Caedmon's Song

by Peter Robinson

On a balmy June night, Kirsten, a young university student, strolls home through a silent moonlit park. Suddenly her tranquil mood is shattered as she is viciously attacked.

When she awakes in hospital, she has no recollection of that brutal night. But then, slowly and painfully, details reveal themselves - dreams of two figures, one white and one black, hovering over her; wisps of a strange and haunting song; the unfamiliar texture of a rough and deadly hand . . .

In another part of England, Martha Browne arrives in Whitby, posing as an author doing research for a book. But her research is of a particularly macabre variety. Who is she hunting with such deadly determination? And why?

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Ebooks, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire. After getting his BA Honours Degree in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he came to Canada and took his MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor, then a PhD in English at York University. He has taught at a number of Toronto community colleges and universities and served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor, 1992-93.

Series:
* Inspector Banks

Awards:
* Winner of the 1992 Ellis Award for Best Novel.
* Winner of the 1997 Ellis Award for Best Novel.
* Winner of the 2000 Anthony Award for Best Novel.
* Winner of the 2000 Barry Award for Best Novel.
* Winner of the 2001 Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Reviews

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 2 out of 5]

EXCERPT: Arriving in a new place always made Martha feel strangely excited, but this time the sensation was even more intense. At first she could only stand rooted to the spot among the revving buses, breathing in the diesel fumes and the salt sea air. She felt as if she were trying the place on for size, and it was a good fit. She took stock of the subtle tremors her arrival caused in the essence of the town. Others might not notice such things, but Martha did. Everyone and everything - from the sand on the beach to a guilty secret in a tourist's heart - was somehow connected and in a state of constant flux. it was like quantum physics, she thought, at least in so far as she understood it. Her presence would send out ripples and reverberations that people wouldn't forget for a long time.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: On a balmy June night, Kirsten, a young university student, strolls home through a silent, moonlit park. Suddenly her tranquil mood is shattered as she is viciously attacked.
When she awakes in hospital, she has no recollection of that brutal night. But then, slowly and painfully, details reveal themselves - dreams of two figures, one white and one black, hovering over her; wisps of a strange song; the unfamiliar texture of a rough and deadly hand...
In another part of England, Martha Browne arrives in Whitby, posing as an author doing research for a book. But her research is of a particularly macabre variety. Who is she hunting with such deadly determination? And why?

MY THOUGHTS: This is the first book I have read by author Peter Robinson that I have read and not enjoyed. Usually I love his writing, but this felt forced and clumsy. It is touted as a psychological thriller, but I felt no thrill, no suspense and, eventually, no interest.

I finished, but with no enthusiasm. I much prefer his Inspector Banks series.

2.5 very reluctant stars.

THE AUTHOR: Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire. After getting his BA Honours Degree in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he came to Canada and took his MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor, then a PhD in English at York University. He has taught at a number of Toronto community colleges and universities and served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor, 1992-93

DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of Caedmon's Song by Peter Robinson published by Pan Books. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own opinion.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my profile page on Goodreads.com or the about page on my webpage, sandysbookaday/wordpess.com This review and others also appear on Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads.com and my webpage.

I have since donated my copy of this book to a local free lending library.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a 3-star read in my head all the way through - and then I glanced at my other reviews of Robinson's books and had to bring it down a notch. All fair, it is an 'OK' read, but not much more. And certainly not more by Robinson's own high standards.

'Cædmon's Song' (with the unfortunate and generic US title 'The First Cut') is about a young woman, Kirsten, who narrowly survives a serial killer's first attempt. A number of others are not so lucky - if only Kirsten could remember anything of her attacker. And what if she could?

Apart from a few doubts I had regarding the psychological response in Kirsten, this was a well-written and straightforwardly told story. I did feel a bit of longing after the characters in the Inspector Banks-novels this time reading a "non-Banks" Robinson (much like I expected, but did not experience with Before the Poison), just knowing he's the same author. Silly, I know, but there it is.

In the afterwords, Robinson explains that this was written early (in between Banks 3 and 4 if memory serves) and stuck in a drawer for quite a few years before it was published after a minimum of touch-ups. Maybe that was not entirely necessary, but, it is a decent read, so why not? For completists only i would say, though.

[Laura Paxson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was surprised at how boring this book was. I didn't expect to love it - I had just finished another book and my mom handed me this as a "creepy page turner" but warned me not to expect much. She knows I rarely read these generic beach reads but I'm not so snobby as to not enjoy them somewhat.

