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For the battle hardened players,there are analysis' of guns and air systems, along with advanced strategys and training drills.
I enjoyed this book because it was informative and fun to read when I was a beginner, and I am still learning advanced techniques such as capturing and defending a building/fortress.
Chapters are well sectioned off, so it is easy to dip into or re-read an area of particular interest. Well worth a look for those who enjoy the game.
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The equipment section would have been enhanced with a greater variety of filtration/pump set-ups and the pros/cons of each configuration.
The section about plants is excellent; it is extensive, with detailed thumbnail descriptions, and helpfully separated into groups.
I would recommend this book, but not as a complete source of water garden info.
However, of all the books in this field, this is the most comprehensive, best illistrated, and the most diverse guide of its kind.
The Hard cover edition (if available) will be a book you'll want to keep with your other favorites.
The main thing about this book is that there is three main stories with about 4 to 5 subplots. I was given too much information about people who are minor characters. I enjoyed reading about all the characters, than Robinson would begin to tell you about someone that is only mentioned once. I didn't mind the first time, but after the 5th or 6th time, it got to me a little. I have to give kudos for the main character Alan Banks. I thought that he was an odd person, but it fit in well with sitution, as only he would keep interested with this crime. I really did enjoy the mystery. I enjoyed the twists (think usual suspects) and the way they weave together. At times, I thought that Robinson had a hard time keeping all the stories twined together and fought to keep it interesting. I think that it was ruined for me, as I figured out who-dun-it half way into the book. (Which I usually never can do)
I recommend this book to people that don't give up on books. I enjoyed the book in the end, but first you have to get over all the muck in the first half of the story.
My favorite thing about the novel was the way it switched between several points of view in several time periods. As the mystery unfolds in the present, the story develops in the past, and the balance between the narratives is perfect and seamless. The characters are vividly drawn, and the plot constantly engaging.
The only thing that bothered me about the book was that it is obviously part of a series featuring Inspector Banks, and brief parts of the book are spent dwelling on events of previous books, and setting up situations for future books. But I know some people like their series detective novels to have a certain amount of story continuity between volumes, so I won't quibble too much. I'll definitely be checking out other books by Robinson.
Banks has changed greatly over the years. He is mellower and more reflective than he has ever been before. Although he still likes to smoke and drink, Banks is beginning to feel the effects a bit more, and he is actually trying to cut down. In addition, now that his ex-wife and children have moved on with their lives, Banks has had a great deal of time to take stock of where his own life is heading.
"Close to Home" has many of Peter Robinson's trademark touches. The author delves deeply into the psyche of his characters. Robinson takes the time to humanize the police officers, the criminals, and the suspects in his novels. The reader becomes involved with their predicaments and deeply invested in the outcome of the story. In addition, Robinson introduces another interesting female character, Detective Inspector Michelle Hart, a woman with a tragic past to whom Banks is attracted.
In "Close to Home," unfortunately, Robinson missteps a bit. First of all, he has gone to the well once too often when he chose the "bones uncovered after many years" story line. This plot was used successfully in Robinson's own "In a Dry Season", and again in at least three other mysteries that I have read recently. I am surprised at this lack of originality in an author as creative as Robinson. In addition, at almost four hundred pages, the book meanders a bit and takes too long to reach its melodramatic denouement.
In addition, Robinson is a little too heavy handed when he hammers home his recurring theme, which is that the past is never really behind us. Until we come to terms with the events of long ago, and until we exorcise the demons that plague us, we can never hope to face the future and find happiness in life. Robinson has expressed this viewpoint in his previous novels many times, but with more finesse and subtlety than he does here. I have come to expect a great deal from an author as accomplished as Peter Robinson. Although "Close to Home" is a serviceable mystery, it is not an excellent one.
and it is truly difficult to put down once started.
The hero, Chief D.I. Alan Banks is a complex character, in
both his professional and his personal life, and this book
continues his evolution as he continues to think about his
ex-wife, as well as his 2 children and their careers, and as
he wonders frequently where his personal life is headed.
Plus, he is facing "burn-out," as the murders and criminals
he faces routinely blunt his emotions and feelings, and he
fears he is withdrawing from some of his professional life.
The story revolves around 2 missing children, one of which
becomes his current case when the teen-age boy is found dead,
and the other of which was his buddy when he disappeared in
1965. There are so many parallels, Banks worries about both
cases, and he is drawn to the investigation of the old 1965
case in his hometown of Petersborough, while handling the
investigation of the other boy in his own jurisdiction of
North Yorkshire.
