Bad Boy: An Inspector Banks Novel [Hardcover]

Peter Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Inspector Banks | Publication Date: August 24, 2010

Acclaimed internationally bestselling author Peter Robinson delivers a fast-paced, nail-biting thriller in which Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks must face his most challenging and personal case yet

A distraught woman arrives at the Eastvale police station desperate to speak to Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. But since Banks is away on holiday, his partner, Annie Cabbot, steps in. The woman tells Annie that she's found a loaded gun hidden in the bedroom of her daughter, Erin—a punishable offense under English law. When an armed response team breaks into the house to retrieve the weapon, the seemingly straightforward procedure quickly spirals out of control.

But trouble is only beginning for Annie, the Eastvale force, and Banks, and this time, the fallout may finally do the iconoclastic inspector in. For it turns out that Erin's best friend and roommate is none other than Tracy Banks, the DCI's daughter, who was last seen racing off to warn the owner of the gun, a very bad boy indeed.

Thrust into a complicated and dangerous case intertwining the personal and the professional as never before, Annie and Banks—a bit of a bad boy himself—must risk everything to outsmart a smooth and devious psychopath. Both Annie and Banks understand that it's not just his career hanging in the balance, it's also his daughter's life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Robinson tries something different in his excellent 19th novel to feature Det. Chief Insp. Alan Banks (after All the Colors of Darkness) by keeping the Yorkshire policeman offstage for the first half of the book. Banks's daughter, Tracy, knows that her friend, Erin Doyle, is dating a bad boy. But she doesn't know how bad Jaff McCready is until the recovery of a gun at Erin's parents' home results in a fatal accident. Before Tracy knows what's happening, Jaff whisks her on an adventure, eventually hiding out at Banks's house while her father is on holiday in America. As Det. Insp. Annie Cabbot searches for Jaff, Tracy's infatuation turns sour when she finds Jaff's suitcase of drugs, money, and a gun, and becomes his hostage. When Banks returns to Yorkshire, he has to balance his roles as a cop and a father. Robinson deftly integrates Banks's personal life with an acute look at British attitudes about police, guns, and violence in this strong entry in a superb series.
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Robinson’s long-running series starring Alan Banks, now detective chief inspector of the Yorkshire Constabulary, plays off the character of complicated, morose, solitude- and music-loving Banks, a throwback to the depressed detective of classic hard-boiled fiction. This time Banks is not only complicated and depressed, but he’s also completely offstage for about half of the action, on holiday in the American West and seen only briefly. Fans will be disappointed, but the absence of Banks picks up the pace quite a bit. Banks’ sometime lover and longtime ally, Inspector Annie Cabott, fills the void nicely in a case that begins when a former neighbor of Banks’ reports her daughter has a gun in the home. The Armed Response Team arrives and tragically mucks up a tense situation. Part of Robinson’s narrative talent is his ability to convert police procedure and politics into gripping reading. The gun at the scene of the botched police operation belonged to an exotic, handsome young man, boyfriend of the girl holding the gun and acquainted with Banks’ daughter, Tracy. The bulk of the book is an absolutely stunning examination of how Tracy fell for this bad boy, hiding him from police and coming to the horrific awareness that he is a sociopath more than willing to kill her. We don’t really need Banks when he gets back—the character study of Tracy and the tension of her situation drive the book. A change of pace for the series, to be sure, but another outstanding crime novel from Robinson. --Connie Fletcher

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition, edition (August 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061362956
• ISBN-13: 978-0061362958
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Robinson's award-winning novels have been named a Best-Book-of-the-Year by Publishers Weekly, a Notable Book by the New York Times, and a Page-Turner-of-the-Week by People magazine. Robinson was born and raised in Yorkshire but has lived in North America for over twenty-five years. He now divides his time between North America and the U.K.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "She was having her own adventure now.", July 4, 2010

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Boy: An Inspector Banks Novel (Hardcover)

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While DCI Alan Banks of the North Yorkshire police is on holiday in America, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot interviews an old friend and former neighbor of his, Mrs. Juliet Doyle. Juliet has come to the Eastvale station to report that her daughter, Erin, somehow got hold of a gun and brought it into their home. Erin's mother was hoping that, as a favor, Alan could take care of the matter without causing an uproar. Since Banks is still in California, the case is handled according to standard protocol, with disastrous consequences.

Meanwhile, Tracy, Alan's twenty-four year old daughter, who lived with Erin and a third roommate named Rose, takes up with Erin's former boyfriend, thirty-one year old Jaff McCready, a "nasty piece of work." "He was good-looking, bright, a real charmer, and maybe crooked." Tracy is ready to leave her "good girl" persona behind, and Jaff seems to be just the guy to hang out with while she reinvents herself. Peter Robinson's "Bad Boy" describes what happens when a naïve young woman gets involved with a reckless and self-absorbed man. Annie tries to help Tracy but, unfortunately, Jaff is far more dangerous than he appears, and the situation quickly spirals out of control. Soon, Jaff and Tracy are on the run, not only from the police but also from Jaff's confederates, who are even more sadistic and ruthless than he is. Soon Tracy realizes that "what had yesterday seemed like a mildly exciting lark was now turning out to be something more serious."

