I read this book about 15 years ago and enjoyed it then, so I thought I'd give it another go. I don't know if my reading preferences have matured or changed over the last 15 years, but I have to say I found this a very unsatisfying read, pretty bland fare.

The overall plot is spot-on for a novel in this genre: three interleaved stories linked together by Banks and his team and family. Where the book falls down for me is the clunky dialogue, cardboard characters and rather pedestrian pace.

The book also deals with the subject of violence against women, and while I give credit for addressing it, it is treated in a rather heavy-handed way. There is also a sort of contridiction: Banks and the psychologist discuss at (seemingly interminable) length the profile of the peeping tom, while elswhere in the book the narrator seems to have a fixation with breasts (for example Dr Fuller stands "...with her arms folded across her breasts" - surely 'chest' would have done).

Saying all that, I appreciate this is the first in a long-running and popular series, and other reviewers have said not to judge the other books by this one, so I'll definitely be giving the later books a go.