I was expecting the standard mystery/thriller with a lot of suspense. Instead, what I got was a promising beginning that was incredibly gruesome but that quickly went downhill from there. Even the ending was a let down.

This is a great example of what bad, bad suspense looks like. The middle was essentially a narrative of a depressed victim's struggle to find herself told simultaneously with another storyline of a 'mysterious' girl walking around some boring English seaside town. If the author felt that suspense means just detailing every diner and stop a person makes in their daily travels than congrats. He achieved his goal. I can't tell you how many times I'd read a boring passage, expecting it to lead to some major event (or at least an interesting one...) only to find out that, no, it really was just a girl eating lunch at a diner. I used the term 'mysterious' but really, you figure out her mystery less than half way through. I won't spoil it here.

I am one of those weird people who has to finish any book they start even if it's incredibly boring and I know I'll hate it. I can't skip sections or chapters just to get to the end either - it's cheating imo. This was one of the only books I ever skimmed and skipped. It was just that boring and contained so much pointless or uneventful activities that it was painful. I didn't jump right to the end but anytime the character of Martha went into a cafe, shop, or took a walk, I pretty much knew I wasn't missing anything. Same with Kristie although she started off a little more interesting. When I did get to the end, it was pretty generic and nothing that would keep you at the edge of your seat.

I, honestly, have t disliked a book this much in years. Sometimes, when a book is this bad, I actually get angry with the author - as if they thought so little of their readers. I feel that a little here but I also could tell that he tried. For that I'm grateful. This book held some good ideas, that overall story arch wasn't generic and maybe in the hands of someone else it could have been a decent read. I mean I KNOW boring books. I've read a ton of stuffy classics but what makes them readable is that even the drawn out plot lines and long winded descriptions are beautifully written in the same way a song can be beautiful even when the subject is mundane.

(Writing reviews on here makes me realize how pessimistic I am. I almost never write reviews this long for books I like but when I hate a book, I write a whole damn novel in itself!)

[Lee Prescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always good to pick up a book and recognise a place that is not explicitly written about in the text. In this case it's Woodhouse Moor in Leeds. The story is set in the 1980s and it does capture something of the dread for students of crossing that park after a night out at the Leeds University Union heading back home to Headingley.

The story itself is fairly predictable - the clues are set out early and the events grotesque, but nevertheless it's an enjoyable revenge thriller. An extra star from me for the well-written context.

[Tina Culbertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should pay better attention when I order books. This is a novel by Peter Robinson, the Yorkshireman who writes the Inspector Banks series. This book, Caedemon’s Song, did not feature Banks at all and I have to say I was disappointed when I realized this. But….my fault for not carefully reading the description before I clicked “buy”, right?

Robinson stated he wanted to take a break from the DCI Banks series and write from the victim’s point of view, rather than the police procedural type. The premise of this story revolves around a young lady named Kirsten who was brutally attacked one evening as she walks home alone through a park. The wounds she suffers are horrific. She survived only because she was found by a man walking his dog, otherwise she would have bled out. Kirsten wakes up in hospital over a week later, unaware of what happened to her. She has no memory of the attack. Her parents are in the hospital room with her, concerned about the injuries and how they will affect the rest of her life. The police question her, desperate to find her attacker but no matter how hard she tries she has no recollection of that night.

More women are attacked but they do not survive. Kirsten undergoes hypnotic therapy and slowly, the nightmare of the attack and details surface. She provides the police with as much detail as she cares to share with them but decides she has her own agenda as far as her attacker goes. I can’t reveal any more without spoiling the storyline.

I am a big fan of Peter Robinson but I will say I prefer the Inspector Banks series over this story. Well written, kept me reading and the first clue confirming what I suspected didn’t appear until 30 pages before the end. So that’s good, the reader didn’t have it all figured out early on.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good! Really like Peter Robinson's writing style ( this was my first book by this author). Well developed believable characters, so that I could understand and even sympathize with their predicaments and actions/ reactions. Even though I suspected the hook at about the 60% mark, that did not even detract from the story for me.

[The Book Whisperer (aka Boof) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this – I listened to it on Audio CD on a long work journey this week and drove past several service stations even thought I desperately wanted a coffee, just because I wanted to carry on listening.

