city girl drinking craft beer

The Barnes & Noble Review
Photographs are a way of putting memories on paper and, like memories, they can be precious — or dangerous. For housewife Grace Lawson, the ordinary act of picking up a pack of family photos sets an extraordinary sequence of events in motion, and the danger builds momentum with every turn of the page.
Among prints of a happy family vacation is one photo that doesn’t belong — a picture taken 20 years ago of a group of strangers, including someone who looks remarkably like Grace’s husband as a young man. Before Grace can get her husband to explain, he disappears; and her search for the truth behind this glimpse of an earlier time involves digging into past secrets and tragedies that trigger a deadly series of all-too-current events. In Just One Look, award-winning suspense writer Harlan Coben has created tantalizing and terrifying interconnected mysteries. Sue Stone

And somehow, he makes it work, you think, there is no way all these different story lines and people are going to come together. The ending is “WOW” and somehow, believable.

Playing with Fire starts with an arson, two people died. It turns into a murder investigation when it is discovered that one of the victims was drugged with a date-rape drug. The other victim was unintended. Then there is another fire, also murder. There is also follow up with the boyfriend of the other victim, investigation into allegations of abuse, Peter Robinson does a good job of continuing the two story lines in a logical manner. The characters are not cookie cutter and are very believable. He must do an incredible amount of research. I also like that each novel in the series feels like a stand-alone. He does not do the same plot, same ending, different guest stars with each book in the series.

I finished this book on the way home today. It deals with childhood sexual abuse (extreme), domestic abuse, police brutality and jumping to conclusions. One of the criminals is caught at the beginning and the abuse is also in the past, this novels deals mainly with the different ways abuse affects different people, the Aftermath of events. How some become abusers themselves and some don’t. I peeked at the ending. It is the first time I have in this series. I really like this author, he is very interesting, his books aren’t carbon copies of each other. I didn’t peek because I was bored, I don’t really know why I guess I just wanted to know the end before I finished the book.

In this installment in the series, we meet Jeremiah (Jimmy) Riddle, a pain in Bank’s neck. This novel is different from the other books in that we go through the court process, and the suspect is found not guilty. As it turns out, he didn’t do it, but his life is ruined (because people think he did it and just got off) and he tries to kill the person he feels is responsible for it. It is sort of like an episode of CSI that just aired. The characters are carefully written is the phrase I have read in other reviews, and they seem to grow as the series progresses. I am trying not to include any facts that I learned because I read 3 books out of order. But in the next book, I think is Susan Gay’s last because I read the one after that and she is spoken of in past tense, like she has moved on.

I really enjoyed this book. What I have discovered about Peter Robinson, is even though the books are a series, they are not all the same. For instance in this book, you learn about DC Susan Gay, who up to this point has just been mentioned, and that by other characters, you don’t really see her. She is very smart but very insecure for lack of a better word. She is always questioning herself, and worried that others are looking at her critically and reporting on her to her superiors. One of those people who blames themselves when things go wrong, or if they make a mistake, feel they shouldn’t have made it, even if it was their inexperience that caused it. Considering she is a female in a male dominated profession it is very understandable and Peter Robinson makes it very believable.

In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson
Amazon.com

Detective chief inspector Alan Banks is a walking midlife crisis, full of rage because of his recently failed marriage, a career crippled by a jealous superior, and problems with his son. In less skilled hands, Banks could have quickly become a royal pain, but Robinson makes him instead a very likable character, who is slightly baffled and bemused by his bad luck. When he criticizes his son Brian’s decision to drop out of college to become a rock musician, Banks quickly regrets it–recognizing the same impulses that made him rebel against his own parents, and some of the pain he felt when a college friend died of a drug overdose. The realization that Brian’s heavy-metal band is actually quite good brings genuine pleasure to a man whose idea of rock is Love’s ‘Forever Changes’ and other 1970s delights.

Banks is assigned to work on a case that the Yorkshire police department considers to be somewhat of a joke. The skeleton of a woman wrapped in World War II blackout curtains has been found in a dried-out reservoir. This man-made watering hole was a village–Hobbs End–that had been flooded many years earlier. Through the journal of a major player we realize early on who the dead woman is, but a large part of the fun is watching Banks and an edgy, attractive female cop put the pieces of the puzzle together. ‘In a Dry Season’ is a stylish and gently reflective tale of secrets and lies.

I just copied this review from Amazon.com but I agree with it. I really like the book.