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Friend of the Devil
 
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Friend of the Devil (Paperback)

by Peter Robinson (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £4.89 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Friend of the Devil + All the Colours of Darkness (Inspector Banks Mystery) + Piece of My Heart
Price For All Three: £12.37

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Product details

  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (3 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340836911
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340836910
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,409 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #7 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > R > Robinson, Peter
    #82 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Thrillers

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk
Whatever the profession (from medicine to cuisine), it's always good to sit back and relax, knowing that you're in the hands of a consummate professional. So it is with crime fiction, and Peter Robinson is one of the most reliable names around. He has written 17 books in his much-acclaimed Inspector Bank series (Friend of the Devil is the 17th), and his writing has the confidence that is commensurate with the best in the field.

DI Annie Cabbot is on loan to another area (and is not working with her colleague, Chief Inspector Alan Banks), and finds herself saddled with a difficult case. A woman’s body is found in a wheelchair by the sea. Her throat has been ripped open. At the same time, a teenage girl has been raped and murdered after an alcohol-fuelled night out. DCI Banks is dealing with another case. The two detectives experience very dissimilar results: Banks is faced with a multiplicity of suspects, while Annie Cabbot makes absolutely no progress in her case. Those familiar with detective fiction won't be surprised to learn that the various cases turn out to be interrelated, and when the duo begin to make considerable inroads into the mysteries, they find that aspects of their own pasts are coming back to haunt them. And a burning question becomes ever more pertinent: just how many killers are involved in these cases?

We may be used to relationships between male and female detectives that alternate between the fractious and the reluctantly affectionate, but Peter Robinson has always been able to steer a very confident route down this particular avenue, always firmly keeping cliché at bay. But (as always with this author), the plot’s the thing to catch the attention of the reader, and Friend of the Devil works out a labyrinthine narrative with a particularly pleasing attention to detail. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Praise for PIECE OF MY HEART

(: )

'Brilliantly evokes the time of British psychedelia ... as well as being a terrific contemporary crime novel.'

(Independent on Sunday )

'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps PIECE OF MY HEART, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league . . . PIECE OF MY HEART brilliantly interweaves past and present, providing two strands of tension for the price of one, and further enhancing Alan Banks's reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops.'

(Marcel Berlins, The Times )

'Two riveting, equally interesting crime novels in one'

(Telegraph )

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Friend of the Devil
73% buy the item featured on this page:
Friend of the Devil 3.6 out of 5 stars (52)
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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews
5 star:
 (19)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (10)
2 star:
 (7)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The best Inspector Banks novel till now!, 11 Aug 2007
By Sissel M. Østdahl "smaureen" (Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Friend of the Devil (Hardcover)
Aah, to be able to write this well. To make readers lose themselves in a book even before the story has started properly, and in some passages manage to even make a crime story almost poetic.

Of course, as a huge fan of Peter Robinson I'm well acquainted with Chief Inspector Alan Banks, DI Annie Cabbot, the rest of the Eastvale police force and the goings on in a small Yorkshire village.
But even to first time readers of Robinson, "Friend of the Devil" will prove this author's magic, his unique talent as one of, if not THE best British crime writer today.

The Inspector Banks novels have two main story lines. The solving of one - or more - crimes, and bits and pieces from Bank's private life. Not the least his personal relationship with Annie, with whom he is still working on a regular basis. There is however much emotional baggage between the two and obvious that their personal story is far from over.

In "Friend of the Devil" two nasty murders are discovered on the same Sunday morning. Banks and Annie are working on one case each. First separately, until Annie is reaching a breakthrough which brings her case in a new and shocking direction - a direction that involves Banks.

It soon becomes clear that there are two killers among their midst, ready to strike again at any moment.

I have noticed another reviewer who feels that Annie's personal life is taking up too much space in the book. I understand this objection and do in fact tend to agree. However, being a woman, I must admit that Annie's doings are not without interest, and I am pretty sure that male and female readers may be reacting differently to the part Annie's love life is playing in the book.

Apart from this, I would hope - and believe - that most readers will find "Friend of the Devil" to be Peter Robinson's finest work until now.

With Chief Inspector Banks, Peter Robinson has created a very human and likeable hero, a soft-hearted man in spite of his profession. Bank's choice of literature, music and food, his relationship with his children, his struggle with the aftermath of his marriage - and the complicated feelings for Annie - all add to the picture of an interesting, attractive and complete hero one does not easily tire of.

As all the books in the Inspector Banks series, "The Friend of the Devil" is a book of contrasts. The harsh realism of brutal crimes, the investigators' necessary blocking of feelings in order to fulfill what has to be done, and the humanity behind it all. Whether the pain of the victims' relatives or the personal reaction of police and investigators.

