Not Dark Yet: The 27th DCI Banks novel from The Master of the Police Procedural (Dci Banks 27)

This is the finale of a trilogy featuring Alan Banks against East European gangsters. It relies on the author skillfully slipping enough information into this book to remind the reader of the storyline of the preceding two. He succeeds magnificently. The reader might struggle to understand this if read as a stand alone novel. No problem; read Banks 25 and 26 first - they are great books in their own rights and you will gain from the steady application of complexity, tension and great story telling.This is rather a clever and ambitious book in that there is no fresh crime; the two murders took place in the previous novel, Many Rivers To Cross; and one other serious crime is discovered in Not Dark Yet. But it is far more than a mere tidying up of the loose ends. The three crimes are complex and the denouement satisfying. Writing well enough to sustain the reader's attention in a storyline stretching across three novels must be incredibly difficult, but this author pulls it off with laurels.Mr Robinson features Banks' team mates, Annie and Gerry more prominently, and it is they who solve the crimes. Indeed, Banks is more of a bit player than I recall him ever being before.; and there are little hints at his retirement.The East European femme fatale, Zelda, who is a central thread in the trilogy, is a much more rounded and convincing character in the finale. Her story appears to end here along with her partner's, with plenty of absorbing detail. A lesser, ordinary writer would have failed at this and turned her into a second class Laura Croft. Mr Robinson makes no such mistakeAnything to niggle us pedants? The device people under duress are put through is a wringer, not a ringer!Great book - his best to date.

My only complaint is that I read this so quickly and thus have another long wait for the next. I have always enjoyed this series and found the latest another good read. The characters, the settings and the style are familiar, a few hours away from our current reality and all the better for that. I was initially unsure about the Zelda storyline but as the book progressed, I found myself very much caught up in it and stayed up way too late to finish it, then was sorry I had done so, simply because it meant no more Banks for some time.After a long break between the previous book and this, I had forgotten that PR’s writing can be quite basic in its descriptions and initially found myself somewhat critical of telling, not showing; too many unnecessarily basic accounts of what Banks thought; this could have been more elegantly achieved through discourse. Generally, I see PR as a more skilled and able writer than this might indicate. I became very caught up in the story and perhaps because of this, overlooked/adapted to that shortcoming. Perhaps I will look back at earlier books, to see if all have been like this. I appreciate brief glimpses into either PR’s or Alan Banks’ politics, not sure whose. I am sure some will disapprove, but, Covid aside, it is supposedly set in the real world and people do have views. I wondered how Banks would manage the moral dilemmas of Zelda’s actions and was interested in their resolution. It made me wonder how many more of this series there will be; as a fan, one part of me hopes for many but there is also the law of diminishing returns in long running series and I’d hate to see this one go the way of worn out tropes. My last reading of James Lee Burke was an object lesson in what not to do. I hope PR is too aware of the pitfalls for that to happen.Next time, I am awaiting the return of the lovely Winsome; her maternity leave has been very long!

Not read yet but I like this author so I'm sure it will be good

Kept my interest until the last page. I read it in a week! Super fast for me…looking forward to his final chapter…

A Yorkshire DI getting involved in international crime. Not quite believable? I could say the world is getting smaller and smaller. People travel more and farther all the time. However, it doesn't matter to me as long as the story is as well written as this. Peter Robinson is a master and his romantic hero, music lover Alan Banks, is such a favourite of mine. So be it that in this book it's up to Annie and Gerrie to do most of the police work in the case while Banks is partly on sick leave, partly contemplating his past and future life and hinting on how his present life might have been better with a partner at his side...But back to the book. Zelda disappears and thus breaks her partner Ray's (Annie's father) heart. Her background from Eastern Europe holds secrets she tries keeping to herself. She feels fairly secure at Ray's cottage in Yorkshire but never stops looking over her shoulder.The story has a lot to do with Zelda's past and little by little her early tormentors appear in her present life. As a friend of Ray, Banks gets involved and finds himself in danger as well. The book gets rather dramatic and several murders are described in more gruesome details than usually in Robinson's books.If not a happy ending, everything is finally sorted out and in a realistic way. Being a romantic, I always hope for a reconsiliation between Banks and Annie (!). There are still sparks but so far I'm not getting my fairy tale. But I do get fantastic books from Robinson. The characters are many and complex. The answers surprising.For me a good book is when I can't stop reading and I can't stop reading an Alan Banks mystery. I finally fall asleep early morning with the book still in my bed. Alan Banks' love of music goes perfectly with his romantic nature. A lot of his choices are unknown to me but many inspire, which I consider a good thing.Peter Robinson is such a talented writer. Thanks to him for having used it to create DI Alan Banks and his world.

This thriller is not only such an absorbing story but it also reads easily, without making it a challenge to follow (as is so often the case with top fiction. I must admit to preferring Alan Banks more on home turf with parochial characters and more interaction between his team members (like in the earlier books). But I suppose one eventually starts running out of material. Good on you, mate, great entertainment!

Must be read in order with the previous book as it is a continuous story. Lots subplots add to the story and many references to music.

I’ve read all of Peter Robinson’s work-Alan Banks series, other novels, and short stories-and “Not Dark Yet” is one of my favorites. The plot moves along in an understandable fashion. The characters are well developed-so you can see them in your mind’s eye. It kept my interest so I read it in a couple days. Only “In A Dry Season” compares with “Not Dark Yet” as far as I’m concerned-both extremely good novels in the Alan Banks series. Love the Yorkshire,UK setting. Enjoyed learning something about Moldova, Albania, and Paris. If you like the Alan Banks series or English murder mysteries, you’ll enjoy this.

Au bout de 3 pages on change de sujet. Après 3 autres pages on revient sur le départ etc... Même le retour de Burgess ne donne pas de rythme.Tous ces sauts de puce me font très vite dormir = je n'arrive pas à accrocher.Ce livre est pire que le précédent, Pour moi, Monsieur Robinson ne fait plus partie des "bons" .

A must for followers of DCI Banks.

Very enjoyable & I hope it won't be the last