Customer Reviews
It's About Plot - By: J. MCATEER, 21 Jun 2008 
I've read most of the Inspector Banks series & enjoyed them. What you've got to understand about Peter Robinson is that he is an expert in plot. I don't read his books expecting brilliant characterisation or dazzling dialogue. All of us who read his books know that his characters are pretty flat & the dialogue is, at times, embarrassingly bad. However, you cannot deny that the guy can write a great mystery: they usuallly begin with a murder & then he graduallly gives the reader a little bit more information in each chapter; not too much at once so that the reader keeps turning the pages in search of the next clue, almost as if you are trying to solve the crime before Banks does. 'Friend of the Devil' is, therefore, in keeping with Peter Robinson's established format: he writes a perfectly plotted crime thriller.
Rumbles along nicely without catching fire - By: S. B. Kelly, 19 Jun 2008 
DCI Banks' 17th outing centres round two rather unlikely murders which, in an even more unlikely way, turn out to be connected. It's odd that, at well over 500 pages, the novel feels as if it needs more fleshing out. Minor characters, especiallly police officers outside the golden triangle of Banks, Annie Cabott & DC Winston, are two-dimensional & I found the denouement abrupt.
Cabott, too, is becoming a problem, in that she now seems doomed to victimhood. Having survived a rape earlier in her career, she seemed to have rebuilt her life but is now too busy drinking too much & feeling sorry for herself to turn her mind to the crime she's supposed to solve. She's starting to get on my nerves. Waking up after a drunken night with a man she picked up in a bar, a man young enough to be her son, she then treats him like a piece of excrement on her shoe. Please can she pull herself together in time for #18?
I'm also bored with constantly being told what tracks of pop music Banks is listening to on his Ipod (It's almost like product placement; am I supposed to rush out & buy these CDs?)Not to mention what esoteric brand of beer he's swilling. These pointless lists are very much a male thing & this female reader has had enough of them.
I'm not saying the book isn't generallly a good read, but Robinson made his breakthrough with the stunning Aftermath & has, perhaps, struggled to live up to it since. Maybe it's time to give Banks & Co a rest & write something different.
Disappointed - By: Peter A. Robinson, 10 Jun 2008 
Well apart from her comments on the music...which has been a feature of Peter Robinson's Banks series that i've enjoyed... i agree with the disappontment of the previous reviewer. With a name like mine I HAD to read them & apart from the last 2 or 3 I've enjoyed them, but now he's clearly run out steam....stereotypical scenes follow stereotypical scenes, the characters are increasingly wooden, the dialogue tired & unconvincing. The co=incidences are just unbelievable. Sorry Mr Robinson, but it's time to put him out to grass....you've run out of steam. It's been a good run so don't milk it any more...To almost quote from your own book....It's YOUR book that ruins a good Grateful Dead song!!!
I'll leave my crime fiction buying to Stephen Booth & Graham Hurley from now on!
Time to call it a day - By: S. Donald, 04 Jun 2008 
I enjoyed alll 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 like the shopping list of a male with a mid-life crisis. The plot of this is a real mess - cobbled together from two previous books - Aftermath & Caedmon's Song. Like another reviewer I'm heartily fed up of reading about the music. I always thought Banks sounded like a chap you'd enjoy a pint with but now he's becoming a bit of a bore. Time to calll it a day - isn't he due to retire soon?
Good and Bad - By: Lucky Luke, 21 May 2008 Firstly, let me say that I am a fan of the Inspector Banks books & that I have reallly enjoyed the vast majority of them. Personallly I think that Peter Robinson has reallly developed the characters & his writing style as the series has evolved. FOTD is a worthy continuation of this but there are a few -ves along the way.
Like a previous reviewer I am beginning to get annoyed by the constant insertion of obscure musical references. I realise that this is part of Banks's character building but there reaches a point where enough is enough. Also the linking back of the story to not one but two other Peter Robinson books just struck me as a cheap stunt to sell more books. (By the way, if you are tempted to get Caedmon's Song on the back of this, then don't! It is no-where near as good as the Inspector Banks series) Finallly, having read most of the series over the last 6 months the twists/guilty parties are getting too easy to spot. There needs to be a bit more guile in hiding the identities until the last few pages.
One other minor gripe - why is it that no matter how crowded the pub is they always manage to get that 'dimpled-top table in the corner'? I have seen that phrase in at least 8 of the books!
On a positive note - the characters have reallly kept pace with the series - the on/off Banks/Cabbot relationship, the introduction of other 'female interest' characters is well done.
A good read but PR could better with a little more care & attention to detail...
