- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (19 Jun 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340836865
- ISBN-13: 978-0340836866
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 14.8 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 105,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Piece of My Heart: A Chief Inspector Banks Novel
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Review
'Robinson has to use all his ingenuity to find the solution to both killings. This book benefits hugely from Robinson's sympathetic leading man and the richly recorded Dales settings.'
(Scotsman )'PIECE OF MY HEART brilliantly evokes the time of British psychedelia (which I remember as standing in a muddy field sucking on a weak joint), as well as being a terrific contemporary crime novel.'
(Independent on Sunday )'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps Piece of My Heart, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league . . . Piece of My Heart brilliantly interweaves past and present, providing two strands of tension for the price of one, and further enhancing Alan Banks's reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops.'
(Marcel Berlins, The Times )'This is Banks' 16th outing and the best yet'
(Mirror )'This book must be the bargain of the year, for it is two riveting, equally interesting crime novels in one. What takes it into the premier league, however, is Robinson's utterly convincing and moving portrayal of Chadwick and Banks'
(Telegraph )Review
'Robinson has to use all his ingenuity to find the solution to both killings. This book benefits hugely from Robinson's sympathetic leading man and the richly recorded Dales settings.' -- Scotsman 'PIECE OF MY HEART brilliantly evokes the time of British psychedelia (which I remember as standing in a muddy field sucking on a weak joint), as well as being a terrific contemporary crime novel.' -- Independent on Sunday 'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps Piece of My Heart, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league ... Piece of My Heart brilliantly interweaves past and present, providing two strands of tension for the price of one, and further enhancing Alan Banks's reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops.' -- Marcel Berlins, The Times 'This is Banks' 16th outing and the best yet' -- Mirror 'This book must be the bargain of the year, for it is two riveting, equally interesting crime novels in one. What takes it into the premier league, however, is Robinson's utterly convincing and moving portrayal of Chadwick and Banks' -- Telegraph 'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps Piece of My Heart, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league ... Piece of My Heart brilliantly interweaves past and present, providing two strands of tension for the price of one, and further enhancing Alan Banks's reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops.' -- Marcel Berlins, The Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Peter Robinson is able to keep coming up with clever and original stories in his Inspector Alan Banks series and this (though rather drawn out) is one of his best.
This is a split time novel with two investigations, one in the autumn of 1969 and the present day. The novel switches cleverly between the two periods and provides an intriguing insight into how a murder investigation was conducted in the 6o's compared to present day.
The investigating officer in 1969 is Stanley Chadwick a WWII veteran, a hard nosed policeman of the 'old school'. He is investigating the murder of a teenage girl at an open air rock concert in Yorkshire where a local band called "The Mad Hatters' were playing.
37 years later Banks is investigating the death of a rock music jounalist who was writing an article on the band.
Robinson has developed very strong characters as well as a real sense of atmosphere added with some clever observations. The character Vic Greaves, a rock star who took too many drugs and escaped into his own reclusive world is very obviously based on Pink Floyd's original musical genius Syd Barrett.
Banks has to contend with a new boss, Detective Superintendent Gervaise, a high flying ex Cheltenham Ladies College student who is tough and single minded but knows that Banks, although unconventional gets results.
This is the most original Banks story since 'In a Dry Season' (also a split time novel,in this case WWII).
Peter Robinson is a very accomplished writer but it would be good to see him stretch out and write another non Banks book in the future.
This is a split time novel with two investigations, one in the autumn of 1969 and the present day. The novel switches cleverly between the two periods and provides an intriguing insight into how a murder investigation was conducted in the 6o's compared to present day.
The investigating officer in 1969 is Stanley Chadwick a WWII veteran, a hard nosed policeman of the 'old school'. He is investigating the murder of a teenage girl at an open air rock concert in Yorkshire where a local band called "The Mad Hatters' were playing.
37 years later Banks is investigating the death of a rock music jounalist who was writing an article on the band.
Robinson has developed very strong characters as well as a real sense of atmosphere added with some clever observations. The character Vic Greaves, a rock star who took too many drugs and escaped into his own reclusive world is very obviously based on Pink Floyd's original musical genius Syd Barrett.
