When I finished the book, I was pleased to find I'd worried unnecessarily. Peter Robinson has found ways to take his investigation of Detective Superintendent Alan Banks into new and interesting places, where readers will be delighted to venture.

This sentence concludes my full review, which may be found on Reviewingtheevidence.com. I was particularly happy to see that although this is the 27th book in the series, the author has found ways to keep it from becoming stale while still retaining the elements that have attracted devoted fans over the years

Not Dark Yet is the literary equivalent of the final act of a three-act play, Robinson picking up where he left off in Many Rivers to Cross. Zelda, a gifted super-recognizer, is a heat-seeking missile, determined to identify and punish the men who ruined her. Avenging her stolen girlhood won’t change the past but she’s hellbent to unravel the mystery of who sold her into sex-trafficking. N.B., Zelda is the partner of Banks’s good friend, artist Raymond Cabbot.

Standing outside the ruined orphanage in Chișinău, Moldova, where she grew up, is overwhelming.

Zelda couldn’t stop trembling, and the breath seemed to solidify in her chest. This had been her home between the ages of four and seventeen. This was the place that had made her what she was, or what she could have been. Now, though, it was a ruin, and so was she, and the irony didn’t escape her. What the hell was she doing here, running away from the good life she had found, despite all the odds, and from a good man, who was more than she deserved, seeking God only knew what? Revenge? Atonement? Reconciliation?

Perhaps all three. Someone sold her to sex traffickers when she graduated from the orphanage—finding them is why she returned to Chișinău.

Revenge, along with the grip the past has on the present and future, underlies the events of Not Dark Yet. Someone(s) enacts revenge on Connor Clive Blaydon, a “crooked property developer,” and “his factotum Neville Roberts.” Blaydon, a Yorkshire businessman of dubious morals, crossed swords with Banks in Many Rivers to Cross.

The tentacles of the drug trade stretch upward into other nefarious activities, leading Banks to consult with DI Joanna MacDonald: has he ‘ever heard of a man called Blaydon’? Surveillance photos reveal that Blaydon runs with very insalubrious associates—foreigners from Albania and “other Balkan states” who are involved with drugs, guns, and “possibly sex trafficking.”

Blaydon died very unpleasantly: Banks and DC Gerry Masterson found him and Neville dead.

The post-mortem revealed that both had been shot and that, while Roberts had died of his wound, Blaydon had subsequently been sliced open from the groin to the breastbone and his body dumped in the pool. Technically, he had drowned to death because the bullet hadn’t hit any major organs and he had been using his hands to hold his intestines inside rather than to swim to safety.

Not Dark Yet is not for the faint of heart. A search of Blaydon’s mansion uncovers a “cache of spy-cams all around his luxurious home.” Instead of identifying Blaydon’s assailant, the police discover a rape. Banks’s female colleagues take the lead on finding the rapist of the girl seen on the “grainy and blurred footage.”

On his way to his daughter’s wedding reception, Banks gets a call from “Dirty Dick Burgess.” Burgess wants to know about the progress of the Blaydon investigation.

“I don’t want to say too much over the phone, but I think we should meet and compare notes. Are you seriously busy?”

“No. Well, yes, but . . . we’re trying to make a case against Leka Gashi and the Albanians for Blaydon’s murder. Trouble is, we don’t even know where they are.”

Burgess has asked Banks to London on false pretenses but he may be doing him a favor. He gives him a heads-up that the powers-that-be are onto Zelda. They have evidence that she’s investigating some suspicious deaths on her own. Her activities are news to Banks: they not only endanger her, but also him. Banks is shaken, but he protests, “even if Zelda did do everything you say, she’s done nothing illegal.” Burgess pushes back.

“She is involved, and you know it. She’s up to her neck in it. Whatever it is. If just for her sake, try and focus that laser-sharp mind of yours on all that. I’m trying to help you save her from herself, not getting you to convict her.”

Banks knows he must confront Zelda, but it won’t be easy. He falls back on an adage attributed to the Duke of Wellington: “Always get over heavy ground as lightly as you can.” He sets the scene for their necessary conversation carefully, he doesn’t want them to talk in a police station. They hike and end up at a charming Yorkshire pub where they eat outside, overlooking stone walls and sheep. Banks is unable to disarm Zelda. She tells him she feels nervous.

“You don’t need to,” said Banks.



“Do you think I’m lying about something?”



Banks paused. “Let me put it this way: I don’t think you’ve told me everything. There’s something you’re holding back. Or some things.”



“Like what?”



“That’s what I want you to tell me.”

Their conversation is desultory—Zelda is by turns disingenuous, sulky, and brittle. She finally spills the beans. Banks can’t understand why she held out on him. Zelda blames it on growing up in the Soviet system: police are not to be trusted. She senses Banks is not convinced. Her next comment proves prophetic: “I’ll miss this place.” A few days after their lunch, she disappears—not voluntarily, she’s been kidnapped.