The book starts with a brutal attack (no graphic details as the victim can’t actually remember what happened to her). Kirsten is a University student on her way home from a party to celebrate the end of their exams when she is grabbed from behind and subjected to an assault that leaves her for dead. She wakes up in hospital 10 days later with no memory of what happened to her.

Meanwhile, a little across country, Martha has arrived in Whitby on a mission. She is looking for someone and it is up to the reader to guess who and why and how her story may be linked to that of Kirsten’s.

The book switches back and forward, laying out Kirsten’s recovery and Martha’s search side by side. To be fair, the link does become apparant fairly early in the book and I do wonder if that wasn’t actually the authors intention. However, despite the fact that I “guessed” early on, I was still enthralled with watching Kirsten as some of her memory starts to come back to her as she tries to get on with her life, and watching Martha as she continues on her increasingly desperate mission.

Thumbs up for Mr Robinson again!

[Jens · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit wooden from the outset, but I suppose sufficiently gripping for me to read on.
You get an inkling quite early that the different lead characters are one and the same, but then halfway the reader learns that Kirsten was never identified as a victim, then you wonder if this might not just be a trick by the author...
I found it increasingly difficult to feel any sympathy towards our heroine. I also found it wildly improbable that anyone would act on such thin evidence.
The characterization is shallow. Best is the realistic description of Kirsten's therapy sessions, the realism unfortunately slowly undermined by a chumminess that no serious therapist would ever cultivate.
The original idea of a victim setting out to get revenge for a ruined life is interesting but its execution in the hands of Robinson leaves a lot to be desired.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it really hard to enjoy this book. Partly because I found it very difficult to work out when it was supposed to be set (this is explained the in the afterword by the author), but also because I'd guessed Martha and Kristen were the same person very early on. That made elements very predictable. She was also an incredibly self-involved, unpleasant character, which made me really hope she'd be caught before the end.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

University student Kirsten is attacked and left for dead whilst leaving a party; a young woman arrives in Whitby on a secret quest. Robinson took a break from his DCI Banks series to write a standalone from the POV of a victim. I wasn't blown away by this, mostly it was predictable, but it was good enough to keep me reading to the end.

[Antonella Imperiali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tre stelle striminzite per questo thriller che ha una buona costruzione, oltre che un’ottima ambientazione, ma che pecca di prevedibilità.
Nasce con due storie parallele in cui presente e passato camminano di pari passo, fino a sovrapporsi nel finale che non riserva molte sorprese.

Nella postfazione l’autore dichiara:
Da quando avevo letto dello squartatore dello Yorkshire, mi era venuto in mente di scrivere una storia su qualcuno che fosse sopravvissuto all’aggressione di un serial killer e che cercasse vendetta.

Direi che ha reso bene l’idea.


📖 Parola del mese (giu/22): freddo
🌍 LdM - Sfida 2022: thriller
🌍 Inghilterra 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Mary Jackson _TheMaryReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay in my book. It was not a fast, edge of your seat read it was rather boring. You win some you lose some.

[Surreysmum · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to his afterword, this non-Banks story from Peter Robinson, though published in 2003, was written in the late '80s (it's copyrighted 1990), and he made a conscious choice not to try to update it into the internet age. The 1980s setting is, in fact, one of its selling points for me; I have a curious nostalgia for the days when it was the norm to be unhooked from the rest of the world, and operating purely independently and often in the absence of definite information on any number of minor topics. It was actually possible not only to get lost, but to be lost to other people.

This is a two-stream narrative, both in the third person but very much focused on a single point of view, and both tracking a young woman. It becomes evident early on to an attentive reader that both streams are about the same person; what is unresolved until a little later is just how close in time the two narratives are, one detailing a horrifyingly traumatic sexual assault just barely short of murder by an established serial killer, and the other telling about the cascading ethical (and physical) horrors of seeking revenge. Unlike a detective novel, this one does not concern itself with the legal consequences of the three murders that the protagonist commits on that journey. In some ways, having found ourselves in her head all through the novel, that's a bit of relief. We get to decide for ourselves (or fail to decide) what justice might look like in the horrifyingly unjust world in which Kirsten first finds herself, and to which Martha and Sue eventually contribute. (The multiple names refer simply to successive disguises the woman takes on during her journey of revenge, not to multiple personalities in the "Sybil" sense, but certainly there is a resonance with that general notion of the traumatized fractured self).

