Last Resort (A Bob Skinner Mystery) by Quintin Jardine
| Last Resort (A Bob Skinner Mystery) by Quintin Jardine | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: In a move away from the format of the Skinner stories we've read and enjoyed before, Skinner is on gardening leave from the police service, but he can't keep away from hands-on investigation. A good read and great fun to listen to. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 400/13hours 10 minutes | Date: July 2015 |
| Publisher: Headline Digital | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1472205636 | |
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We're used to Bob Skinner as a copper and we've seen him at various points on the greasy pole of promotion, but he's always been a policeman. Now we're seeing him in a different light: he's not left the service, but no one with any sense would put money on his staying. He'd be working for Andy Martin, once his subordinate and partner of his daughter Alexis, but that's not the main reason. He fought against the idea of a unified service and he can't really face going back to work for the result. Instead we see him in Spain - out of his comfort zone so far as language is concerned and definitely without any power when it comes to crime.
But has a crime been committed in Spain? His friend's employee has disappeared, but then he's a healthy young man with plenty of money and what's to say that he hasn't just gone off for a long weekend with the latest lady in his life? It's not unknown, but he'll get hell from his mother when he returns. A few things don't hang together for Skinner though. And there's a more personal problem: he's discovered that he's been stalked. A private investigator has been taking pictures of him and his family.
It's a good story, particularly if you've been following the Bob Skinner series up to this point - this is number twenty five. If you haven't then it might not be the best place to start. To begin with it will take you a while to work out who is who (and there might not be a cast of thousands in Skinner's life, but it can feel that way on occasions), who has been married to whom and where they are now. You'll also find that it's not easy to go back and read earlier books, as spoilers abound.
I listed to an audio download of the book, narrated by James Bryce. He's not quite my top choice for a narrator as occasionally I was confused as to which 'voice' I was hearing, but listening was very easy and the time passed very quickly. I'd happily listen to another book narrated by him.
This is the point where I usually thank the publishers for my review copy - but this was a book I bought.
For more audio downloaded crime we can recommend Dead in the Water (Campbell and Carter) by Ann Granger and The Dying Season: A Bruno Courreges Investigation by Martin Walker.
Quintin Jardine's Bob Skinner Novels in Chronological Order
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You can read more book reviews or buy Last Resort (A Bob Skinner Mystery) by Quintin Jardine at Amazon.com.
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