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Changelings is the seventh in Bannister's deservedly popular series of police novels set in Castlemere and it is a compulsive read, tense and entirely unpredictable. Someone is holding Castlemere to ransom by threatening its children with contaminated food at the supermarket and acid showers in the town's school. A million pounds is the sum demanded for the town's safety and Detective Superintendent Frank Shapiro and Detective Inspector Liz Graham are faced with the seemingly impossible task of finding the terrorist in time. While the townsfolk turn vigilante in their panic, the American owners of the supermarket send in trouble-shooter Mitchell Tyler, whose methods of investigation seem to need their own policing. Meanwhile, Liz's own unconventional sergeant, Cal Donovan, has disappeared while convalescing on his canal boat in the Fens. The story behind Donovan's disappearance is plotted in parallel to the town's blackmail mystery and the theme of one individual threatening a group is cleverly woven throughout both. The quiet hysteria of an isolated rural community builds an eerie atmosphere and sense of underlying menace which drives the action in both stories: the feeling of fear is palpable as the danger builds. A genuinely hard-to-put down book offering an original and satisfying read in a genre which can too often be formulaic. (Kirkus UK)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Someone is trying to blackmail the town of Castlemere, demanding a million pounds to stop tampering with public facilities and the stock of local shops. As well as hunting the blackmailer, DS Shapiro has to deal with vigilante groups and a trouble shooter from the supermarket head office.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jo Bannister's Castlemead Series continues to show what a really good author she is. The book itself is full of beautiful gems of throw away lines coupled with a very good, tense and compelling plot. The only complaint I have is that the last couple of books have largely ignored the DI's husband (Brian) - this is sad as there was a really good plot line developing with him prior to this book and I was anticipating a real showdown with the pair of them (he has been treated really badly by the DI all through the series). Apart from that, a really good book well worth reading.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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3 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
One of the Best Series Around
19 July 2001
Format:Hardcover
In this 7th outing, the town of Castlemere is being attacked, but no one knows why. Threats are being made that the perp will do great harm to the populace and Liz Grahame, the DI, must find out who it is before he/she makes good on the threats. In the meantime, Donovan is off recuperating from wounds suffered in the previous outing.
This is one of the best British procedurals around. It is best to start with the first entry so you can see the characters develop over the years. Bannister is an excellent writer, the plots are complex without being obtuse, and Bannister has the reader present as each new piece of evidence is put into mix.
If the series has a flaw, it is the subplots featuring Donovan that the author has begun putting into each book. While the circumstances change, the result is the same - Donovan is the unwitting hero.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Castlemere mystery
20 Oct 2000
Format:Hardcover
The timing of the first incident in the American supermarket in Castlemere, England could not have been better planned. Since Detective Sergeant Cal Donovan is on leave recovering from a bullet wound and a nasty cold, he takes his narrowboat Tara and goes off on one of his watery holidays. Superintendent Frank Shapiro also recovering from a bullet has just returned to the desk, but is not cleared for any other duty. That leaves Detective Inspector Liz Graham as the sole field operator of the successful trio.
The supermarket occurrence involved the threat of poisoning yoghurt. The tampering of the high school showers follows the food incident. Though seemingly harmless pranks, the Castlemere police take it very seriously especially when a woman's hands are burned by baby powder. The supermarket head office sends Mitchell Tyler to help the police stop a devious criminal. The brass calls Donovan back to duty to assist with a town on the verge of uncontrollable panic and hysteria, but the law enforcement official apparently is dead.
CHANGELINGS is the seventh delightful appearance of the Castlemere trio. This book is an exciting police procedural that focuses on the conflict between "punish the guilty" vs. "protect the innocent." The story line provides a great understanding of the prime players so that series fans learn more about their heroes while new readers gain insight into the various character traits of the threesome. The plot succeeds because the maniacal thug feels genuine and his actions plausible (think the Tokyo subway a few years ago). Jo Bannister continues to expertly write tales that are some of the sub-genre's best novels.
Harriet Klausner
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Another interesting procedural from Jo Bannister
30 Jan 2005
Format:Hardcover
I discovered the mystery writer, Jo Bannister, just recently and am in the process of working my way through the series.
The Changelings was written in 2000 and is quite a nice addition to the series.
The only criticism I have is that the sub plot involving Sergeant Cal Donovan seems somewhat contrived and a little hard to believe. My sense is that the main story could not be fleshed out enough to make a decent sized novel.
The meat of the book is concerned with the threat of a blackmailer who is threatening to poison an unspecified product unless the town of Castlemere pays a ransom of one million dollars. His opening moves are caustic soda in baby powder and cholera in cough medicine. Neither do any fatal harm but the threat appears to be that if the ransom is not paid, the moves will become deadly. Interesting but as I said above, the story on its own would probably be more suitable as a novella.
Still an interesting read. Bannister is an excellent writer who breathes life into her characters and the town of Castlemere. All in all, as another reviewer stated, this is a superior series. I would concur with that assessment.
The Changelings was written in 2000 and is quite a nice addition to the series.
The only criticism I have is that the sub plot involving Sergeant Cal Donovan seems somewhat contrived and a little hard to believe. My sense is that the main story could not be fleshed out enough to make a decent sized novel.
The meat of the book is concerned with the threat of a blackmailer who is threatening to poison an unspecified product unless the town of Castlemere pays a ransom of one million dollars. His opening moves are caustic soda in baby powder and cholera in cough medicine. Neither do any fatal harm but the threat appears to be that if the ransom is not paid, the moves will become deadly. Interesting but as I said above, the story on its own would probably be more suitable as a novella.
Still an interesting read. Bannister is an excellent writer who breathes life into her characters and the town of Castlemere. All in all, as another reviewer stated, this is a superior series. I would concur with that assessment.
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