Sun 8 Feb 2015
A 1001 Midnights Review: JO BANNISTER – Striving with Gods.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[6] Comments
by Kathleen L. Maio
JO BANNISTER – Striving with Gods. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1984. First published in the UK by Robert Hale Ltd., hardcover, 1984. Reprinted as An Uncertain Death, Severn House, UK, hardcover, 1997. No paperback edition.
New to the mystery-reading public, Jo Bannister has produced an excellent medical thriller in Striving with Gods. Her heroine, Clio Rees, is a physician turned mystery writer who makes a further transformation to amateur detective when her dearest friend dies. Clio’s friend, a gay man named Luke, was found dead with a young boy in an apparent suicide pact. Clio doesn’t buy the police scenario, and uncovers evidence of a double murder and cover-up. Dr. Rees further finds a medical conspiracy behind the murder.
Bannister’s novel is more thriller than mystery. And Clio is more avenging fury than detective. Early on it becomes clear to Rees and the reader who the prime villain is. The greatest mystery is whether Clio will be able to bring the malefactors to justice and avenge her friend before she, too, falls victim. Despite our faith in a happy ending, Bannister does a good job of sustaining the suspense. The murderous confrontations are dramatic, though an extended chase scene goes on a bit long.
But it is the character of Clio Rees and her first-person narration that are the making of Striving with Gods. There is a wry quality to her voice that nicely balances the more melodramatic aspects of the plot. She is by no means the omnipotent and omniscient detective. She is a caring, fallible woman. She is also strong and resolute and totally devoid of the feminine failings of the mystery-Gothic heroine. She has, in fact, all the makings of a series sleuth. If only Jo Bannister will oblige.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
Bibliographic Notes: Kathi Maio’s wishes were to be fulfilled. Among Jo Bannister’s 30 or more mystery novels are three additional ones in the Clio Rees series. Many of her other books are thrillers and/or police procedurals in several other series. Her next one will be Buying Freedom, scheduled for publication later this year.
The Dr. Clio Rees Marsh series —
Striving with Gods. Hale, 1984.
Gilgamesh. Piatkus, 1989.
The Going Down of the Sun. Piatkus, 1990.
The Fifth Cataract. Severn House, 2005.
February 8th, 2015 at 6:53 pm
You wonder a series like this never got into paper.
February 8th, 2015 at 7:18 pm
Yes, I wondered about that too. Some of her other books have come out in the US in paperback, though — most of them by Worldwide Mystery, an imprint of Harlequin, the romance company based in Canada.
Right now you can get them only through their subscription plan. They don’t sell them in stores. I used to be member of the club, but the percentage of cozies to more sophisticated fare became too high, and I cancelled out.
February 8th, 2015 at 8:51 pm
After taking a look at an up-to-date bibliography for Jo Bannister here
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/jo-bannister/
not only do I realize that I have not read any of them, but there are quite a few that from their descriptions I now would very much like to.
February 8th, 2015 at 9:09 pm
I was a fan of the Castlemere police procedural series. Light reading but with an enjoyable cast of “coppers”. I was sorry when she stopped writing them.
February 8th, 2015 at 9:33 pm
I guess the lack of quilting bees and cats kept them off the bookstore paperback shelves.
February 10th, 2015 at 10:19 am
I’m not sure why it is but every time I’ve tried to read a Bannister in recent years I’ve found it impossible to get involved with the book. My fault, I’m sure. I did read and enjoy the first three Castlemere procedurals about 20 years ago now but that’s all.