The Summer That Never Was

While recuperating from the events of "Aftermath" on a Greek island, Inspector Alan Banks reads that the bones of his childhood friend, Graham Marshall, have been dug up in a field not far away from the road where he disappeared more than thirty-five years earlier. Intrigued by the discovery, and still consumed with guilt because of a related incident he failed to report at the time, Banks returns to his hometown in Cambridgeshire and becomes peripherally involved in the investigation, headed by newcomer Detective Inspector Michelle Hart. At the same time, a few counties away, the case of another missing teenager - the son of a famous model and step-son of anex-footballer, is handed to DI Annie Cabbot. Banks shuttles between the two cases far apart in time but perhaps not so far apart in character. When the lives of both detectives are threatened, Banks searches his own memories for clues, until he is finally forced to confront truths he would rather avoid, and finds that, in these investigations, the boundary between victim and perpetrator, guardian of the law and law-breaker is becoming ever more blurred. A gripping crime novel, set in the present day, "The Summer That Never Was" is also a gritty and evocative portrait of northern England in the sixties, and an exploration of the nature of memory, the destruction of families, andadolescence. "From the Hardcover edition."

Review :
"The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are, simply put, the best series now on the market. In fact, this may be the best series of British novels since the novels of Patrick O'Brian. Try one and tell me I'm wrong." -Stephen King "If you haven't encountered Chief Inspector Alan Banks before, prepare for a crash course in taut, clean writing and subtle psychology. And watch for those twists - they'll get you every time." -Ian Rankin "Like P.D. James, Robinson works on a large, intricately detailed canvas." -"Publishers Weekly " "Peter Robinson's novels are chilling, evocative, deeply nuanced works of art." -Dennis Lehane "A devilishly good plotter...[Robinson's] characterizations are so subtle that even the psychological profiler is stumped."" "-"New York Times " "From the Hardcover edition."