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Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot must work together to solve two chilling crimes in a stunning new novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Robinson

One morning in March, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, a woman named Karen Drew is found in her wheelchair with her throat slit. Back in Eastvale on that same morning, in a tangle of narrow alleys behind a market square, the body of Hayley Daniels is found raped and strangled.

Two murders . . . two towns . . .

On loan to a sister precinct, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot draws the first case. Karen Drew seems to have lived a quiet and nearly invisible life for the past seven years. Try as she might, Annie turns up nothing in the woman's past that might have prompted someone to wheel her out to the sea and to her death.

Meanwhile, in the Hayley Daniels murder, Chief Inspector Alan Banks has suspects galore. Everywhere she went, the nineteen-year-old student attracted attention. Anyone could have followed her on the night she was out drinking with friends, making sure she never made it back home.

Then a breakthrough spins Annie's case in a shocking and surprising new direction, straight toward Banks. Coincidence? Not in Eastvale. Banks and Annie are searching for two killers who might strike again at any moment and with bloody fury.

Average Customer Rating:

Disappointed

Customer Rating:

I've read all 17 Inspector Banks novels. While the mysteries in Friend of the Devil are satisfying enough, I found much of this book to be annoying. It's boring to read how bad and 'racist' whites are every time Winsome Jackman is around (or any other 'minority' character). And DI Annie Cabbot's character has become extremely tiresome. In fact, I found myself hoping that Robinson was actually going to have a side character in this book kill her off just to be done with her! (And I'm a woman saying this). While Inspector Banks is still a very interesting character, and sounds like someone you would actually like to meet and have a chat with, I hope Peter Robinson does some lightening up of DI Cabbot, and knocks off the ever-increasing "racism" victim mentality from Winsome's character - both are truly getting old. I really don't know if I'll buy the next book or not. I'm hoping for some changes.

So What...? (Mild Spoiler)

Customer Rating:

Maybe two stars is a little harsh, but three would imply that I'm giving Robinson a pass based on his superior past efforts. In a way I guess as I am as I have every intention of continuing with the Banks series, but I have to land firmly on the side of readers who felt that this latest entry was a big "Who Cares?" The idea of tying a new string of murders to an old case is a neat one, but Robinson has taken three strings and tied to them to an old case and come up with a big old knot. The whole thing is just a little too complicated and unwieldy, particularly as the connection between the cases (I can't go into too much detail here) is highly tenuous. It's one thing to have a detective use her intuition, but it's another when that intuition defies logic. But Robinson has a story to tell and he'll be damned if it doesn't work out the exact way he's decided it will, no matter how convoluted. I too am beginning to find Banks and Annie's love life (or lack thereof) annoying and intrusive. It's the kind of soap opera plotting that's always made Elizabeth George so cringe-worthy, and I wish Robinson would knock it off. And when did he start writing so badly? Trite cliches abound, and he even has one character refer to another in conversation as "Karen/Lucy." I can see someone writing that, but how does one actually say it? "Karenlucy?" "Karen-slash-Lucy?" Robinson's ear was uncharacteristically tin this time around, which I found surprising and a shame; he's better than that and usually is. So, OK, I'm giving him a pass. But I won't make it a habit.

I can name that tune in......

Customer Rating:

Peter Robinson writes easy going British police procedurals that are generally quite well done. Alas author Robinson seems to be losing it in some regards. I recoiled in horror when I was informed that main series character Chief Inspector Banks has purchased an ipod. Robinson has this strange literary gimmick of telling the reader what music is playing when we ride along in Bank's car, when we stop to have lunch with him in a pub, when we are riding in an elevator, when he is at a party, and when he is about to go to bed. And now that Banks has an ipod we can constantly be informed as to what notes are flooding the Inspector's brain. It's bad enough that I usually don't like a single bit of the music that seems to entrance Mr. Banks, but when the musical program information intrudes constantly you want nothing more than to grab his ipod and smash it against a wall. Well enough of that. Here's my other problem with this particular novel. It is a continuation of a novel that Robinson wrote about seven years ago. While bits and pieces of the original book's plot are scattered throughout this book, there is no thorough exposition of the original book's plot. I did read the source book (Aftermath), but sometimes couldn't remember enough parts of it to make Friend of the Devil a completely understandable read. One of the characters in the book Aftermath seems to be on a killing spree, and Banks and his on again off again girl friend Inspector Cabbot are trying to find the killer. Many of Robinson's novels, like this one, could be done as a play, because much of what goes on in the books are interrogations. We are forever, with or without music, sitting down and interviewing suspects or witnesses. In this book Robinson brings in two male-female relationships that just go nowhere. Chekov once said "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." This book starts out with Annie Cabbot having a one night stand with someone much younger than her. The aftermath of that encounter gets stranger and stranger, and you wonder where this is going to lead. Well it turns out to be a "pistol" that shouldn't have been hung on the wall. I've always liked Robinson's easy going crime novels, but this one wasn't much fun. The reader really should be better informed about the story in Aftermath that preceded this book. The music problem? It sounds trivial, but it's not especially when you consider that the author also seems obligated to tell you exactly how each character is dressed, and to describe in detail the décor of each house he walks into. Even books have to be discussed. I was surprised when I found out that Annie Cabbot is reading the same book that I am: Tony Judt's modern history book "Post War." Does that spike your interest? I didn't think so, but that's about exciting as this book gets.

A Friend Indeed	Customer Rating:
Peter Robinson does it again. This latest offering in his series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks grabs the reader from the first page and doesn't let go until the end.

fabulous	Customer Rating:
this one was up to par,,. but I am sorry I got it from Amazon. they mutilated my copy with poor packing. Book was fantastic but I wish I had bought mine elsewhere