"Bad Boy" is one of Robinson's lesser entries in his usually superb series featuring DCI Alan Banks. The problems include: an underwritten plot in which the villains are stock characters who behave all too predictably; Alan's absence until the second half of the novel; Tracy's stupidity, which is hard to credit in the adult child of a police officer; a pat and somewhat maudlin conclusion. When Robinson is at the top of his game, he fine-tunes his characters and explores underlying themes that give his police procedurals depth and weight that formulaic genre novels often lack.

Its flaws notwithstanding, "Bad Boy" is a readable enough story about the belated maturation of Tracy Banks, who learns the hard way how miserable "bad boys" can be. Banks, who has neglected Tracy in the past, tries to redeem himself in her eyes. Police bureaucracy and politics rear their ugly heads, as usual. Banks's old confederate, the sly Dirty Dick Burgess, makes an appearance, and there may be some unfinished business between former lovers Alan Banks and Annie Cabbot. One of the more intriguing police officers is Constable Nerys Powell, who has a bit of Alan Banks in her. She is a maverick who ignores regulations when it suits her. Also noteworthy is Jamaica-born Winsome Jackman, a statuesque, smart, witty, and thoroughly professional detective sergeant. As usual, the author nicely describes the picturesque Yorkshire countryside, where tourists flock to gaze at scenic vistas. Robinson has written a serviceable mystery, but the uninspired dialogue and conventional plot prevent "Bad Boy" from taking its place among the best of Banks.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Peter Robinson mystery, June 30, 2010

By 

Patricia H. Parker "Bookwoman" (Springfield, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Boy: An Inspector Banks Novel (Hardcover)

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Alan Banks can absolutely never take a long vacation again. He went away to the Southwestern and Pacific Coast United States for two weeks, and the world back home falls apart. One of his best nonpolice friends dies, his daughter gets herself into a mess that almost causes her death and Annie Cabbot, Banks' partner, almost loses her life too.

The "Bad Boy" of the title is a handsome, charming young man with a heart of ice and no feelings at all except for himself. Tracy Alan Banks' daughter, as with many young women, thinks he has been waiting for her to change him. Of course, this isn't going to happen. The young man, Jaff, has had a revolver taken from his bedroom by his former girlfriend. The revolver has been used in a murder and was supposed to be disposed of. Because Jaff kept it as a souvenir or as protection against the leader of the local drug syndicate who ordered the murder, the gun is in the hands of the police. The rest of the book follows the chase, by police in Leeds and London, to find Jaff and Tracy before Jaff arranges to leave England. He has threatened to kill Tracy before he leaves the country.

Even though the good guys prevail, the characters are left kind of up in the air, leading the reader to hope that even more Alan Banks books will be coming in the future.

When I saw that Robinson had written another book, I jumped at the chance to read it. I wasn't disappointed, and I recommend this one highly. If you are an Alan Banks fan, you will enjoy this book. If you have never read one of these books, this would be a good one to start with.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Up to the Standards of A Good Detective Banks Mystery, July 13, 2010

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Boy: An Inspector Banks Novel (Hardcover)

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I've been a fan of the Detective Banks series for a while but this is definitely one of the weaker books in this series. It is not at the level of In a Dry Season (Inspector Banks Mysteries). In fact, Detective Banks doesn't appear in this mystery until about 100 pages into it.

The novel starts off with Julia Doyle, an old neighbor of Detective Alan Banks coming to the station house very upset. She found a gun in her daughter, Erin's, room. For those of you who don't know, unlicensed gun possession in England carries a mandatory five year sentence and always consists of jail time. Detective Banks is on vacation and so the case is turned over to others in the squad. Tragically, in the course of confiscating the gun, Julia's husband is tasered and dies as a result.

Meanwhile, we are privy to the fact that Erin, as well as Detective Banks' daughter, Tracy, are attracted to 'bad boys'. Their latest par amour is Jaff McReady, a seamy guy who is into bad stuff. As the story progresses we find out that he is trying to outfox bigger bad boys and get away with their drugs and money. In the course of things, Tracy turns from his girlfriend into his hostage. It is up to Detective Banks and his team to apprehend Jaff and save Tracy.

Their are lots of holes in the plot and the characterizations are weak. The quality of the writing is very good as is usual for Peter Robinson but he just didn't delve deeply enough into the characters and rationales of Erin, Tracy, Jaff, or The Farmer. Had he done this, the book would be longer but much more satisfying.