I have been a fan of the ‘Inspector Banks’ novels for a long time. The Yorkshire settings and references to products and colloquial habits that appear in Robinson’s books are a treat.
This latest novel resonates especially so. The story has two parts, a young university student’s death in 1980 and an unearthed skeleton in 2019. It’s not an open-and-shut case if that is what you are thinking.
I particularly like the way Robinson uses historical fact here – the way the Police Force use undercover officers to infiltrate and gather intel on the political, unionised, and criminal groups of the times. Of course, the Police officers in the 2019 case were young policemen in the 1980 case.
Robinson deftly highlights the tragic, and sometimes criminal, results of undercover operations. As always, the team that surrounds Banks in the solving of the case are human, everyday folks, dealing with everyday lives, new babies, losing a father; he also brings in Banks’ police contacts from other Counties, as he does in most books.
This is an intricate, well-plotted, clever novel with twists and turns that need to be unpicked, examined, discarded, or, as is the case with Alan Banks, stored away to be used when more of the puzzle comes to light.
Robinson pushes the ‘cultured’ Alan Banks a bit too much for me (the constant mention of classical music titles, sophisticated wine/ whisky choices etc). But perhaps this is a result of my reading all his novels. Regardless, Standing in the Shadows is still a superb read.
Reviewed by Alison Logie
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