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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A racially motivated assault and a murder investigation; the racist violence is depicted directly
Language
Some
Some strong language including racial slurs used by characters
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Social drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The way a community closes ranks around behavior it knows is wrong rather than face what its members have done; Banks's difficult position inside a system that has its own institutional racism
What this book is about
A young Black soldier from an American base is badly beaten by a group of local youths who have also been involved in the harassment of a local Asian family. When one of the racists is found murdered, Banks investigates in a community deeply reluctant to cooperate with any investigation that might expose their own. Peter Robinson's ninth Inspector Banks novel is the most explicitly focused on racism in the series — the specific texture of racial hostility in a small Yorkshire community in the mid-1990s.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
racial violence as a central theme; slurs used in context
ninth of the Banks series
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