Ted Bun reviews Gallows View (Inspector Banks Series Book 1) by Peter Robinson

Mentioning darker plots … I was tempted by a low-cost edition of book one of the Inspector Banks series (the first of twenty-four, it could be expensive). On the other hand, it was not a strong book.
Written in the 1980’s which I managed to pick up from the smoking in public buildings and one mention of synthesiser and drum music, some of the plot devices had not stood the test of time. The opera-loving hero and the Radical Woman character. Some of the writing was very repetitive ‘Banks lights another cigarette!” Headlines in the Eastvale Herald. Many of the characters are very one dimensional, all the women are stunningly attractive, the bad guys are irredeemably evil, petty but evil.
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If I was going for a post-Rebus detective … Derek Fee’s character Ian Wilson is far better. Definitely in the
I gather there is a TV series based on these books. Reviews indicate they might get better so I may try another.
2 Stars​

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