While Banks worries about his relationship with one of his
detectives, Annie, he meets up with an intriguing red-haired,
green-eyed woman detective, Michelle, who is working the
old 1965 case with new clues. So Banks has a lot on his
mind as he unravels one mystery, and he gets fully involved
in the second.
Both cases involve personal danger to both Banks and his staff,
and there is plenty of action, as well as the intellectual
stimulation Robinson puts together, and this is a very
satisifiying book, and one that is highly recommended.
Plus, you can learn a lot about English countryside life
and work, while Banks visits his retired parents and makes
the rounds while helping with the 1965 case.
Entertaining and fun.
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Robinson doesn't merely present a mystery for the readers to solve along with the protagonist. Robinson creates a distinctive setting and fully realized characters along with the mystery. The result is a novel that satisfies and leaves the reader eager for the next installment.
"Gallows View" sets up the Inspector Banks series nicely. It introduces Alan Banks, a detective who left London to work in Eastvale, a town in Yorkshire, where he lives with his wife and two children. Banks has a good working relationship with his superior, Gristhorpe, and with the other members of the police department in Eastvale. Banks is a flawed man. He is addicted to cigarettes, likes to imbibe his pint, and he has an eye for pretty ladies (although he wants to remain faithful to this wife).
The center of Banks's life is his relentless pursuit of justice, and his terrific instinct for how the criminal mind works. In "Gallows View," Banks investigates three different crimes: A Peeping Tom is terrorizing the women of Eastvale, a pair of thugs is robbing both the elderly and some rich residents of the town, and an elderly woman has been found dead. In the course of his investigation, we get to know how Banks operates and we also get inside the mind of the perpetrators.
In "Gallows View," Robinson explores the emotional and sexual tension between men and women and the difficulties of being a single parent. He does all this without preaching, and the themes are woven seamlessly into the story.
The solution to the crimes is not surprising or particularly exciting, but the character development is excellent and it is always a pleasure to be in the company of Inspector Alan Banks. If you have not read the rest of the series, at least be sure to read "In a Dry Season," which is a truly first rate Inspector Banks novel. "Gallows View" is worth a look because it is the first novel in this wonderful series.
The plot is not very challenging but it's realistic and very enjoyable. It's not too hard to get your head around either of the three main plots - but each is equally engaging - and sometimes that is just what i want in a crime novel. The storylines are thus: A peeping-tom is terrorising the women of the small Yorkshire town of Eastvale. A series of burglaries are being committed, first against the elderly, but then progressing to larger, more profitable homes. Also, an elderly woman is found dead in her house on Gallows View road...but are any of the cases linked?
Each plot is fascinating in it's way, especially the storyline involving the peeping tom, which i found to be a very original one to be among the main features of a novel. It becomes especially interesting when a psychologist is called in to give insight into the peepers character, and fans of the psychological aspects of crime are then presented with a different sort of criminal-psychology (other than that of the usual psychotic-killer psychology) which is refreshing and interesting.
Robinsons's writing style is addictive and very good, he has a strong sense of place, and he paints his characters really well. Inspector Banks in particular, the protagonist of the series, is especially well characterised and likeable. He also writes near-perfect dialogue.
I also liked the way the personal lives of the characters are weaved into the storyline more-so than in most novels, and were made an integral part of the story themselves. I hope he continues this trend in the other books...
All in all, i would reccomend this book to any fan of British police procedural novels (namely Ian Rankin, R.D Wingfield, Reg Hill, P.D. James, etc). It's realistic, enjoyable, with great characters and a satisfactory plot. I am looking forward immensely to reading more of this series...
Women are being terrorized in the small English town of Eastvale by a peeping tom who likes to stare at women while they undress. There has also been a series of robberies affecting this small town but the police start taking notice when they find the body of Alice Matlock. The police cannot help themselves to wander if this was the work of outsiders or if the peeping tom passion has gotten to be deadly. Inspector Banks is in charge of the case and is working together with Dr. Jennifer Fuller to try to help him understand the mind of the voyeur and to see if there is possibility that he could be dangerous.
This book is a police procedural that does not carry a lot of surprises or revelations. What makes this book great is how the author takes what could be considered an ordinary day in the life of a police officer and make it interesting. Inspector Banks has some personal problems and he is attracted to the doctor. He wants to yield towards temptation and he knows it would not be right. The author does a good job also in showing life in a small town by showing the townspeople and involving them in the story. He adds everything from a camera club meeting all the way towards two teens heading into a life of trouble.
