Not Dark Yet: DCI Banks 27

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Revenge, along with the grip the past has on the present and future, underlies the events of Not Dark Yet . Someone(s) enacts revenge on Connor Clive Blaydon, a “crooked property developer,” and “his factotum Neville Roberts.” Blaydon, a Yorkshire businessman of dubious morals, crossed swords with Banks in Many Rivers to Cross . Not Dark Yet" is the twenty-seventh installment in Peter Robinson's long-running Alan Banks series. Now a Detective Superintendent in North Yorkshire, Banks was once a heavy smoker, drinker, and ladies' man. He still enjoys alcohol within limits, but has since quit smoking and, at the moment, has no romantic entanglements. The heroine is a beautiful and mysterious woman named Zelda, who spent her formative years in an orphanage in Moldova. After she left the facility at the age of seventeen, she was abducted and physically abused. This horrendous experience left Zelda traumatized, but instead of internalizing her rage, she resolved to punish those who cruelly mistreated her. The gruesome double-murder at an Eastvale property developer's luxury home should be an open and shut case for Superintendent Alan Banks and his team of detectives. There's a clear link to the notoriously vicious Albanian mafia, men who left the country suspiciously soon after the murder. When Banks and his team find a cache of spy-cam videos hidden in the house, Annie and Gerry's investigation pivots to another violent crime that could cast the murders in an entirely different light. Meanwhile, Zelda is already uncertain of her future in the UK, as immigration want to see her documents, and she’s having trouble proving her right to remain.What with that, the authorities circling and the fear of arrest, she decides to go to Moldova to hunt the men who abducted, raped and enslaved her after she grew up in an orphanage there. She’s unclear what she will do if she finds them. She’s playing with fire and placing herself in greater peril, of course.

Both this book and the preceding volume Careless Love leave matters unsettled, evidently hoping that these cliffhanger endings will ensure that readers will want to read subsequent books. I probably will, but, if it matters, I will do so resentfully. There are some things about this book that I did not like. Banks runs afoul of the Police Conduct division (evidently the British equivalent of Internal Affairs departments in the United States), who suspect that he might have been involved in some nefarious activity. There does not seem to be any particular reason for this, and I think - or hope, at least - that this is exaggerated.Entries in the Banks series frequently include many passages about music. This is not a subject about which I am especially knowledgeable, and I am generally not interested in these.

The case takes a horrific turn when a review of the video files determines that a rape took place. Banks is tasked with finding Connor’s killer, as well as identifying the rape victim, who might have been motivated to murder him herself. He does not realize that an assailant is much closer to him and his team than they can possibly suspect. There are a number of twists and turns in the investigation, one of which intersects with Banks’ past and a longstanding nemesis of his. As mentioned, this was my first encounter with Peter Robinson and I have already added the other twenty-six books in the series to my TBR. I enjoyed the writing and loved the characters. The regular reference to music had me reaching for my Spotify account to hear what the fuss was about. I cannot wait to spend more time with Alan Banks.I may be assuming too much, but NOT DARK YET seems to be the run-up to the conclusion of Peter Robinson’s series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks of the Eastvale, Yorkshire police force. Robinson has depicted Banks’ aging naturally (for the most part), so this latest installment finds the iconic protagonist somewhat faded, if not weary, as the world around him moves ahead with him. As a result, this book --- the 27th entry in the series --- marks a number of personal passages for Banks, as well as the resolution of a couple of professional cases that have formed an extended story arc over several prior novels. Not Dark Yet is the 27th Inspector Banks mystery. But it’s the first that I’ve read. And therein lies the problem. There is so much attention given in the earlier books in this arc to Zelda's ability as a super-recognizer that it seems odd and disappointing to me that this plays no part in solving the problems in Not Dark Yet.

I don’t want to say too much over the phone, but I think we should meet and compare notes. Are you seriously busy?”We reviewed earlier Banks novel When the Music’s Over. For more Yorkshire crime you could try the rather more spooky I am Dustby Louise Beech. Robinson’s continued ability to reveal a mystery and a solution where you least expect it should make fans hopeful that this series will carry on for a while." Their conversation is desultory—Zelda is by turns disingenuous, sulky, and brittle. She finally spills the beans. Banks can’t understand why she held out on him. Zelda blames it on growing up in the Soviet system: police are not to be trusted. She senses Banks is not convinced. Her next comment proves prophetic: “I’ll miss this place.” A few days after their lunch, she disappears—not voluntarily, she’s been kidnapped. Read our review of Many Rivers to Cross by Peter Robinson

No. Well, yes, but . . . we’re trying to make a case against Leka Gashi and the Albanians for Blaydon’s murder. Trouble is, we don’t even know where they are.”

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Instead of discovering Connor’s murderer, however, the grainy and blurred footage reveals another crime: a brutal rape. If they can discover the woman’s identity, it could lead to more than justice for the victim; it could change everything the police think they know about Connor and why anyone would want him dead.