-style, through the head.

Welcome to the idyllic Yorkshire Dales, where Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot arrives on the scene and discovers, to her surprise, a slip of paper in the dead woman's pocket that bears the name of her colleague and erstwhile lover, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. Banks, meanwhile -- already haunted and withdrawn after nearly dying in the fire that destroyed his home -- has gone missing just when he's needed most, and has left plenty of questions behind.

As Annie struggles to determine whether or not Banks is safe -- and what role he may have played in the woman's murder -- Banks himself investigates the mysterious disappearance of his estranged brother, Roy, whose late-night call for help brings Banks back to London. Working from Roy's swank apartment, Banks makes the rounds to Roy's old haunts and slowly inhabits the life of his younger brother -- the black sheep of the family, who always seemed to sail a little too close to the wind. As the trail of clues about Roy's life and associations draws Banks into a dark circle of conspiracy and corruption, mobsters and murder, Banks suddenly realizes he's running out of time to save Roy, and by digging too deep, he may be exposing himself and his family to the same -- possibly deadly -- danger. ( )