Caedmon's Song

This is my first book by Peter Robinson. Really enjoyed it - I like murder mysteries written from the point of view of the killer, for a change - the psychology/motivation behind it, much like many of Ruth Rendell's standalone novels which focus on the how and why of the murder rather than the police trying to catch the killer. The quality of the writing in The First Cut was superb, which was what I liked best about this novel. Interesting characters and not too many of them to keep track of. However, I can see people not liking this novel because of the rather slow pace - the murderer doing a lot of standing around watching and thinking about the situation. May be too much focus on feelings and emotions for readers who prefer show more fast-paced action. I really liked it though and I am now going to start reading Robinson's Inspector Banks series from the beginning. show less

Peter Robinson is well known for his Inspector Banks mysteries but this book is not from that series and is quite different from them. Wikipedia tells me that two of the Inspector Banks books, Aftermath and Friend of the Devil, tie in to Caedmon's Song. I've read both of those but I don't remember much about the plots so I'll have to take the word of whoever wrote the Wikipedia article.

Kirsten is a student at an unnamed northern university. It's the final night before graduation and she takes the path through a park after celebrating with her friends at a pub. An assailant hits her over the head and knifes her but before he can kill her he is scared off by a man walking his dog. Kirsten survives the attack but is badly disfigured and show more unable to have children. She goes to recover at her parents' house near Bath and is convinced to see a therapist in Bath. At the suggestion of the police, the therapist tries hynosis to get Kirsten to recover memories of that night. When she does start to recall details, she stops her therapy and uses self-hypnosis to recover more. Then she goes back north, ostensibly to go hiking with her friend but her aim is to try to find her attacker. The attacks have continued throughout the area and later victims have died. In alternate chapters, we learn about a woman named Martha Browne who turns up in Whitby looking for someone. Of course, this is really Kirsten looking for her attacker. Martha/Kirsten targets the wrong man and kills him only to discover her mistake. But since she's been careful about her appearance and interactions, no suspicion falls on her. That is, until a man who had stayed at the same B & B as she did sees her disguised to change her appearance further up the coast. He is also a victim although he does survive with significant memory loss. Kirsten finally finds the attacker and has her revenge. Still not suspected of these crimes, she leaves the area. Maybe those other Inspector Banks books have more details about her future life.

Robinson no doubt based the series of attacks on those of the Yorkshire Ripper who killed thirteen women between 1975 and 1980 and attacked more. The Ripper was eventually caught and convicted unlike the villain in this book. This was an very well crafted pyschological thriller. If that's your thing then I recommend this book. show less

I should pay better attention when I order books. This is a novel by Peter Robinson, the Yorkshireman who writes the Inspector Banks series. This book, Caedemon’s Song, did not feature Banks at all and I have to say I was disappointed when I realized this. But….my fault for not carefully reading the description before I clicked “buy”, right?

Robinson stated he wanted to take a break from the DCI Banks series and write from the victim’s point of view, rather than the police procedural type. The premise of this story revolves around a young lady named Kirsten who was brutally attacked one evening as she walks home alone through a park. The wounds she suffers are horrific. She survived only because she was found by a man walking show more his dog, otherwise she would have bled out. Kirsten wakes up in hospital over a week later, unaware of what happened to her. She has no memory of the attack. Her parents are in the hospital room with her, concerned about the injuries and how they will affect the rest of her life. The police question her, desperate to find her attacker but no matter how hard she tries she has no recollection of that night.

More women are attacked but they do not survive. Kirsten undergoes hypnotic therapy and slowly, the nightmare of the attack and details surface. She provides the police with as much detail as she cares to share with them but decides she has her own agenda as far as her attacker goes. I can’t reveal any more without spoiling the storyline.

I am a big fan of Peter Robinson but I will say I prefer the Inspector Banks series over this story. Well written, kept me reading and the first clue confirming what I suspected didn’t appear until 30 pages before the end. So that’s good, the reader didn’t have it all figured out early on. show less

As "Caedmon’s Song" opens, young Kirsten, a student just finishing her undergraduate studies at an unnamed university in the north of England, is savagely attacked while walking home through a park one night; left for dead, the only reason she survives is that her body is discovered by chance by a passing stranger and his dog. Meanwhile, researcher and would-be author Martha Browne travels to Whitby, looking for someone or something mysterious, which she hopes will be attainable; after all, she has prepared so diligently for this search…. This is a stand-alone psychological thriller by Peter Robinson, best known for his Detective Inspector Alan Banks series, set in Yorkshire; it is very dark, but quite compelling. I figured out a show more major plot point relatively early, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the novel at all; in fact, it might have ratcheted up the suspense just that much more! Gruesome in parts, but if you don’t mind some disturbing imagery, well worth your time; recommended. show less

I should pay better attention when I order books. This is a novel by Peter Robinson, the Yorkshireman who writes the Inspector Banks series. This book, Caedemon’s Song, did not feature Banks at all and I have to say I was disappointed when I realized this. But….my fault for not carefully reading the description before I clicked “buy”, right?

Robinson stated he wanted to take a break from the DCI Banks series and write from the victim’s point of view, rather than the police procedural type. The premise of this story revolves around a young lady named Kirsten who was brutally attacked one evening as she walks home alone through a park. The wounds she suffers are horrific. She survived only because she was found by a man walking show more his dog, otherwise she would have bled out. Kirsten wakes up in hospital over a week later, unaware of what happened to her. She has no memory of the attack. Her parents are in the hospital room with her, concerned about the injuries and how they will affect the rest of her life. The police question her, desperate to find her attacker but no matter how hard she tries she has no recollection of that night.

More women are attacked but they do not survive. Kirsten undergoes hypnotic therapy and slowly, the nightmare of the attack and details surface. She provides the police with as much detail as she cares to share with them but decides she has her own agenda as far as her attacker goes. I can’t reveal any more without spoiling the storyline.

I am a big fan of Peter Robinson but I will say I prefer the Inspector Banks series over this story. Well written, kept me reading and the first clue confirming what I suspected didn’t appear until 30 pages before the end. So that’s good, the reader didn’t have it all figured out early on. show less

A psychological puzzle-box following two stories: that of a woman who was brutally raped (in one time frame) and the other focused on a woman who is stalking men, bent on revenge. Too much focus on being a clever narrative coupled with a great deal of tourist information about Whitby and a fairly standard rape-revenge story that's not particularly insightful about rape. Prefer his Banks series and later stand-alones.

This is one of those thriller type of novels where you are able to see where, approximately, the story must be going, so there's not so much suspense as curiosity about how and where exactly the point the book is working towards comes. The detailed maps of Whitby and Yorkshire coast at the beginning seemed to be belong to a different kind of crime fiction novel, as well as made the book feel very touristy. Not bad, but not very original or exciting either.