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It's a dangerous business getting close to DCI Alan Banks. . . Friends, family and property have all been at risk in the past. And now it's the turn of daughter Tracy to end up in the firing line. BAD BOY opens without our hero – he's finally taken a holiday and is exploring San Francisco. So he's not there to take the call when former neighbour Juliet Doyle discovers a gun in her daughter Erin's bedroom. But the police operation to recover the weapon goes badly wrong. Erin is friends with Tracy Banks who's doing her best to re-invent herself with a new name. She hasn't done that well education or career-wise, and sees herself as second-best to brother Brian, who's a successful musician. And now Tracy has fallen for Erin's handsome and suave boyfriend Jaff. He's implicated in the gun incident and Tracy warns him that the police will be after him. He goes on the run – and persuades Tracy to accompany him. So Banks returns to a personal and professional crisis as his fugitive daughter and the increasingly more agitated Jaff do their best to evade the police. BAD BOY takes Banks away from the shadowy state of the nation concerns that have dogged the previous couple of books and plonked him firmly into the personal realm. And that's what makes the novel a weaker addition to Robinson's impressive series – it's a cat-and-mouse chase which really doesn't have a great deal of tension to it. Tracy, too, isn't a strong enough character to carry the main plot; she's almost as shadowy now as when she's been in the background in previous books. Jaff lacks the depth to turn him into the true bad boy of the title. Robinson's supporting cast in the shape of Annie Cabbot and Winsome Jackman aren't given so much to do in this outing. There's an intriguing new character in the shape of firearms officer Nerys Powell, although she does rather have the feeling of a plot device at times… The sub-plot with crooked landowner 'Farmer' George Fanthorpe never quite ignites either. If you're a Robinson fan, BAD BOY will provide you with your annual fix. If you haven't come across him before, go back to the start of the series so you can see what all the fuss is about – particularly given the books are coming to UK television this autumn. § Sharon Wheeler is a UK-based journalist, writer and lecturer.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, September 2010
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