Reviews

Bad Boy by Peter Robinson

noahboswell's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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balthazarlawson's review against another edition

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3.0

This was enjoyable, up to a point, but also disappointing. The first half of the book barely featured Banks. He is on holidays in America. But back in Eastvale life carries on without him. The big case is the discovery of a gun in a home which is reported by the mother to the police. The consequences are the death of father after being tasered by police. This puts into motion a series of events leading to Tracy Banks being held by the bad boy boyfriend of her room mate. The situation just gets worse with each passing day and to the shooting of a police officer. Banks is still on holidays.

When he returns he is thrust into the investigation of finding the shooter and his daughter. He only starts working half way through the book which only takes a couple of days.

It's bad but good. Worth reading, but not as good as other books in the series.

yorugua1891's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

chartsh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

richard1510's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

alcyon_alcyon's review against another edition

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2.0



Really lame and forgettable entry in the series. May be time to quit reading Robinson, though he has been uneven before.

jaxgirl007's review against another edition

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3.0

Seeing that this is a long-running series, but never having read the previous works, I didn't know what to expect but I had heard good things.

There were many part of the book that I thought were well done and I can see why the series has become popular. I liked DI Annie Cabbot and was intrigued by Inspector Banks (I wish he had been more a larger presence in the story). I also thought the ending of the story, especially the last 10 pages or so were very interesting and I thought about them after I finished reading. The beginning of the story was also well planned: it was a slow build-up to the main suspense of the story. The background characters: the rest of the Police Force and the criminal element were entertaining as well.

But in the end, I was left feeling a bit mixed about this novel. The middle seemed to slow down way too much; I had to push to get through it (but was glad I did after I read the ending). I also never connected with Tracy Banks: her motivations and behaviors were never explained in a way that made what she did believable to me.

When a series has gone on for 19 books, there is bound to be some down time here and there. Having read "Bad Boy" it interested me enough to check out the earlier books in the series.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

latas's review against another edition

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4.0

A Quick and interesting read. There were some good detective skills displayed. Though there was not much of suspense. Tracy Banks was the stupidest character I have ever read. Initially I felt some sympathy for her, for getting herself into a messy situation, but towards the end i was angry, when she started lying to her father and portraying herself as a victim from the beginning.

lazygal's review against another edition

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4.0

One of these years, I'm going to read this series in chronological order. Not that it's necessary, but there are some characters and outside plot areas that would be great to get as they come along not as I find the books. Anyway... here we get to meet Tracy, Banks' daughter, which expands our world a bit. Her problems and the crime are intertwined nicely, and Banks' skirting the letter of the law (or coming close) feels very real. On to the next!

bethnellvaccaro's review against another edition

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3.0

This installment in the Inspector Banks series took forever to get into and I almost gave up. At page 148 I finally wanted to finish the book in one sitting, which is how I think mysteries should be.