Don't miss neither this nor Robinson's other books. Simply brilliant!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars: Murders and Memory, a British detective suspense novel, 14 Mar 2008
By D. Merrimon Crawford - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Friend of the Devil (Inspector Alan Banks) (Hardcover)
Best enjoyed in the context of his earlier work AFTERMATH, Peter Robinson's FRIEND OF THE DEVIL is a stunning addition to his British police detective series. Not only does the reader glimpse more of the unfolding dynamics between the main characters, but also, the case hearkens back to the past as new murders challenge both the detectives and the reader to look at the past through a different perspective.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot investigate a series of chilling murders. Cabbot investigates a brutal and chilling murder of a parapalegic woman in a wheelchair while Banks investigates the brutal murder and rape of a woman found in The Maze. Although these crimes seem unrelated, the murders provoke both Banks and Cabbot to look into their own histories to past crimes that have touched their lives. The eerie murder of the mysterious woman in the wheelchair haunts the imagination as the detectives ponder the thoughts a woman unable to defend herself or even voice a protest in her last moments. The first layer of clues unraveled is only one layer to this finely constructed suspenseful mystery. When Banks' investigation solves the mystery of one crime detail of the rape and murder, more mysteries emerge. Will the security cameras around the Maze aid or complicate this investigation? Each clue, each new development twists and turns the investigation, keeping the reader in suspense until the final dramatic scene.

FRIEND OF THE DEVIL explores the ambiguity in the relationship between Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot. Peter Robinson's unflinching and realistic look into the conflicts in their personal lives add a depth to the characterization as their past chafes and recalls earlier moments and the character's personal weaknesses. In FRIEND OF THE DEVIL, relationships aren't easy or simplistic and, to the reader's delight, neither is the path to catching the perpetrators of these crimes. Precise, sometimes stark descriptive details heighten the terror of these crimes all the way to the shocking climatic end.

Chilling, eerie and full of surprises, Peter Robinson's FRIEND OF THE DEVIL gradually builds up a fascinating look into memory, interweaving it into the very thematic structure. Memory underpins this mystery, interwoven within the very core as reminiscences from a former case haunt Banks. Past events present obstacles to personal relationships. Even in the murders themselves, Banks and Cabbot must delve into the memories of witnesses. Quite simply, Peter Robinson's kaleidoscope into memory makes FRIEND OF THE DEVIL a good choice for readers who might crave a little extra to ponder in addition to riveting suspense.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars First among sequels, 7 Aug 2007
By Cryptoresearcher (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Friend of the Devil (Hardcover)
I am a big fan of the Inspector Banks series (2nd only to Rebus in my opinion).
However, this one is not for new readers as it is a double sequel-to both an earlier Banks story and also the stand-alone novel Caedmon's Song.
Without having read both of these, I think you would be all at sea.
Absolutely heartbreaking how the main character of Caedmon's Song ends up, but I did feel the book rushed to an ending that could easily have run on a bit.
Too much Annie Cabbot and her 'relationship issues' for me, as they have been laid out before in other books and aren't really very interesting.
Drops a star for these last 2 flaws but if a fan, go ahead and read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspector Banks...again
Okay, maybe this book isn't as bad as the review title implies, but this is the 17th book in the series, and I wouldn't recommend this book for newcomers to the series. Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. Loddick

1.0 out of 5 stars friend of the devil
This will be my last adventure with Inspector Banks. His obsession with music is becoming very boring, I found myself skipping pages, yes the story is quite good but the detective... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rosie Lamb

3.0 out of 5 stars Not one of the better books in the series
This book is one of the more recent offerings by Peter Robinson, and stars Chief Inspector Alan Banks (who is investigating the murder of a student in a back alley) and Ispector... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. Bowen

5.0 out of 5 stars Another strong novel in the Banks series
That this, the 17th novel in the Inspector Banks series, feels fresh and the characters are still developing, is testament to Peter Robinson's considerable skill as a writer. Read more
Published 10 months ago by M. V. Clarke

4.0 out of 5 stars More than up to scratch
It's a great read, despite re-using a significant part of "Caedmon's Song" in one of it's sub-plots. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Opus_Seven

4.0 out of 5 stars It's About Plot
I've read most of the Inspector Banks series and enjoyed them. What you've got to understand about Peter Robinson is that he is an expert in plot. Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. MCATEER

3.0 out of 5 stars Rumbles along nicely without catching fire
DCI Banks' 17th outing centres round two rather unlikely murders which, in an even more unlikely way, turn out to be connected. Read more
Published 12 months ago by S. B. Kelly

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
Well apart from her comments on the music...which has been a feature of Peter Robinson's Banks series that i've enjoyed... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peter A. Robinson

2.0 out of 5 stars Time to call it a day

I enjoyed all the earlier Banks novels but the most recent have been quite disappointing. The list of Banks' material possessions, Porsche, i-Pod et al is starting to read... Read more
Published 13 months ago by S. Donald

4.0 out of 5 stars Good and Bad
Firstly, let me say that I am a fan of the Inspector Banks books and that I have really enjoyed the vast majority of them. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Lucky Luke

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