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tregatt1, June 19, 2008

I'm a huge fan of the series and Peter Robinson's Alan Banks series is pretty much an auto-buy for me. That said, I have to say that I am getting a little tired of certain regular plot features/devices -- like the detailed references to the music Banks listens to -- sometimes it almost feels as if they were stage directions to the filmed version of the novels. More often than not however they read like indications that we're to take Banks as something more than a plodding policeman. The thing is that I rather thought that we'd moved away from such thinking! And then there was the little segue into Banks' and Cabot's private, screwed up love lives. My impatience with this plot gambit however may have more to do with the fact that I have never really warmed up to Annie Cabot as a character. I'm definitely in the minority here, I know and really think that the author should worry more about his characters' alarming drinking habits. My real problem with FRIEND OF THE DEVIL though was that I felt as if the entire subplot dealing with Banks' investigation into the murder-rape of Hayley Daniels was wasted, and that it made the pacing of the book uneven and seemingly plodding at times. I much preferred the subplot dealing with the murder of Lucy Payne and rather wished that Banks had been the investigating officer on that!

In spite of all my niggles, however, this still was a fantastically riveting read, with the last half of the book proving to be absolutely unputdownable. Which just goes to show how brilliant an author Peter Robinson truly is, and how in spite of all my nitpicking grumbles, I still found FRIEND OF THE DEVIL to be an utterly compelling and absorbing read.

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