Wasted Years

Wasted Years is the fifth entry into John Harvey’s police procedural featuring DI Charlie Resnick and, with this book, I could feel the author is getting really comfortable in Resnick’s skin, as this is the best of the series so far. We find Charlie and his team investigating two sets of armed robberies, some appear to done by professionals while the others have the mark of beginners. Either of the cases could escalate at any time if the threat of violence is carried through. If this isn’t enough for Charlie to deal with, a crime of some ten years ago is brought forward as the perpetrator comes up for parole. Twenty years ago, Charlie investigated this case of armed robbery while his marriage fell apart. All these events are on show more his mind, and then we find there are connections between all these cases.

An excellent series, with a good cast of characters. Charlie Resnick is a very good man, but unfortunately his job and life choices have cut him off and he lives a rather lonely life with his five cats and his jazz music.. DI Resnick isn’t a flashy policeman, he ponders each clue, then slowly yet deliberately puts the pieces together. These books are excellent police procedurals and are believable. The author keeps the story moving along with lots of interesting side trips into the lives of the secondary characters. show less

Typical Resnick, but with a couple of interesting twists. To stretch the plot over different time periods, but keeping the strands together was very well done and unusual. It was also necessary for the underlying feel of lost opportunities, the 'might have beens', that make this so delicately depressing. Really liked this Resnick outing.

John Harvey has certainly caught my attention. In this entry, Charlie Resnick is charged with stopping a string of increasingly violent but very well-planned bank robberies. At the same time, we see a young man try to get into the same line of criminal endeavor, becoming increasingly dangerous himself. Charlie is thrown back to similar cases ten years before, and the circumstances of his life at that time. The change of timeline is pretty well handled, as is Charlie's personal life.

This is an ok book
Inspector Resnick is investigating some armed robberies that takes him back 10 years.
Ok book this quite well written its really 2 books in 1 starts in 1992 then jumps to 1981 then goes back to 1992.
Glad I read it will look out for others.

Tuli vahingossa luettua toiseen kertaan, mutta kesti yllättävästi senkin. Viides Resnick-dekkari.