Read our review of Many Rivers to Cross by Peter Robinson
Zelda’s kidnapping sends Banks over the edge. The last few months have taken a toll on him. He is tense, solitary, and brusque, flirting with insubordination when talking to his superiors. His family ties are important to him, particularly his relationships with his daughter and her new husband and his son. Still, at the wedding reception he comes perilously close to embodying the trope of an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. Naturally, Banks’s discomfort wraps itself around music.

Banks knew he shouldn’t have done, but he drove home from the reception when the whole thing was fast becoming an endless DJ ego trip to a soundtrack of bad nineties synth-pop and electropop music.

The various investigations blur into one another as everything comes to a head. The storylines are disjointed, particularly after Banks is forced to take medical leave. Banks is under intense pressure from internal investigators to spill the goods on Zelda. They clearly don’t believe a word of his story hence his superior protecting Banks by forcing him to stand down temporarily. Does that stop his investigations? Hardly.

Not Dark Yet is an intense but ultimately satisfying conclusion to the intricate plots that took shape in Peter Robinson’s Careless Love.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for this eARC.

I have been a fan of the DCI Banks book & TV series for quite some time. The last few Banks novels, however, have been so-so.

The subplot of Zelda - a trafficked sex slave - is tragic, but drags on through too much of the Banks canon. Not Dark Yet excels when focused on Annie & Gerry’s rape investigation, rather than Banks’ obsession with Zelda. I will be pleased when the DCI returns to investigating crimes and not pining after the saintly - yet criminal - Zelda.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title. This 27th in the long -running series weaves the threads of multiple crimes together - murder, rape and human traffiicking . A wealthy property developer and his factotum are found slaughtered in the swimming pool. The investigating team then finds a murky film of a rape inside the mansion. Banks, Annie and Gerry are working to identify the rape victim and find find the killers when Zelda disappears and Banks' attention is diverted in an attempt to find her. It helps to have read Robinson's previous title since Zelda's story is carried over to this one. Banks search for Zelda ends dramatically but Annie and Gerry are the stars of this show. Their unrelenting search to identify the rape victim is classic police procedural. Esoteric music reference and overly detailed descriptions of driving routes may cause eyes to glaze over but followers of the series are used to them. Otherwise, the multi-faceted plot is deftly managed and the conclusion seems to find Banks considering his future.

NOT DARK YET: A DCI Banks Novel
Peter Robinson
William Morrow
ISBN-13: 978-0062994950
Hardcover
Mystery/Thriller

I may be assuming too much but NOT DARK YET seems to be at least the run-up to what may be the conclusion of Peter Robinson’s long-running and uniformly noteworthy series featuring Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Alan Banks of the Eastvale, Yorkshire, England police force. Robinson has been aging Banks (somewhat) naturally so that NOT DARK YET finds the iconic protagonist somewhat faded, if not weary, as the world around him moves ahead with him. The result is that this installment --- the twenty-seventh in the series --- marks a number of personal passages for Banks as well as the resolution of a couple of professional cases which have formed an extended story arc over several prior novels.

Banks’ personal issues notwithstanding, NOT DARK YET is primarily and not surprisingly driven by a murder investigation, at least at first. Connor Clive Blaydon is the deceased. He is a somewhat shady real estate developer with a penchant for holding wild parties with his even shadier friends in attendance. The initial search of the premises reveals that someone --- Blaydon’s right-hand man, no less --- had strategically placed concealed video cameras in several areas of Blaydon’s home, including the bedrooms, no doubt for blackmail purposes. A review of the video files puts the case on a horrific turn when one of the scenes reveals that a rape took place. Banks and his team are tasked with finding Blaydon’s murderer as well as ascertaining the identity of the rape victim, who, of course, might have been motivated to murder Blaydon herself. What Banks does not realize --- though the reader is given a leg up on things early in the book --- is that a murderer is much closer to Banks and the team than they can possibly suspect. There are a number of twists and turns in the investigation, one of which intersects with Banks’ past and a longstanding nemesis of his. Meanwhile, Banks has a couple of things going on his personal life. His son, who has been part of an extremely popular rock band, is doing a farewell tour, while his daughter is getting married. The two events give Banks reason to take a couple of wistful strolls down memory lane, generated some woolgathering over those he has loved and lost even as he seems to realize that he is simply not good with romantic relationships and is better off without them. Banks also says goodbye to one, and possibly two, recurring characters, though many are left standing by the story’s satisfying end.

The title of NOT DARK YET may well indicate that Robinson is not through with DCI Banks just yet. Longtime readers of the series will happily note that this installment, as with those preceding, is full of references to musicians and albums both obscure and almost forgotten, forming a soundtrack for reading in the present and contemplating in the future. That Banks ultimately approves of his daughter’s new husband as the result of his musical taste made NOT DARK YET worth reading for me almost by itself. Robinson’s continuing ability to reveal a mystery and solution where one might least expect either make one hopeful that Robinson, Banks, and this series will keep on for a long while.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2021, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Not Dark Yet" is the twenty-seventh installment in Peter Robinson's long-running Alan Banks series. Now a Detective Superintendent in North Yorkshire, Banks was once a heavy smoker, drinker, and ladies' man. He still enjoys alcohol within limits, but has since quit smoking and, at the moment, has no romantic entanglements. The heroine is a beautiful and mysterious woman named Zelda, who spent her formative years in an orphanage in Moldova. After she left the facility at the age of seventeen, she was abducted and physically abused. This horrendous experience left Zelda traumatized, but instead of internalizing her rage, she resolved to punish those who cruelly mistreated her.

