Wednesday's Child

By Peter Robinson

When two polite, well-dressed social workers appear at Brenda Scupham's humble home claiming to be investigating reports of child abuse, she makes every effort to be cooperative. She even complies when Mr. Brown and Miss Peterson say they must take her seven-year-old daughter, Gemma, away for overnight tests. It is only when they fail to return Gemma the following afternoon that Brenda realizes something has gone terribly, unthinkably wrong.

As days go by with no sign of the little girl, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Superintendent Gristhorpe begin to lose hope of finding her alive.

At the same time, Banks is investigating a particularly grisly, cold-blooded murder at the site of an abandoned mine. Gradually the leads in the two cases converge, guiding Gristhorpe and Banks to one of the most truly terrifying villains they will ever meet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Dec 2, 2008
• ISBN: 9780143173304

Peter Robinson

One of the world’s most popular and acclaimed writers, Peter Robinson was the bestselling, award-winning author of the DCI Banks series. He also wrote two short-story collections and three stand-alone novels, which combined have sold more than ten million copies around the world. Among his many honors and prizes were the Edgar Award, the CWA (UK) Dagger in the Library Award, and the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Martin Beck Award.

Reviews for Wednesday's Child

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A child is abducted from her home. Her mother doesn't really love her, and her live-in boyfriend is known to the police. The child's clothes are found by a couple near an old mine; however, the body the police discover belongs to a gardener. Because of an old case, Supt. Gristhorpe takes an active role in the child's disappearance and assigns the gardener to Inspector Banks. They are fairly certain the two cases are linked, but how and why? This one kept me interested. I especially enjoyed Gristhorpe's involvement in the case. The other team members (Richmond, Susan, and Hatchley) make appearances, but their roles are far less than normal. It's a good solid installment in the series, even if the subject matter is not all that pleasant. I listened to the audio version narrated by James Langton who does an excellent job with this series.

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: When a well-dressed couple, claiming to be social workers, appear at Brenda Scupham's door, saying they must take her seven-year-old daughter, Gemma, into care after allegations of abuse, Brenda is confused and intimidated enough to hand the child over. But when the couple, Mr. Brown and Miss Peterson, fail to bring Gemma home, Brenda realizes she has made a terrible mistake. As the days go by, Detective Chief Inspector Banks begins to lose hope of finding Gemma alive. Then a rambler finds a body in the ruins of an old lead mine, and the two cases begin to converge in a terrifying way, leading Banks to a showdown with one of the most chillingly evil criminals he has ever come up against.Review: As a sign of the times, the hero smokes incessantly - this is really annoying because it adds nothing to the story. I was surprised at the ending - also a sign of the times in which the book was written.

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read a few of these over the years, and thoroughly enjoy them. Good police procedurals, believable characters, and on the edge of your seat plots. This one concerns a child who is "borrowed by social workers" (so says the mother) and then not returned. Inspector Banks and team are led a merry chase by an especially ugly, nasty, and clever villain to a not predictable (at least by me) ending. I'm going to try to catch up/keep up with this series during the next two years of reading. I just looked and there are 22 of these - maybe I'd better make that 5 years.

[suzannie1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

old book but great story , regarding A child abduction and a mother that doesnt really care and criminal underworld involving child trafficking .

[crazeedi73 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent, best one so far

[5eva5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Inspector Banks is following the leads on a dead body found in a mine while Superintendent Gristhorpe is investigating two fake social workers who have abducted a child, but the two cases soon turn out to have a close connection. This installment works at a slower pace than the others I've read, but that's because there's time spent on properly introducing Banks' coworkers since they play a larger part in this than before. As is true with the rest of the series, this is a solid police procedural with an interesting, if not complex, plot and some very good characters. The audiobook reader, James Langton, does a great job with the voices and doesn't dumb down the Yorkshire dialect too much (one of the previous installments has a truly horrific reader, so I'm very grateful Langton took over).

