A Ghost in the Machine - SPOILER Thread (Nov/Dec 2020)

[Susan]

Welcome to the seventh, and last, book in the Chief Inspector Barnaby series, published in 2004.

Every man should have a hobby. It keeps them out of mischief and from under their wives' feet. A nice bit of DIY, gardening, bowls or snooker, mysterious activities in the potting shed - fine. But killing machines, Dennis Brinkley's hobby - something else. Not what you'd call a nice hobby at all...

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Jill]

I really like this book a lot. Such a shame it is the last in this series. Graham certainly made me thoroughly dislike a character,and made me feel sorry for others, making me admire her character development. There were quite a few topics covered in this, from sinc schools to paranormal, and a lot in between, greed, lust, love and more. I had guessed who committed the murders, thinking that was pretty obvious, but had no idea who the accomplice was. This made the last part of the book totally compulsive reading and I was really very surprised by what I learnt from it.

[Susan]

This was not my favourite in the series, Jill, but I do agree that the character development was good - particularly with the odious Polly.

[Judy]

Odious is right! Early on I kept hoping Polly would be the murder victim, because I could hardly stand to read any more about her.

[Jill]

Judy wrote: "Odious is right! Early on I kept hoping Polly would be the murder victim, because I could hardly stand to read any more about her."

Me too!

[Susan]

I find these novels quite similar, in writing style, to P.D. James. There is a lot of in depth character building. Polly was one of the few characters who changed, so that made her more interesting than her initial, unpleasant, portrait.

[Judy]

Yes, I definitely find them similar to James. I do agree the development of Polly's character is interesting. I found it hard to believe she would fall for a financial scam a second time, though.

Interesting that Troy actually seems to be embarking on an affair at the end of this one - I wonder if Graham was originally planning to write another book where this developed further?

I was slightly shocked to learn that Barnaby has also been tempted a couple of times, although nothing happened, as he always seems so totally devoted to Joyce.