Bad Boy- Abridged [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Like other reviewers I'm a huge fan of Robinson's earlier work (I live in Leeds and was even able to go to a book signing a few years ago when he came on a promotional tour). But if I'm honest I've felt Banks has been on borrowed time since "Friend of the Devil" which was more or less a sequel to the recently televised story (and one of Robinson's best books) "Aftermath" - I won't express my disappointment with how that translated to screen here!

All the stuff Robinson has put out from FOTD onwards (not counting the short story compilation "The Price of Love" which I found moderately entertaining), has been long drawn out and tedious to read - in fact since "Playing with Fire" I've almost had the feeling someone has given Robinson a quota of pages he must fill before he's even started writing!

I'm afraid "Bad Boy" hasn't improved on things much -

I've long ago given up watching the Banks website, waiting hungrily for the next release date, so it was a total surprise to me when I wandered into the crime section of my local book shop to find a nice fresh Robinson hardback sitting there, I got a twinge of the old excitement then saw the title: "Bad Boy" I have to say it annoyed me before I'd even picked the book up, it just sounded so cheesy! Never the less I dutifully bought it and struggled through.

Without wanting to give spoilers (readers especially won't want that here as there is precious little to spoil!) all I can say is you spend three quarters of the book expecting something to happen and nothing ever does! The book actually starts quite promisingly with Banks' holiday (it was totally throw-away stuff and simply there to please Banks fans, but I took the bate) however once he comes home things start to go down the pan. The characters are borderline ridiculous and from everything we have read about Tracy Banks over the last 20 years or so, it is just hard for the reader to accept she could be so idiotic all of a sudden.

The one good thing about it is Robinson seems to have finally listened to the almost unanimous opinion of his fans and toned down on the pages and pages which were getting dedicated to what Banks was playing on his ipod!

I'm giving Robinson one more chance with his next book, but if it disappoints, I think that will be the end of Banks for me.

Have read and enjoyed all the previous Inspector Banks novels but this one is a long disappointment. The plot is very thin, the dialogue turgid -with long speeches instead of dialogue. Set pieces such as the torture scene sit uncomfortably within the framework of the story- out of context. Peter Robinson writes without confidence -he is relying heavily on a formula, rather than injecting life and sparkle.
His hero seems tired of life at the end when he says"But sometimes I think I've had enough. I'm getting a bit tired of it all."
Like Ian Rankin and Rebus, Peter Robinson also seems to have exhausted his hero and this reader.

Havng read all of Peter Robinson's Inspector Bank's books, in my opinion, this is the worst. His early books such as 'Cold is the Grave' and 'Wednesday's Child', to name but a few, were by far much better stories. I can remember reading them in one sitting, unable to put them down. But not so with this one. The story trundles along at a very slow pace. I use the term 'story' loosely as the whole book is quite simply about a girl who takes her boyfriends gun. When her mother finds it she reports her to the police. Cue DCI Alan Banks, who then tries to find the boyfriend. It really is as simple as that and I'm afraid it all gets very tedious.

'All the Colours of Darkness', Peter Robinson's previous novel was a turning point for me. It was unbelieveable, silly at times and the story was disjointed and uninteresting. Until then, I enjoyed all his Alan Bank's series and Robinson was one of my favourite authors. I wish he would return to form as I used to enjoy getting his latest book, knowing it would be an excellent read. I will probably purchase his next book in the hope that he will return to writing intense, complex and interesting DCI Alan Banks mysteries, but after 2 very disappointing books, this seems wishful thinking.