Banks has to contend with a new boss, Detective Superintendent Gervaise, a high flying ex Cheltenham Ladies College student who is tough and single minded but knows that Banks, although unconventional gets results.
This is the most original Banks story since 'In a Dry Season' (also a split time novel,in this case WWII).
Peter Robinson is a very accomplished writer but it would be good to see him stretch out and write another non Banks book in the future.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The last two Inspector Banks novels were pretty poor efforts, and I thought that this, largely excellent, series had run out of steam.
Piece of my Heart, however, is one of the best Banks books of all. It is two very good stories intertwined, and the plotting is very cleverly done. As another reviewer has noted, even the denouement is entirely credible, and the two plots are brought their joint conclusion beautifully.
Inspector Chadwick is a good character, who would probably support his own series, as might Sergeant Enderby. Banks was in danger of becoming a cartoon, but this novel gives him back some humanity, and he now has a new boss to deal with, giving us some friction for another couple of runouts, I would guess.
No silly twists, no ridiculous coincidences, just a really good set of puzzles and a clever answer.
Piece of my Heart, however, is one of the best Banks books of all. It is two very good stories intertwined, and the plotting is very cleverly done. As another reviewer has noted, even the denouement is entirely credible, and the two plots are brought their joint conclusion beautifully.
Inspector Chadwick is a good character, who would probably support his own series, as might Sergeant Enderby. Banks was in danger of becoming a cartoon, but this novel gives him back some humanity, and he now has a new boss to deal with, giving us some friction for another couple of runouts, I would guess.
No silly twists, no ridiculous coincidences, just a really good set of puzzles and a clever answer.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In this latest of his many Inspector Banks novels, Peter Robinson alternates two narratives - one from 1969 and one from 2005. Both fictional, obviously, but with plenty of non-fiction to make fans of the 60s, in particular, squirm with delight. This adds to the novel's attraction, but there is uavoidably less space to develop the character Banks and those around him. It is not the suspense that is the chief quality of these novels (though there is plenty of it) - it is the dialogue, the characterisation, the mystery, and the sheer verisimilitude. My recommendation is without reservation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Spoilt by misspellings!
Well, maybe I am being picky but this book was spoilt for me with the massive number of misspellings and the fact that it jumped from present to past in the next sentence. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Bookworm
None
A good read spoilt by poor editing of this Kindle version. There are a significant number of incorrect words, sentences that make no sense and sometimes the change between 1969 and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by david robinson
great book, dreadful conversion to kindle
this review is a warning to anyone who buys the Alan Banks series on their kindle. This novel is littered with the most glaring errors and typo's. Read more
Published 2 months ago by sparklebird
A great DCI Banks' story, but bad kindle editing
In 2004 I found an "Aftermath" copy left at a hostel in the north of Chile. Since then I have read all the Banks' books published up to 2005. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Edgardo
Most Impressive
This is the first Peter Robinson book I've read, and I was most impressed. There are two related plots, thirty five years apart, and they dovetail during the course of the book: a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by W. Tegner
Who checks the text?
I am someone who is still confused by the location of apostophes in words so I am not a nitpicker who scours books for the odd typo so that I can say "Ah found a little error,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Richard Ashley
Excellent story in innovative 'flipback' format
I read this novel when it first came out in 2006. I read it again when it was very recently released in 'flipback' format as I remembered I'd enjoyed the story the first time round... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Midnight
it was not all summer of love
Another great Chief inspector Banks novel. A plot line with two murders 40 years apart , two different styles of investigation. a great sense of place. Read more
Published 12 months ago by A. Browne
Held my heart - just
I'm relatively new to Inspector Banks. This novel is different from previous ones I've read. It's a Time-Slip genre and worked quite well with Bank's picking up on a murder in the... Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2009 by Jane Baker
Top Notch Crime Thriller
In Piece of My Heart things get messy, the police are a varied bunch of human-beings who argue amongst themselves, pull rank and even, occasionally, take a short cut in procedure... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
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