Friend of the Devil

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

Reader Reviews:

Entertaining (0/0 people found this helpful)

Good read, good plot, interesting characters - my first read of this author and from this experience I would buy more. Class more as a holiday read for me as oppossed to my general consumption where I perhaps look for little more mental stimulation!

Lacking in Energy (1/1 people found this helpful)

There are twists to the plot and the idea of weaving two cases, running at the same time, works and grabs your interest.

However, what are the overdone musical references about? The secondary characters seemed like they had jumped out of some comedy sketch show, such as Chelsea, her father Duane and boyfriend Shane. Annie Cabbot's character has moved into a self-indulgent and fragile state. The overall sense was that the author is not in tune with modern times in the way that Stuart McBride, Mark Billingham and Brian Freeman portray modern life and the police service.

Robinson has an "easy" style of writing which makes enjoyable reading. Overall I found this work lacked energy and not one that you would sit up half the night to finish. Let's hope he is back on form with the next Banks novel.

Enjoy (0/0 people found this helpful)

I cannot agree with reviewers seaching for deep and hidden meanings within the Robinson/Banks series.
Just be happy to read them-and the latest - Friend of The Devil- for what they are,-first class developing stories by an author at the height of his powers.
Clever and satisfactory to have the loose ends from Aftermath and (the odd one out) Caedmon's Song so neatly tied up.
Looking forward to the next instalment,

Banks offers low interest (0/0 people found this helpful)

This isn't great. Even old Banks himself seems a little unengaged with his half of the plot. And now he's got his hands on an Ipod and uses it in shuffle mode, the eclectic musical references come thick and fast. One suggestion: if you haven't done so already don't read Caedmon's Song before embarking on this one. Meanwhile, I have gone back to a couple of early Banks novels just to remind myself how good they were. Let's hope Robinson returns to form, as he surely will, with his next Banks. No sign of the old boy (that's Banks not Robinson) retiring just yet. Hard to imagine him in slippers watching daytime tellie anyway.

Does the author hate women? (2/2 people found this helpful)

Did Mr. Robinson suffer some unspeakable form of victimization at the hands of women that left him with an ingrained-in-the-marrow contempt for them?

DCI Banks is portrayed as a calm and collected individual who is also open-minded, cultured, and a deep-thinker. He occupies a position of superiority above the secondary characters in the book. He is subsequently to be perceived by the reader as being a cut above the lumpen proletariat, someone who can be admired for his ability to move in and out of all worlds - to be able to easily adapt to everything thrown his away with a minimum of superfluous emotion and complaint.

How are the women in the book portrayed?

1. His supposed other "main" protagonist, DI Annie Cabbot, is portrayed as an pathetic, emotional, self-conscious, easily-intimidated child who among other things: 1. feels shame about sleeping with a younger man; 2. broods forever over relationship issues like a teenage girl; 3. ends up by the end of the story sobbing "Please hold me!" to the ever-so stoic and heroic DCI Banks, collapsing in his arms like a female toddler who has just witnessed a chipmunk being injured would.

2. His immediate superior, a veteran policewoman, blushes like a 12-year-old when Banks pays her a compliment on her looks.

3. A 19-year old female ends up a near-murder victim venturing alone into the killer's lair in an effort to prove her courage to a male "friend". Most 19-year old women I know laugh at the idea that they need validation from men to maintain or boost their self-worth. Robinson, on the other hand, obviously feels that even at the advanced age of 19, women are all so self-conscious and insecure that they desperately seek out the approval of men because hey, someone has to tell them whether they hold any value as individuals or not.

As a long-time fan of Robinson's, I've always admired his complex plots and the deft way Banks and team are able to unwind the tightly-wrapped skein of lies and red-herrings to get to the core of the mystery. I've found however that the secondary characters in his books leave something to be desired. He has come up with his own set of stock characters which he uses over and over again:

<> the difficult and arrogant power-tripping immediate superior who wants crimes solved not out of a sense of justice but because it'll make his/her solve-rate stats look good;
<> the uncouth and difficult-to-deal-with junior detective;
<> the token individual of color who inevitably occupies a lower position within the hierarchy;
<> the murder or near-murder victim who is always female and always portrayed as stupid and naive no matter how old she is and therefore always responsible for her own demise;
<> the exotic and sophisticated love interest who despite her maturity and sophistication immediately falls for the main character like a hormonal 12-year old girl;

etc.

I think I'm a relatively well-adjusted young heterosexual male fan of the mystery genre. I'm aware that I'm part of the main target demographic for Robinson's books. I'm also aware that I've had enough. Robinson has started to lose me. With each of his last few books, I've found myself at the outset getting drawn in by the easy-to-follow yet fascinatingly complex investigative process that at this point in Robinson's career he is able to dash off and lay out to the reader with such ease. Inevitably though, I find that I have to excuse myself and back out at some later point because I've been afflicted by repeated involuntary cringing brought on by the amount of contempt Robinson has for his female characters.

I've come to notice that in male-reader-oriented mystery books, how much a female character is valued within the world where the story takes place is directly and solely tied up in how she relates to the male characters. She is portrayed either as baggage, e.g. the wild, unruly, and immature daughter, the nagging or passive-aggressive resentful wife, the vindictive ex-lover, the new lover who inevitably has been the victim of rape and therefore must be protected and dealt with gently, or she exists as eye-candy, e.g. the ridiculously beautiful and exotic lover, the teenage vamp (who seduces older men and dumps them and therefore gets what she deserves when she becomes a murder victim), etc. Robinson's latest works are stuffed through and through with such nasty stereotypes. His contempt for his female characters is so intense and so thoroughly permeates all of his recent books that it has become a cloying presence. I find when I'm reading one of his books I can't escape it or push it away so I can go back to focussing on plot progression. After having read so many of his books, it has gotten to the point where I can predict what happens to every female character he introduces. That predictability has come from witnessing Robinson's incessant hammering of women in book after book.

I can't help but get the strong sense that Robinson really doesn't like women. Why else in book after book would he consistently limit his cast of female characters to just a choice few negative stereotypes? Since his choice of setting is contemporary society, is he repeatedly using such a limited variety of female archetypes in an effort to impress upon his male readership that these are the only kind of women that exist in the real world? W-T-F is up with that? This seems to be his intent, so I've decided that I will neither continue to buy his books nor continue to buy into his world-view. This long-time fan has had enough of his misogyny. I wouldn't say I have any feminist leanings really. It's just that I don't know any women like the ones he writes about and am amazed that he writes about women only in that manner.

Apologies as I imagine this is probably not the most articulate and well-constructed review (it's my first one and mechanical engineering is my field of study, not English) but hopefully I've made my views clear.

Peter Robinson

Editorial Review: