Reviews

Babel by Barry Maitland

lauraborkpower's review against another edition

4.0

This is my favorite in the series thus far. Now that I've gotten to know the characters, the decisions they make about their private and their work lives are more meaningful than they were earlier in the series. The plot was solid--exciting and tricky, though not unbelievable (for the realm of a mystery/thriller, which of course has to be a bit unbelievable or it wouldn't be any good at all) and I just love Maitland's use of the prologue. I have a literary crush on the prologue; he uses in them in all (I think...) of these books, but this one was especially effective. Highly recommended.

nocto's review against another edition

3.0

My enthusiasm for this series is waning a little. I've got a bit fed up with the way that DS Kathy Kolla throws herself into danger at the end of every book, it's in character but it's over the top. In this book Kathy is still recovering from the events of the end of the last book so she's a bit less sure of herself and it's actually DCI David Brock who walks into a stupid situation near the end. I'd say that he has more logical reasons to do so than Kathy usually does but it still needles me and the high drama that results is all a bit silly.

There's a lot of good and interesting stuff in this book, mostly to do with the plot that concerns itself with religious fundamentalists, there are some good relationships portrayed, Kathy's love life actually seems realistic for once, but there were more than enough bits of the book that had me rolling my eyes as people acted in not quite believable ways. On the whole I did enjoy reading it but I'm not sure that it's going to stick with me and it won't be a favourite.

gawronma's review against another edition

3.0

Another very good police procedural from Maitland.

srousseau's review against another edition

5.0

Still contemporary British mystery with a twist. running to the end of this series and will be sad to see it end.

samstillreading's review against another edition

5.0

Babel was the last Brock and Kolla novel I had in my TBR stash. I was quite sad about this, as Maitland writes fantastic British crime novels from the perspective of detectives David Brock and Kathy Kolla. I’ve read the majority now (completely out of order) and I can confidently say that they are the best British police crime series I’ve read. The characters are believable, the crimes interesting (yet plausible) and I haven’t been able to guess the killer 100 pages in.
In summary, this book takes place shortly after Silvermeadow (but you don’t need to have read this for the novel to make sense). Kathy has been attacked personally and is thinking of leaving the police. Brock has just been put on a new case- the murder of a university lecturer on his way to a lecture. The initial evidence points to a fundamentalist religious group, yet not is all it seems at the university.
Written pre-September 11, 2001, I felt this book dealt sensitively with the Muslim faith. There are no stereotypes or messages pressed on the reader and I felt I learned more about the faith.
Babel is slightly different to the other Maitlands I’ve read in which a lot of time is spent trying to figure out the motive for murder after the murderer has been discovered. This is unusual but no less gripping. The plot twists and turns and just as you think it’s finished, there’s a twist which is plausible given the previous events.
I’m not usually a big crime fan but I highly recommend the Brock/Kolla series. They’re a bit like The Bill before it got entangled in the character’s lives (and the shaky camerawork). You do hear a bit about Brock and Kolla’s personal lives, but I think this would be less than a chapter in the whole book. The focus is on the crime and the police’s role.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

pgchuis's review against another edition

4.0

So I have had to skip over #5 for now as I am waiting for it to be delivered. It sounds as if it was a fairly gruesome instalment, and what happened between Kathy and Leon??

This one was perhaps my least favourite so far. The solution was too far-fetched for even me to really believe it. It was written before 9/11 as it says in the preface and holds up pretty well.