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Book Review of Gallows View (Inspector Banks, Bk 1)

Gallows View (Inspector Banks, Bk 1)


The book has a dual storyline. I remembered one of them, but not the other. This book was published in 1987 and the technological advances we have taken for granted - digital cameras, cell phones, the internet - are not there. It seems, in many ways, like such an old fashioned time even though it was less than 30 years ago. In this book, Banks has recently moved from a job in London to Yorkshire. He and his family are still learning to deal with the different ways of the north. He is, of course, still married to Sandra and his children, Brian and Tracy, are still very young. The two story lines are very different although they do intersect. There is a voyeur who is peeping into windows at night and watching women undress. At the same time, a shopkeeper who is trying to raise his teenaged son as a single parent, is in denial about his son's choices. His son has made friends with another boy whose older brother is teaching them the fine art of burglary. The voyeur is getting attention from the police because a local women's group is keeping the heat on the investigation. Bank's superior brings in an attractive psychologist named Jenny. They are attracted to one another, and Banks is tempted. He also feels very guilty for feeling so tempted. This is one of several of the older books in this series that I have picked up over the last few years. I'm looking forward to reading more of the older ones that form Banks into the person we meet in the current books.