The complicated plot involves the rape of a young girl at a wild party and five weeks later, the murder of two men—one the host of the party and the other his employee. Further acts of mayhem ensue. DS Banks, DI Annie Cabbot, and DC Gerry Masterson chase down leads, interrogate witnesses, and come to believe that their case may have roots in the past. The most unsettling aspect of this novel is the pleasure that the villains take in torturing and demeaning women. Zelda stands out for her desire to define herself not as a victim, but as an avenger. Although she deserves kudos for courage and daring, not all of her exploits ring true. Complicating matters is the unconventional relationship between Zelda and Ray, Annie Cabbot's father. Ray, an accomplished artist in his seventies, adores Zelda, who cares for him deeply, as well.

In "Not Dark Yet," Banks and company attempt to bring down arrogant and immoral thugs who are engaged in drug dealing, human trafficking, arson, and kidnapping. The plucky Zelda is the most intriguing character, followed by Charlotte Westlake, an events planner who knows far more than she is willing to reveal. Impatient readers may find the author's passages describing scenery, meals, and musical selections to be unnecessarily long and tedious. In addition, although Alan, Annie, and Gerry perform their jobs capably, Robinson touches on their personal lives only in passing. Alas, this unremarkable police procedural lacks the depth, subtlety, and superior writing that made some of the earlier Banks tales so compelling.

A book I read in one day although I will say that quite a few British works seem to focus these days on trafficking. A well drawn plot, good country side descriptions and I feel very familiar with the major and repeating characters. Highly recommend

Not Dark Yet follows Careless Love as the twenty-seventh in Peter Robinson's masterfully written and consistently excellent police procedural series starring Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks in Yorkshire, England.

This episode continues to focus on beautiful super recognizer Zelda, an old soul with a tragic past, and of her quest for answers to what happened to her - and retribution. As always in a Banks novel, Robinson weaves seemingly unrelated plot threads together into a fascinating and seamless solution.

Although I've always enjoyed each and every Alan Banks book by Peter Robinson, I think this is my new favorite. There's such soul in the Alan Banks' character and the emphasis of music, wine or foods to fit his moods makes all the books that much richer.

Another excellent story in this long running and superbly crafted series. Fans have followed detective chief inspector Banks for years, and the progression is authentic and consistent. In this thrilling entry, the plot continues from the last one which featured Zelda, a secretive, abused former sex slave who has achieved a new life of relative peace. Zelda is connected to Banks through his colleague Annie, whose father is Zelda's partner. This time Zelda's past comes into the forefront, with her own past violent actions impacting her yet again. Banks' very dangerous old enemy also appears. The mix is stunning and exciting. Perhaps author Robinson has gone a bit heavy on the music references here (though one does learn of new music to look up!). All in all, another sure winner that will captivate and stay with the reader.

Former sex slave, Zelda, who Peter Robinson introduced as Ray Cabot's partner a few Alan Banks books back, takes the lead in book 27, Not Dark Yet.

Like the Bob Dylan song it is named for, the book plumbs the depths. Zelda confronts the traffickers she thought she had escaped. Ray's heart is broken when Zelda disappears. Banks questions whether his allegiance is to the department.

Meanwhile, Ray's daughter, Annie, works with a fellow police officer to solve two murders and a rape.

Though I wouldn't say I loved this book I will say it was very good. Stories with DCI Banks and Annie and the others always make for a good read. This new book was based on a dark topic--kidnapping of young women/girls and the related sex trafficking trade--but thanks to some skillful research and care, it shows just how traumatic rape is to the victims and how that colors life afterwards. It is a very difficult subject but Mr. Robinson has handled it with respect and compassion. In fact, this makes this new novel an important book too, not just a good read.

As for the writing, there were a few passages that needed a bit of smoothing but they've probably already amended. I had a bit of difficulty getting into the story but I'm glad I stuck with it as it really picked up about thirty percent in. Fans of British policing novels should really like this one; just be forewarned that some may find the overarching topic difficult to take.

A search for a killer becomes murky when the victim appears to have been a perpetrator himself. DCI Alan Banks and his crew are investigating the murder of Connor Clive Blaydon and they’re hoping that the abundance of security cameras in the victim’s home will unmask the killer. What they find, however, is what seems to be footage of the property developer sexually assaulting a woman. If they are able to identify the woman they may find the killer, because it certainly seems as if they have found a motive. Fans of this long running series will find much to enjoy in this latest entry