I have seen mixed reactions to this novel on the review sites, partly attributable (of course) to that bane of series novelists, frustrated expectations, but partly with reasoned criticisms of what was in fact a first work, though not first published. Myself, I liked it very much, enough to give it my standard Robinson four stars. It already shows some of the strengths that make his mature work so compulsively readable: psychological complexity, a keen eye and ear for the details of the world, and a solid grasp of narrative progression and structure.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stand-along mystery by the author of the DCI Banks series. Ostensibly the story of two women with alternate chapters, one a recent graduate (Kirsten) who is attached and almost killed by a man who turns out to be a serial killer. The other is Martha, a woman on a mission to track down a man from her past in order to wreak vengeance on him. Careful and methodical, she makes a few mistakes, but we slowly learn how her intelligence and education have gotten her to this point.

Written in 1990, the 2003 edition contains an afterword in which the author confesses to being tempted to update it, but realized that the technological advances in 13 years would make that impossible.

2014: the DCI Banks novel Friend of the Devil brings this story into play.

[Elyse Rudin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book!!! A girl's last night in college and she is brutally attacked. She is determined to find the person who committed this awful act. I could not put this one down.

[Kirsten McNeill · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book! A twist I didn't expect and a completely satisfying ending. This is the kind of thriller that I want to write and I wish I hadn't waited so long to read it!

[Kingfan30 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off so well, sat on a campsite, I was gripped and was half way through before I knew it, despite the fact I worked out how the two characters were linked. But it slows right down at the midway point, I know I was back at work by then too, but it just didn't grab me so much. I was also a bit disappointed with the ending. Really enjoy the DCI Banks books, so felt a little let down by this one.

[Brucie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Banking on his reputation, author brings out an early treatment of serial killing and detection and revenge, without the series policeman. Not more than ordinary on any level, this story lacks a sense of location, no interesting characters, and no suspense.

[Roo · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. have to say not very exciting and not much of a thriller. OK for a wet afternoon

[Chomsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

"La fredda lama della notte" di Peter Robinson non rientra nella serie dell'ispettore Banks ma è lo stesso un signor thriller caratterizzato dalla densità psicologica della trama.
Questa volta è la stessa vittima di un'aggressione a diventare detective e cercare il suo feritore che ha anche ucciso altre ragazze. E' proprio la "quest" il motivo principale di questo giallo che è ispirato al caso vero dello "squartatore dello Yorkshire", che ha anche influenzato tutta la produzione narrativa di David Peace, con un fattore molto interessante dell'indagine della protagonista che le consente di riconoscere l'assalitore con l'ausilio dell'autoipnosi indotta e dalle sue conoscenze glottologiche
Il grande interrogativo sollevato dal libro è se la sofferenza delle vittime legittima qualsiasi vendetta anche a costo dell'uccisione di persone innocenti e questa domanda rimane anche dopo aver chiuso il volume.

[The_5ft_reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see this book isn't very highly rated but personally I enjoyed it, it's a easy to follow story and while it wasn't hard to work out what was happening I enjoyed the easy flow of the writing!

[Susan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite good actually

[Balthazar Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most crime novels are basically from the point of view of the police investigating the crime, with a bit from the perpetrator or victim. This novel is different in that it’s about a crime from the point of view of the victim and how she tries to get her life back together. The police play a very minor role in this book.

The book is structured with each chapter alternating between two characters, Kirsten and Martha and then Susan. The thing is they are the same person, Kirsten, at different points of her recovery after being viciously attacked. You could read every second chapter and than the ones you missed and still get the whole story. I didn’t particularly like this style of layout and think it might have been more exciting if the whole story had flowed in chronological order.

There was a lot of soul searching by Kirsten about why she was a victim, why she was chosen. This is where the story dragged and got so bogged down as to be boring.

I recently read an Inspector Banks novel, Friend Of The Devil, and in that book there were several old crimes that played a part in the new crime featured in the story. Those old crimes are the crimes featured in this book, which was written 20 years before Friend Of The Devil. This is not an Inspector Banks book.

I only found this interesting in so far as it’s connected to Friend Of The Devil. Without that connection I would have been bored silly.

[Lorne Strachan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first Peter Robinson novel that is not an Alan Banks police procedural and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. The writing is good, as I would expect from this author, but it was curiously unengaging. It's banal, silly and predictable, with liberal use of dramatic, psychological thriller techniques that seem to be thrown in just for effect.

