It’s time for my review of Book 5 in the Jane Tennison crime series by Lynda La Plante!
Thanks to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to read the series as part of #TeamTennison and Zaffre Books for my review copy of the book. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
I’ve really enjoyed this series to date, so I was looking forward to see what came next in Jane Tennison’s (1970s) Metropolitan police career before the events of the ‘Prime Suspect’ TV series with Helen Mirren. Each of the books have been so different, with Jane involved in traditional police procedures, forensic murder investigations, undercover police work, lots of different teams in different areas of London and even the aftermath of a major bombing.
In this instalment, WDS Jane Tennison has finally gained a spot in the famous Flying Squad, also known as ‘The Sweeney’. She knows it’s going to be tough, especially as the first female detective there, but nothing can prepare her for the dramatic events of his first day when she attends the scene of an armed robbery on a bank. As the investigation progresses, it seems both that the gang involved have a bigger target in mind, and that Jane’s maverick policing techniques may just get her in a lot of trouble…
This is a strong police procedural – there’s lots of interviews and leads and crime scene investigation and witnesses and suspects. I found that it wasn’t as pacey as some of the others in the series and there wasn’t as much peril – although La Plante does throw in some absolute blinders as the story gains pace towards the denouement. The slower pace is useful, however, in an investigation of a gang as there’s lots of characters to get your head around.
As with previous books, the joy is in watching Jane Tennison develop her policing skills – she has a talent for finding new avenues in investigations and looking at events in a different way. This doesn’t always make her popular with the more misogynistic members of the Flying Squad, and she often ignores orders from her superiors. This also makes her place on the team insecure, shocking given that she is probably the best detective there! Ah, the embedded sexism of the 1970s!
Interestingly (I think), the reason that Jane is good at her job is that she listens to female witnesses that are disregarded by her male peers – this happens a number of times in this book. Thank you, Lynda La Plante, for the little details that show up toxic masculinity in policing and the strength of female communication. Policing in the 1970s was sexist, sure, but there’s stuff here that’s not a million miles away from recent news stories in the 2020s too.
I liked the development of some of the secondary characters in the novel – we learn more about Jane’s sister and her family, plus there as some interesting witnesses who are important to the plot and a few of the police team who stand out for various reasons – some good, some bad! I liked ‘Teflon’ in particular – especially in his defence of Jane – and hope that Tennison stays with the Flying Squad long enough to work with him more in the next book. Katie was also an entertaining character, though not for the same positive reasons!
If you’ve read earlier books about Jane Tennison, you’ll find this a good addition to the series. It’s well-crafted, manages the tension well and develops Jane further as a character. If you haven’t met 1970s Jane yet, start with ‘Tennison’ for the whole story. This book could easily be read without the previous ones, but why miss out?
Bring on Book 6!
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