by Peter Robinson
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| List Price: | $24.95 |
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| Lowest New Price: | $3.95 |
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Product Description
1969 . . . In an era of free love and rebellion, a dead body is discovered among the detritus of a recently concluded rock festival—a beautiful young woman stabbed so savagely through the chest that a piece of her heart was sliced off. Now . . . A freelance journalist, a stranger to the region, is savagely bludgeoned to death in a shocking act of violence with no apparent motive. Two murders separated by four decades are investigated by two very different but equally haunted investigators—one, a casualty of war unable to come to terms with a confusing new world; the other, a rogue policeman harboring ghosts of his own. But the truth behind a grisly present-day slaying may somehow be hidden in the amplified, drug-induced fog of a notorious past, propelling Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks into the darkest shadows of the peace, love, and rock 'n' roll generation.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Banks and Rock and Roll, 2008-10-21
Piece of My Heart tracks two murder cases - the murder of a young woman at a rock festival in 1969 and the current day killing of a "visitor" in the Yorkshire district. Connecting them is the musical group "The Mad Hatters" and our hero Det. Insp. Alan Banks - who is back after his last adventure physically healed with a new house, car, CD collection and boss. The "intertwining" of the two cases takes a little too long but everything else you'd expect from a Peter Robinson novel is here. Character development is excellent especially the "catching up" with the cast from the 60's in their current day lives. There is an interesting behind the scenes glimpse into the rock and roll world as well as the burgeoning "hippie" culture. And of course there's Banks' persistence pulling at the threads of both cases as he goes about catching the villain - with enough twists, turns, secrets and discoveries to keep things interesting. Overall another satisfying and engaging mystery from Robinson.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 nostalgic but sloppy, 2008-06-26
Although this book has some definite strengths, it is also seriously flawed. As one who was in college in the 60's, I found the hippie scene portrayed in the 1969 murder to be captivating and nostalgic. I still love the music featured in that section. On the other hand, I thought it took too long to connect the two murders. The resolution was unsatisfying, and there were some looose ends that were either sewn up in a sloppy way or just left dangling.
For a tightly written and extremely satisfying thriller/mystery read "Down River," by John Hart.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Should Have Read It Sooner, 2008-04-14
I'm always a little wary of the moniker "A Novel of Suspense" as it usually indicates that there's no real mystery to the mystery, if you know what I mean. The culprit is revealed half-way through, and the rest of the book is more cat-and-mouse than whodunit. I've felt that Peter Robinson has been pushing his Inspector Banks series a little to far in that direction lately, so I put off reading "Piece of My Heart" longer than I usually would have. Having just finished it, I could only think "What was I waiting for?" This is a great book, a return to good old-fashioned form for Robinson, telling not one, but two, terrific intertwined stories. And while there were aspects of the mysteries I guessed ahead of time, there were those I did not, particularly who committed one of the murders, and why. Banks and his colleagues are all great company, and Robinson has introduced some new faces this time around to keep things interesting. I shouldn't have doubted Robinson's ability to entertain; I just hope he keeps stressing the "mystery" in his mysteries, rather than the "suspense."
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 As fun as the 60's were, 2008-03-19
This was the first Peter Robinson novel I read and enjoyed it immensely. Of course, opening the story with a murder committed during a Led Zeppelin concert was enough to grab this baby-boomer's interest right away but I am happy to say the story, in addition to being a nostalgia trip, is an extremely fun ride. I found this author somewhat similar to Ed McBain in that the "action" was all in the way detectives have to investigate the crime. It is what we call a police procedural. If you like chases, shootings, or murders being committed during the novel, say along the lines of a Robert Ludlum story, then this book may not be best suited for you.
The book takes place in England and flips between a murder committed in 1969 at the aforementioned concert and a murder committed today. The story jumps back and forth between the investigations and the suspense is built nicely as the connections between the two start coming into focus. Once the two time periods melded into one during the last 50 or so pages, I could not put this novel down. I did not find the flashback approach annoying at all.
Although being old enough to remember Woodstock will add quite a bit to the story, a mystery fan of any age should find "A piece of my heart" a nice piece of writing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Robinson's the Man!, 2007-12-21
For my money, Peter Robinson is arguably the best police procedural writer out there today. His books are taut, compelling, and often poignant in the themes they explore. His characters are first-rate as are his plots. In this well-executed book Robinson finally goes in depth into the rock and roll culture of the late 1960s, thus revealing deeper knowledge of the subject than he has only hinted at in previous books. His tandem plots that toggle between the Sixties and the modern day (what do you call this period: "the oughts??")are clever and highly complementary in the hands of such a journeyman as Robinson. You can't go wrong with a Robinson book -- this is no exception.
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