Gallery Whispers

Bob Skinner #9

by Quintin Jardine

Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner has a lot on his plate. One of the world's most ruthless terrorists is on his way to Edinburgh with only one thing on his mind: the forthcoming conference of world Heads of Government. If Skinner doesn't pick up his trail fast, he could have a global disaster in his backyard.

While all eyes are focused on the terrorist threat, a terminally ill woman is found dead - an apparent suicide. But the marks of an assisted death are discovered and this seemingly random death soon proves to be the beginning of an ominous pattern. For Skinner, the desperate race to find a heartless terrorist mixes uneasily with the search for a mercy killer- a search which takes on a poignant personal significance. And it's not long before Skinner himself will be staring death straight in the eye...

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Audiobook, Detective, Fiction, Scotland

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Quintin Jardine (born 1945) is a Scottish author of three series of crime novels, featuring the fictional characters Bob Skinner, Oz Blackstone, and Primavera Blackstone. He was educated in Motherwell and in Glasgow where he studied at what was then the city’s only University. After career as a journalist, government information officer and media relations consultant, he took to the creation of crime fiction.

His first wife, Irene, with whom he shared over 30 years, from their teens, died in 1997. He is married, to his second wife, Eileen. They live in both Scotland and in Spain

Reviews

[Les Wilson]

A very good book and well worth reading. Pay a visit to your local library.

[Deb Mervold]

I am enjoying this series. I like the characters and the integration of story lines.

[Sheila]

Another easy read and page turner. Not so many characters to remember in this one.
Skinner is told of a South African terrorist who is likely to interloper the forthcoming international conference in Edinburgh with an assassination.
meanwhile two bodies are found, supposed suicides but due to the manner of their deaths, the police become suspicious. Olive, Neil McIlhenney’s wife is diagnosed with serious lung cancer and given possible two years to live. She chooses treatment and shows some improvement. A few red herrings to throw the police off track but all is well at the end.

[Laraine]

4-4 1/2 star read. The 9th book in Jardine's excellent Bob Skinner police procedural was a good and interesting read. Skinner is tasked with trying to find a ruthless terrorist who could be planning mayhem on his turf. Plus there is the case of a murder of a terminally ill woman made to look like suicide. And daughter Alex and her fiance Andy are going through a tough patch. Bob Skinner and bus family and crew are all interesting characters and their day to day lives are never dull. This was a worthy entry in the series and was a very good read.

[Annie Weatherly-Barton]

Very good edition to this series. A real whodunnit and then some. I worked out one villain but not all. Lots of twists and turns and love interests, sad deaths, additional characters.

Love this series.

[Christopher Hunt]

Great book, Jardine at his best. Lots of nice twists. Only slight criticism is that it ends a bit too quickly.

[Adam]

Very good

[Maggie]

Loving this series

[Gem]

Predicted who the baddies were! Reads more like a soap these days

[Rob Reynolds]

Possibly my favorite book so far in the Bob Skinner series.

[Garth Heyworth]

is Skinner right?

On tenter hooks awaiting outcome in last chapter - brilliant! Looking to Jardines latest thriller - I am sure it will be worth waiting for

[laurel jones]

at first I had trouble following too many story lines but got into it and enjoyed

[Jay Fusco]

This is the least favorite of the Skinner books so far. I do not like what he has done with Alex's character now.

[Ann]

A string of assisted suicides plus a terrorist threat combine to create a tense time for the Edinburgh police.

[Wendy]

Could not get into this book at all. Took me ages to read, forcing myself to do a few pages every day. It was generally uninteresting and seemed to be full of the detectives' private lives rather than pursuing enquiries. I won't be reading any others from this author.

[Linda]

I'm halfway through this one, after reading the series in order. I've enjoyed most of them so far (I'll go back and do a review for each), but this one in particular struck me.

Spoilers coming:

It's not the assisted suicide argument that got me; it's the lean towards Skinner being judge, jury and executioner. I can't see how a Chief Constable (Acting or otherwise) would openly and frankly tell a team of his senior staff that if they see the target on their patch, they shoot to kill on the advice of the secret services (who gave the tip-off of the target's arrival in Scotland). It's not a copper's job to do this, not in the UK, and certainly not by a team of the various Chief Inspectors and what-not from various parts of the police region covered by Skinner.

It's one thing to end up in a situation with an armed bad guy and you have to defend yourself, but it's quite another to actively encourage your staff to go out there and get him - it was like the Edinburgh police force was being turned into an assassination squad, and I think that's a bit too off-base to be believed.)

And then there's the sex scenes. I'm no prude - I don't mind a bit of well-done writing to describe a good bonk - but Jardine's throwing in a few sex scenes in each book and they aren't necessary now. There are ways of writing titillating scenes without resorting to 'As he forcefully entered her, she thought to herself,"Gosh, the name Arrow's wrong - it should be Lance," ' (which was in one of the books) type of stuff. I've probably mis-quoted that, but the Arrow and Lance references are definitely right. I'm getting a bit fed up of the obligatory sex scenes between (especially) established couples. Yes, we know they have a good sex life, so you don't need to tell us about each moan and sweaty thrust all the time. Pfft.


On the plus side: loving the plot and the character development!

[Pauline]

Cracking read. Never tire of this series.Well worth a read.

[Ailhlin]

F