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Oct 16, 2017aafleming rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
As a fan of this author, I am quite disappointed. It seems to be pretty common for long-term series writers for the quality to decline as time goes on. This book has Robinson's usual great atmospheric writing and sense of place, but the plot is outlandish and the characters, including the murderer, stiff and not believable. I also did not welcome the reappearance of the long-gone Jenny Fuller, the dipshit "profiler," as a possible love interest for Banks, even though we are reassured by one of the characters that she is still "a bit of all right," i.e., good enough for the aging Banks to find sexually attractive. Robinson is just getting desperate to keep this series going. He also approaches self-parody with the extensive laundry lists of what Banks eats, drinks and listens to. This has long been a Robinson trademark, but in this book we are treated to a listing of the entire dinner menu; just ridiculous. Having said all that, even a bad book by Robinson is better than other books by most writers. Fans will still want to read this book, but I would hate for it to be the first book read by someone new to his work.