11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Different, 18 Sep 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Autographs in the Rain (Paperback)
Regular readers of the Skinner series will find Autographs in the Rain surprising, while those who're picking up their first Jardine mystery would do better to start from the very beginning to fully appreciate the latest offering. It's not just a new Skinner, it's a new and refreshing Jardine. I was impressed with some very fine character analysis.
There's business as usual on the crime and murder front, but the spotlight of the book seems to be on the characters' private lives. After years of turbulent and erratic living, where to a greater or lesser degree the characters' problems have been stemming from their larger than life personalities, in the Autographs everyone is longing for a quiet life. From a famous but tired actress to a young sergeant and his secretary girlfriend, all the relationships have either already arrived to a safe port or are well on their way there.
The overall feeling is that they have all reached their peak in a sense. Skinner's playing with his children and believes in his own personality cult, Andy Martin's playing happy families, and his pregnant wife (once a promising police sergeant) starts a family support group of all things.
All of which has the makings, in my opinion, of a major drama to come. The situation carries the seeds of its own destruction. The title as well might be, I believe, Calm Before the Storm. The deeper the calm, the more destructive the storm. In spite of their best intentions, those people have never been peaceful home-makers, conventionally prepared to wait for God and a bus pass. They've lived on the edge and will, I have no doubt, continue to do so, matching their professional challenges with personal crises of their own making.
I'm really looking forward to the next Skinner mystery. A mystery in more sense than one.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Skinner at his most fearsome, 16 July 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Autographs in the Rain (Paperback)
Autographs in the Rain is the eleventh Skinner novel by Quintin Jardine. Skinner is at his most fearsome early on in the novel and his team have a number of different crimes to deal with and Skinner has a new and ambitious colleague to handle. The novel rollercosters on with Skinner as fearsome as every and his top assistant acting as a bodguard for a filmstar and personal friend of his boss. A fish stealing scam which turns to murder and the chilling murder of Skinners secretarys elderly Uncle. Unfortunately you can work out and see the ending coming. However with a couple of new charactors introduced and no doubt to be involved in the next Skinner edition, This is another great read by Quintin Jardine and a must for all Skinner fans
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Utterly brilliant & thoroughly entertaining., 12 July 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Autographs in the Rain (Paperback)
Quintin Jardine is a top class author. His crime novels are well planned, the plot twists are very well thought through. The characters' personality traits are believable and they interact with each other splendidly.
'Autographs In The Rain' is another 5-star winner. I don't want to spoil ANY of the story line if you're planning to read it, but the separate strands of the story mesh together to make it one of the best of the series. Minor characters from previous stories have a bigger part to play than they've been allowed before and the reader can really get to know them better.
However, if you've not met Bob Skinner before, I really recommend that you read these books in order. You won't regret it.
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