Product Description

The number 35, the Hill is an ordinary house in an ordinary street. But it is about to become infamous. When two police constables are sent to the house following a report of a domestic disturbance, they stumble upon a truly horrific scene. A scene which leaves one of them dead and the other fighting for her life and career. The identity of a serial killer, the Chameleon, has finally been revealed. But his capture is only the beginning of a shocking investigation that will test Inspector Alan Banks to the absolute limit. 'It demonstrates how the crime novel, when done right, can reach parts that other books can't ...A considerable achievement' - "Guardian". 'Move over Ian Rankin - there's a new gunslinger in town looking to take over your role as top British police procedural author. With "Aftermath", Chief Inspector Alan Banks emerges as a definite contender for fiction's new top cop ...' - "Independent On Sunday".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3575 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The mystery novels of Peter Robinson (Aftermath is his 12th) have only increased with power and intelligence. It's a dirty little secret of the crime-fiction genre that many of its writers simply spin their wheels, repeating a successful formula and hoping, if not assuming, that their fans won't notice. Writers like Robinson, however, actually seem to grow in front of our eyes, delivering books of greater complexity each time. His previous two books, Cold Is the Grave and In a Dry Season, were equally novels of character and novels of crime and Aftermath is no exception.

Like recent books by fellow English writers Reginald Hill, Val McDermid and Stephen Booth, Aftermath centres upon a grim case in which attractive young girls have disappeared, victims of a cunning psychotic killer whose identity is well concealed behind a façade of respectability. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks of the Yorkshire Police is in charge of the case, but he's also got unavoidable personal distractions. His estranged wife is pregnant by her lover and wants the divorce he's been dragging his heels over.

There is nothing cosy about the kind of English mysteries written by Peter Robinson, even if they do take place in picturesque rural villages. He's not afraid of gore, deviance, violence or any of the baser emotions and it's a raw old world behind the hedgerows and cottage walls. If Aftermath is your first taste of his tough-tender sensibility, it won't be surprising if you are soon hooked on the work of one of today's most accomplished practitioners of detective fiction. --Otto Penzler

Review
'It demonstrates how the crime novel, when done right, can reach parts that other books can't... A considerable achievement' GUARDIAN 'Move over Ian Rankin - there's a new gunslinger in town looking to take over your role as top British police procedural author. With AFTERMATH, Chief Inspector Alan Banks emerges as a definite contender for fiction's new top cop...' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Maggie Forrest, an artist living in England as a fugitive from an unhappy marriage in Canada, hears strange, disturbing, noises from the house opposite, and dials 999. Acting Detective Superintendent Alan Banks, having - as he thinks - escaped the pressures of the London Met for the comparative peace of Yorkshire, finds himself facing the most distressing and demanding investigation of his career. Probationary P.C. Janet Taylor and P.C. Dennis Morrisey, answering the call, are completely out of their depth: too young and inexperienced to cope with what they find at No. 13, The Hill, where Lucy Payne lies on the verge of death from a head-wound, and her husband Terry crouches in the cellar clutching a machete, surrounded by a scene so appalling the mind initially cannot take it in. And this is only the beginning of a story of cunning child-abuse and cold-blooded murder which would seem like the product of a fevered imagination, were it not so close to real life. What makes it so absorbing here is the character analysis. The history of those immediately involved, their psychopathic confusion, the emotional cross-currents which bring them to the point of violence to others are rehearsed in depth. But even more interesting are those concerned with the investigation, and the psychological baggage they too bring to the case. How dispassionate can they be? Can they really separate the facts from their experience and instinctive reactions - and their own relationships and personal past? Peter Robinson manages to bring a cool sensitivity and understanding to a truly harrowing problem. There is no attempt to hyperbolize the situation - it is abhorrent enough in itself. What we witness is a slow, dogged and unremitting examination of the facts; the following of a trail which frequently comes to dead ends, or results in disorientating confusions, but which everyone is determined to follow to the bitter end. Not always an easy read, especially late at night, but a sincere, sober and skilful attempt to interpret one aspect of life most of us hope never to encounter. (Kirkus UK)

Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian 5 Jan 2002
... a leap into a rarefied sphere in which characterisation, mood, dark realism and suspense... deliver an unmistakably British, nigh-perfect tale.

Customer Reviews

Banks never lets you down
I have read every one of the Inspector Banks novels in order. I am now up to Aftermath and this proves that the series is going from strength to strength. The early novels were short but later they have become more in depth with character development.
The first chapter could easily be the last chapter of many a crime novel.
A neighbour reports a domestic in a neighbour's house. Two constables respond to this and stumble upon the home of the Chameleon a serial killer that Yorkshire police have been chasing for months. The killer Payne has knocked his wife Lucy unconscious. He attacks the constables and kills one but the other constable manages to knock him unconscious.

The remainder of the story is the aftermath for those involved.
Banks has to make sense of all the bodies in the cellar. He investigates the past of Lucy to see if she was involved.
Annie Cabbot has to find out if the police constable used excessive force in arresting Payne.
We see the effect this has on Cabbot and the constable.
Also the life of the neighbour who phoned in the domestic unravels.

As ever Robinson progresses the lives of the two main characters Banks and Cabbot. There is also a return for psychologist Jenny Fuller who looked in the early novels that she would be a main character but does not feature in later novels.

As ever Robinson keeps the story flowing. His dialogue is realistic and there are the usual twists along the way. If you enjoy crime novels and have not read any of Inspector Banks I recommend that you do.

Taut, tense storytelling from a writer at the top of his game
Although I read a lot of crime fiction I have to admit that AFTERMATH has been my first experiment with anything written by Peter Robinson. The great news is that not only is it a fine novel in its genre but there are, at the time of writing, eighteen others in the Robinson portfolio stretching back to 1987 and by all accounts the standard is high across the entire range. It's easy to understand why he has such a wide and enthusiastic following, because all the basic elements are there to enjoy: suspense, pace, mystery, interesting characters and a storyline that is credible yet extraordinary too; sadly such weird people as described in this fictional tale clearly do exist in real life.

The setting is Yorkshire and from the outset Robinson's long-term hero DI Alan Banks and his team have been pursuing a serial killer nicknamed the Chameleon - but who appears to have been caught in the act. The title of the novel is quite apt because the remainder of the story is indeed a description of what happens over the next couple of weeks, which will include the unravelling of this mystery while the reader doubtlessly tries to second-guess the police procedure in order to figure out the trademark 'Robinson twist' at the end. I would have given this book 5 stars if I had been completely fooled, as I wanted to be, but the truth is that I found it rather easy to spot the red herring and from an early stage I knew the identity of the Chameleon, sooner than I would have expected a cop as smart as DI Banks to do. That aside I enjoyed this tale immensely and I will quickly stock up on most if not all of the Inspector Banks novels, as I can tell from just this one that Peter Robinson is an author worth investing time and money in.

A Really Tense Thriller

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of a number of previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awards in the United States, Britain and Canada, and in 2002 he won the CWA Dagger in the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based.

Two police constables are sent to an ordinary house, situated in an ordinary street, nothing unusual about that, but it is about to become infamous. The police officers are sent to the house to investigate complaints of a domestic disturbance. What they stumble upon is truly horrific scene which leaves one of the officers dead and the other one fighting for her life and her career.

The identity of a serial killer, a person capable of blending into the background and slipping away without detection, called for want of a better word, the Chameleon has finally been revealed. But his capture is only the start of such a shocking investigation that it will even test the nerve of inspector Banks, a man hardened to the knowledge of what one human being can do to another.