As a first novel, it is a very good book and helped in the understanding of Inspector Banks. There are quite a few of the author's work that follow this novel and it will be a pleasure to continue reading them in the future.
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Robinson does not ask the reader to suspend disbelief; his novels are firmly grounded in reality with believable, all-too-human characters and events which are, unfortunately, all to familiar to our world. (Didn't we in my neck of the woods just go through the Sniper Case?) The impact Robinson's books have on the reader come from the way he handles these characters and events. In the hands of another writer Banks' problems with his divorce from Sandra, his tenuous relationship with Annie Cabbot and the ambivilence he feels toward Jenny Fuller, not to mention his own professional stresses, would be a big bore. Here each character is developed and displayed with mastery. A growing mastery as Robinson has (to borrow from the editorial review) grown before the reader's eyes from the first Banks novel, Gallows View.
I disagree with those who find this book boring, although I did find a few pages with what seemed to be padding, as with Maggie and her shrink. However, the other complaint, that Banks' personal life and relationships are irrelevant, misses the point: Banks the private man cannot be separated from Banks the investigator; these interpersonal relationships define him as much as his work defines him. Altogether a rewarding read and I look forward to the next installment.
In Robinson's latest novel, "Aftermath," Alan Banks is Acting Detective Superintendent in Yorkshire, substituting for his ailing boss. Banks is depressed and on the verge of career burnout. He smokes and drinks too much, he gets too little sleep, and he is overwhelmed by the demands of his job. In addition, his love affair with Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot is not going well. Banks is still grieving over his separation from Sandra, his wife of twenty years, and he has little time or energy to invest in social relationships.
Banks's life soon goes from bad to worse. He is caught up in the case of the Chameleon killer, a man who abducts and murders teenaged girls. The case appears to be solved when two detective constables respond to a call about a domestic disturbance. The constables open the door, only to find a house of horrors, and they discover the identity of the man who appears to be the Chameleon killer.
Those of us who know Peter Robinson quickly realize that the case is just beginning. Who is Terence Payne, the biology teacher who apparently abducted, raped and murdered the young girls? What role, if any, did Terence's wife, Lucy, play in her husband's heinous crimes? Was Lucy a victim of spousal abuse herself, too frightened to tell the police what her husband was up to, or is she hiding something about her own shadowy past?
As usual, Robinson creates a large cast of fascinating and believable characters, such as Maggie Forrest, a domestic abuse survivor who champions the cause of Lucy Payne, and Police Constable Janet Taylor, who stands accused of using excessive force while subduing Terence Payne.
Robinson brilliantly explores the theme that police officers who invest themselves in their jobs pay a huge emotional and physical price. He also studies the ways in which people handle personal crises and traumas, and the devastating effects of violence on people's lives.
With brilliant psychological insight, an unerring ear for dialogue, clever plotting and compassion for the human condition, Robinson has written a breathtaking novel of suspense. I recommend "Aftermath" unreservedly.
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The book focuses on hatred and drug dealing. Inspector Banks is having major personal problems that at times might hinder his investigation. This is my second Inspector Banks novel (PAST REASON HATED being first). I intend to continue reading the series because I have heard many positive things about the character in other novels. This book was good but not as good as the one I previously read.
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But the book is entertaining enough, and even though Robinson was a speechwriter for President Reagan and writers for Republican presidents tend to be an especially odious sort, he seems a decent guy. One problem that Robinson identified and I heartily agree with is the lack of, well, overall intelligence and awareness in business school students. I'll readily admit that I can't crunch numbers as well as many of my former classmates, but I was amazed at how ignorant many of the folks in school were. They had no idea who Larry Ellison was. Discussions about government policy rarely went above a 10th-grade level. My ethics class was a revelation. I don't think anyone else in my class ever studied philosophy and it seemed like they looked at ethics as an obstacle to be hurdled rather than as a code to define proper behavior. Depressing stuff.
But Robinson made it through B-school, and so did I (in my case, barely. Going part-time and working full-time while planning a wedding was a pain the rear. Can't imagine folks who go to school when they have little kids. Insane). The only problem with this book now is how dated it is. Robinson went to B-school in the heart of Silicon Valley, yet the words "e-commerce" and "dot.com" are nowhere to be found in the book. Robinson and his fellow students interviewed with the usual investment banks, which today almost seems quaint. What, no one dropped out to found a company that had a multibillion dollar IPO six months later?
All in all a good read, but if you're thinking about getting your MBA I don't think this is a totally accurate picture of what you're going to endure. Still, it's well worth a read.