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My idea of a good fictional story is one that sets realistic people in a fantastic situation. Nobody wants to read about their everyday, mundane life but, for me, when Superman, or Wonder Woman turns up, the connection to the human is broken. Peter Robinson does the ordinary cop very well. Inspector Banks is good at his job, but don't expect him to deduce the murderer from a trace of rare grass on the victim's shoe, or to leap at the criminal and down him with a swift karate chop.Through the series of Banks books, the characters, not just Banks, but his wife, his boss, Grisethorpe, and the DC's with whom he works, all develop in a believable way. Details mentioned, en passant in an earlier work are enhanced, as necessary, further into the series and the group of characters all have reality.I do not want to make these books seem too much like great works of literature, they are not intended so to be. They are cracking pieces of escapism. The thing that I enjoy most in these books is that I am always just half a page ahead of the detective. Robinson knows instinctively, just when to release information to the reader and when to allow his hero to recognise the significance. I never find myself chapters ahead and irritated by Banks' dim-wittedness, or amazed by a thought that hadn't struck me; although, it has been known for me to be lead, skilfully, down a blind alley for a while!The murders are not too bloodthirstily drawn, or the solutions too far fetched. Naturally, they may not be exactly true to police procedure, but, they are sufficiently so to convince me. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I have each of the other tales in the series. I eke them out as an occasional treat and my only difficulty is in not guzzling all my treats in the one sitting! I can't wait to get to the next time when I think that I deserve a purely for pleasure read! I shall only say a little about the story: I do not want to spoil it for any new readers of Robinson's oeuvre. This tale concerns the abduction of a child and a particularly brutal murder. The two cases do not appear to be connected but Banks feels that it would be quite a coincidence for two major criminals to be operating in Eastvale at the same time. You'll have to read the book to find out if he is right (and he isn't always - not at first, at least!).

[heptonj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was right, these Inspector Banks books are a very good read.John Banks finds himself up against a very frightening, clever and unstable criminal. There are random crimes seemingly unrelated including the abduction of a young girl and a murder. Gradually, they all seem to link together leading to an exciting conclusion.

[tripleblessings_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the 5th Inspector Banks novel by Canadian author Peter Robinson. Set in the English village of Swainshead, where a seven-year-old girl is kidnapped, and there is a dreadful possibility of ritual satanic abuse. A corpse is found at an abandoned mine. When the two cases converge, Inspector Banks confronts one of the most truly terrifying villains he will ever meet. This is a very good series, growing more fascinating and richly detailed with each book.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the sixth in the Inspector Banks series, set in Yorkshire, England. The story begins with the kidnapping of seven-year-old Gemma Scupham, although no ransom is every demanded. The kidnappers had posed as social workers, who claimed they were investigating rumors of abuse towards the child. Then, another heinous crime (a grisly murder) is discovered in the same rural area, and the police think the crimes might be related because serious crimes hardly ever happen in that semi-rural district. Detective Inspector Alan Banks is taken off the kidnapping case, and assigned to the grisly murder. Much of the novel follows Banks’s boss, Detective Superintendent Gristhorpe, as he follows up leads in the kidnapping case. Are the crimes related after all? And what happened to Gemma? Every part of the book is well written; but the abrupt (cataclysmic?) change of tone at the end seems inconsistent with the rest of the book.(JAB)

[debavp · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This one just didn’t grab me, the entire time reading felt more chore like. Partly I think as I didn’t believe all was lost when the victim was announced, but maybe more so in that it seemed Robinson was not going to be prone to detail with any of the characters. After finishing I think I see why that was, but still, the story could have been so much more, instead it really left you unexcited as to what the central characters might get up to from here.

[ashergabbay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“Wednesday’s Child” is the sixth book in the Inspector Adam Banks detective series by Peter Robinson.Seven-year-old Gemma is kidnapped from her home, willingly given away by her confused mother to a well-dressed and well-spoken couple who claimed to be social workers. A couple of days later, the body of a young man is found in the ruins of an old lead mine. Two seemingly unrelated cases which (surprise!) converge into one intricate case for our dear Inspector Banks.Except Banks plays somewhat of a secondary role in this book. Robinson has chosen to make Banks’ boss and sometimes mentor, Superintendent Gristhope, the main lead of the kidnapping investigation. A similar case many years back haunts the veteran detective’s memories as he frantically tries to get to the abducted girl before she is murdered. Finding Gemma’s bloodied clothes in a field does not raise hopes that he can win this race against time.The plot of this book is less surprising that in previous Alan Banks books. The abductor/murderer character is revealed well in advance of the ending. It seems Robinson took somewhat of a pause in “Wednesday’s Child” to develop some of the characters that surround Banks, most notably Gristhope but also others. In a way I found this book to be a more relaxing read, despite the gruesome crime committed in the very first chapter.

[eadieb-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another good read by Peter Robinson. Child abduction is a difficult subject but at least it was a happy ending. Lots of twists keeps you interested until the end. Looking forward to the next book in the series.