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poorcate's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
paronomaniac's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse
chartsh's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
weaselweader's review against another edition
4.0
“Murder and madness in the Yorkshire dales” … a marvelous continuation to a first-rate series!
Any resemblance between Swainshead and James Herriot’s pastoral farming village home of Darrowby begins and ends with the perennial Yorkshire love of tipping back a pint with friends.
Five years earlier, a private investigator visiting the area (for reasons that at the time were not entirely clear) was murdered. A young women who might or might not have been romantically attached to the victim disappears and is never heard from again. Five years later, a vacationing hiker discovers a second corpse, so savagely beaten and so grossly mutilated that the identity of the victim is unclear. Sherlock Holmes would declare the game to be afoot and Chief Inspector Banks is on the hunt for the killer and the solution to what might be called an open-air locked room mystery. Swainshead is a small village and the list of possible suspects, accordingly, is a short one!
Just as Michael Connelly has done with the Harry Bosch persona introduced in THE BLACK ECHO, Banks continues to grow and evolve as a person and skilled investigator. Alan Banks is a real man with real characteristics – he loves his music, opera, choral, jazz and blues; he enjoys a jar or two of his favourite beer; he’ll even indulge in a scotch if the problem he’s considering is a little deeper or a little more pressing; he’s happy to be in a small town away from the dank, depressing, and jarring crowds of London but, as far as the Yorkshire men and women are concerned, he’s still a ‘Johnny Come Lately’ and his acceptance is minimal and reserved.
THE HANGING VALLEY is definitely a modern mystery in its approach to modern themes – adultery, sexual assault, violence, forensics and pathology, divorce, domestic abuse, the indoctrination of organized religion, and problem drinking, for example. In short, it’s a modern police procedural but it’s very much character and personality driven and is not in any sense a suspense thriller. That said, the shocking surprise ending on the final page (NO cheating now!) will take the breath away from any reader and will even leave some readers wondering whether Chief Inspector Banks’ solution to the multiple murders was the correct one!
Enough said! If you enjoy police procedurals, then pick up your copy of THE HANGING VALLEY. It’s a sure-fire winner!
Paul Weiss
Any resemblance between Swainshead and James Herriot’s pastoral farming village home of Darrowby begins and ends with the perennial Yorkshire love of tipping back a pint with friends.
Five years earlier, a private investigator visiting the area (for reasons that at the time were not entirely clear) was murdered. A young women who might or might not have been romantically attached to the victim disappears and is never heard from again. Five years later, a vacationing hiker discovers a second corpse, so savagely beaten and so grossly mutilated that the identity of the victim is unclear. Sherlock Holmes would declare the game to be afoot and Chief Inspector Banks is on the hunt for the killer and the solution to what might be called an open-air locked room mystery. Swainshead is a small village and the list of possible suspects, accordingly, is a short one!
Just as Michael Connelly has done with the Harry Bosch persona introduced in THE BLACK ECHO, Banks continues to grow and evolve as a person and skilled investigator. Alan Banks is a real man with real characteristics – he loves his music, opera, choral, jazz and blues; he enjoys a jar or two of his favourite beer; he’ll even indulge in a scotch if the problem he’s considering is a little deeper or a little more pressing; he’s happy to be in a small town away from the dank, depressing, and jarring crowds of London but, as far as the Yorkshire men and women are concerned, he’s still a ‘Johnny Come Lately’ and his acceptance is minimal and reserved.
THE HANGING VALLEY is definitely a modern mystery in its approach to modern themes – adultery, sexual assault, violence, forensics and pathology, divorce, domestic abuse, the indoctrination of organized religion, and problem drinking, for example. In short, it’s a modern police procedural but it’s very much character and personality driven and is not in any sense a suspense thriller. That said, the shocking surprise ending on the final page (NO cheating now!) will take the breath away from any reader and will even leave some readers wondering whether Chief Inspector Banks’ solution to the multiple murders was the correct one!
