Running out of reading material on holiday, I borrowed this Inspector Banks novel, having not read one before. The main character is depressingly dull - he spends his time trying to decide what clothes to pack, musing on the contents of the local pub menu and otherwise making you want to put the book down. Soon, however, the bodies start piling up, and it chugs along reasonably well until its conclusion. Fundamentally, it reads like a TV detective program in book form.
Posted 2004-04-09.