As for plot there isn't much. Kirsten, a young university student is viciously attacked at the end of term. She awakes in hospital and finds that she has been changed physically and psychologically, perhaps forever. She recovers slowly and decides that her only path to a new life is to pursue her attacker and kill him but she hides this from family, friends and doctors. Her pursuit of her prey is tissue-paper thin and lacks any credibility.

The book delves (poorly) into the realm of the morality tale. If her attacker is indeed a serial killer of young women, he certainly deserves to face justice but, in her pursuit of her revenge she kills 2 innocent men. She rationalizes this by concluding that all men are complicit in the attack. She comes across more as insane psycho than avenging angel. If this is what the author intended, then he succeeds but, in my opinion, he's given readers a disappointing book, lacking a moral centre or viable pathforward. It is a muddle, too long by half and and lacking any anchor to any concept of morality or justice. Again, maybe, that is the point the author intended to make but it's a point that didn't need to be made. Moreover, it isn't well-made and it communicates nothing to the reader other than ambiguity. If ambiguity is the point of the book, he succeeded; I just wish I hadn’t spent my time finding it out.

[Suzanne Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book opens with Kirsten a student and about to leave University for the last time and on her way home from a celebration with others and is attacked.

I thought that this was part of the DCI banks series and was initially disappointed when I realised it wasn’t. As I got more into the book I did enjoy this and it was different.
It was written from the perspective of the victim and at the same time I thought the other character was another unfortunate victim. But without giving the ending away I really enjoyed the book and it’s twist.

Would I read another from the same author and the answer is yes. What I did read was the note from the author about writing the book and his reasons for the plot and it’s down to me to pay more attention to the story as opposed to who wrote the book instead of assuming.

I saw some other reviews and them saying it was predictable but I didn’t necessarily think so.

[Susan King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading this today. Found it intriguing from the first page. Whitby is one of our favourite places and, despite the changes over the years, it was good to be able to visualise it as it once was, and visualise Martha’s arrival, and exploration of the place (we’ve had tea and cake in the Monks Haven several times). A true step back in time to the days pre internet and mobile phones. I enjoyed reading of the slow journey to recovery, looking at atlases to find somewhere, felt nostalgic about using guidebooks and timetables. It wasn’t a police procedural which made it more personal somehow. I did guess the twist a couple of chapters before it was revealed but really enjoyed the book for what it was and was sorry when I had finished it. No more burning the midnight oil to find what happened next........

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tour-de-force. Robinson wrote this when he needed a break after his first four Inspector Banks novels. The setting is Whitby, in the late eighties, and the story is told from the points of view of Martha, an enigmatic tourist visiting Whitby with a sense of destiny, and Kirsten, an ordinary university student on the eve of graduation. Robinson mercifully veils the details of the initial crime and takes us inside the victim's state of mind, to the point where our judgment is suspended and we almost identify with her purpose.
The killer's self-justification ironically develops out of the study of medieval writers - the writer of The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, and most important of all, the historian Bede and the first Christian poet, Caedmon of Whitby.

[Ashley Shanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read — wouldn’t exactly call this a page turner as I found myself predicting a lot of what would happen next in this story. I only read to the end for the sake of finishing the book but by the time I got halfway through I had clearly mapped out how the book would end and it didn’t hold my interest as well towards the end.
The book is written so that the chapters switch back and forth between two different storylines that will be connected in the end. When one storyline became interesting and left me wanting to read more, I found myself discouraged to keep reading as the second storyline hadn’t quite picked up yet and just seemed as a space filler.
Overall, the storyline itself is pretty good and quite an easy read but would not read this book again.

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

AKA 'Caedmon's Song' - A mixed bag, but an interesting divergence from the DCI Banks series. On the negative side, I felt it suffered from some of the authors weaknesses in describing convincing young female characters, there was too much 'pretty' scenery description, and I'd have felt it was heavy on feminist tripe had it been written by a woman. That said, the two threads were a very clever idea, the central exploration of how victims can react was interesting to explore, and I found the story a compelling read.. so it certainly wasn't all bad.

[Trina Hollis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected this Peter Robinson book to be similar to the Inspector Banks books but it was quite different in that it told the story from the victims point of view rather than the police, It was quite brutal in places but kept me turning the pages and makes you think very hard about revenge.