Enough said! If you enjoy police procedurals, then pick up your copy of THE HANGING VALLEY. It’s a sure-fire winner!
Paul Weiss
alvalvano's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
nixnixnixnixnix's review against another edition
3.0
It was a cozy read - like a script from Midsummer Murders - but the end. Oi. It just fell off a cliff, in the middle of a scene. Granted, the scene didn't leave much hanging...but it's like someone walked away in the middle of a conversation.
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
When authors create realistic landscapes and villages it's annoying because I want to visit... and I can't. The world Robinson has created for Banks is based on reality, but isn't quite. Pout.
This one took a little more suspension of belief for me: the old, unsolved murder and disappearance were fine, as was the one that started the book. But the second? I'm not sure I believed it as much. And the close-lipped natives sometimes felt put there so that the murder wasn't easily solved rather than simply how the town was. It was also a little unclear how big Swainshead really was. A few hundred people? A few thousand? Under a hundred? Banks' trip to Toronto is fun, however, as is his incomprehension about baseball.
This one took a little more suspension of belief for me: the old, unsolved murder and disappearance were fine, as was the one that started the book. But the second? I'm not sure I believed it as much. And the close-lipped natives sometimes felt put there so that the murder wasn't easily solved rather than simply how the town was. It was also a little unclear how big Swainshead really was. A few hundred people? A few thousand? Under a hundred? Banks' trip to Toronto is fun, however, as is his incomprehension about baseball.
hollyberrybooks's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed it - been a while since I read any of the Banks' series. Also good to go back to the 80s and marvel at how much things have changed since then.
ncrabb's review against another edition
3.0
Nick Fellowes was hiking when he stumbled on toe corpse. It teamed with maggots, and its face was gone. They used dental records to identify Bernard Allen, so obliterated was his face. Normally, the small village of Swainshead doesn’t see murders, but five years prior to Fellowes’s discovery, a private investigator went missing in the same village, and Anne Ralston, a local resident, disappeared the day before that murder. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks becomes convinced that there’s connection to the three events, and it’s up to him to figure out what that is.
If you read this, you will be immediately captivated and fascinated by Katie Greenock, the slender full-lipped wife of Sam. He and Katie own the guesthouse wherein Fellowes stayed and form which the faceless corpse went missing. Katie’s grandmother raised her, and she taught Katie that sex was something you gritted your teeth and endured. Oh, of course, pretend you’re putting out for personal pleasure so the fragile ego of the man with whom you’re copulating won’t be overly bruised, but above all, don’t assume you’re going to enjoy it.
Banks sees Katie as a woman of innocent beauty and as someone who knows far more than she’s willing to disclose about the murder and the earlier death and disappearance.
Before this ends, Banks will journey to Canada to find Anne Ralston to see whether she can fill in missing pieces. The Canadian section of the book felt slowest to me and least relevant, but it’s necessary.
I won’t comment on the ending except to say that it will absolutely stop you cold. It chilled me, and it will be memorable to you as well.
If you read this, you will be immediately captivated and fascinated by Katie Greenock, the slender full-lipped wife of Sam. He and Katie own the guesthouse wherein Fellowes stayed and form which the faceless corpse went missing. Katie’s grandmother raised her, and she taught Katie that sex was something you gritted your teeth and endured. Oh, of course, pretend you’re putting out for personal pleasure so the fragile ego of the man with whom you’re copulating won’t be overly bruised, but above all, don’t assume you’re going to enjoy it.
Banks sees Katie as a woman of innocent beauty and as someone who knows far more than she’s willing to disclose about the murder and the earlier death and disappearance.
Before this ends, Banks will journey to Canada to find Anne Ralston to see whether she can fill in missing pieces. The Canadian section of the book felt slowest to me and least relevant, but it’s necessary.
I won’t comment on the ending except to say that it will absolutely stop you cold. It chilled me, and it will be memorable to you as well.