Peter Robinson's novel, \Close to Home,"" is an example of written suspense at its finest.
The author's knack for cryptic foreshadowing throughout the story paired with the characters' ambitious crime-solving cause the reader to become deeply entrenched in the mysteries and take an active role as detective of this novel. ''??
This book intertwines two murder mysteries and creates a rich amount of parallelism between the stories' characters, causing the reader to contemplate each character's purpose in the story a little more deeply than they might otherwise.
This is not a novel to read just before going to bed because there is a good chance that the day a reader starts it will be the day the reader finishes it.
The novel focuses on Banks, a middle-aged policeman who is shocked when he is presented with the news that officials have finally discovered the bones of childhood friend of his who had vanished.
Banks is guilt-stricken because he fears that he caused the death of his friend Graham by failing to reveal information about the case that he had when he was a kid.
So, because he is an investigator and was a close friend of the victim, he decides to assist the Graham case however possible.
But that's not all-this poor man also has his hands full breaking up with his lover and partner, Annie, while simultaneously chasing Michelle, a new love interest, who, just to complicate things, happens to be the head investigator on Graham's case. And during all this, he is still struggling with sorrow over the ex-wife that got away.
These overlaps between Bank's past and present connections compel the reader to become emotionally attached to the story and its characters.
Furthermore, the suspects involved in each case have convincing alibis and good poker faces.
Also, Robinson's acute line of questioning in his characters (along with the forementioned) delays the reader from solving the case for him/herself,??making the job of solving the mystery even more difficult and challenging for the reader.
Moreover, Robinson's style is a combination of building blocks and jumpy scenes, which closely resemble that of John Irving in ""Widow for a Year,"" mixed up with with a John Grisham-like use of detective knowledge.
This book should be saved for a rainy day when all a reader feels like doing is just cuddling up with a good murder mystery and letting his or her mind run with a good adventure.
""Close to Home"" is published by William Morrow.
