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Good Bait (2012)

by John Harvey

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1237220,536 (3.29)13
When a 17-year-old Moldovan boy is found dead on Hampstead Heath, the case falls to DCI Karen Shields and her overstretched Homicide & Serious Crime Unit. Karen knows she needs a result. What she doesn't know is that her new case is tied inextricably to a much larger web of gang warfare and organized crime which infiltrates almost every aspect of London society. Several hundred miles away in Cornwall, Detective Inspector Trevor Cordon is stirred from his day-to-day duties by another tragic London fatality. Traveling to the capital and determined to establish the cause of death and trace the deceased's daughter, Cordon becomes entangled in a complicated situation of his own. A situation much closer to Karen's case than either of them will ever know.… (more)
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» See also 13 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
Some titles describe the book others don't and some titles have nothing to do with anything 'Good Bait' is a good title but it gets a little over used in the story itself - the story is kinda okay but rambles on too much in places with the old white cop and of course the all new black female cop. The kid in the middle is just there and at times I wish he wasn't - it's not a bad read it's just the title is too good for the book ( )
  nikon | Jan 12, 2015 |
John Harvey is an accomplished novelist with several fine pieces to his credit. Good Bait: A Novel is Harvey’s latest offering and despite rave reviews and a good opening I found it ultimately disappointing.

Having read several of Harvey’s previous efforts I found Good Bait had the strengths I have come to expect. Characters are finely drawn, interesting, with both flaws and admirable qualities. These are people I wanted to get to know, admire or despise and ultimately care about. The plot is robust, convoluted and complex. Dialogue is artfully used to move the story along. Two story lines, two smart cops, bring the reader glimpses of relationships hidden to the main characters but ultimately critical to the story’s final resolution.

The first case involves the murder of a 17-year-old Moldovan boy found in a frozen pond, assigned to DCI Karen Shields and her team. But more bodies pile up and there is every appearance that all the mess is related. Separately, Cornwall DI Trevor Cordon is troubled by the death of a woman he’s known, is her death in the London Tube suicide, accident or murder? Well outside his realm of responsibility he takes time off and calls in favors to poke around until he become embroiled in a plot bigger than he could have expected.

This is a police procedural. It gives a solid view of methods, problems and even technologies used by the UK police. It does this quite well. It is accurate, authentic and believable. But it like many crime stories it is ultimately a character study and here it falls short. While there is a stark contrast between the thirty-ish Jamaican Shields and the fifty-ish Cordon these differences are never fully developed. There is only a hint of the racism and sexism Shields must have experienced. She is efficient, a sound investigator and manager but she is sterile and left this reader wanting to know more. Condon is aptly described as a lonely, divorced old cop waiting for his retirement but his emotions and motivations are at times vague. There are glimpses of the workings of his mind but they are all too brief.

I found the vast cast of characters, good guys and bad, a challenge to keep straight. The multitude of UK place and roads names, to this reader who is not familiar with the county, also became a distraction.
I read the Kindle version of Good Bait. I found spelling and formatting errors throughout. This novel came from a major publishing house. Don’t they have editors or readers anymore? These errors, in addition to the British spell, Harvey is after all a British author, were a distraction but unfortunately, I have come to expect this from Kindle books.

Good Bait, while a good read, was ultimately a disappointment. It needs more characterization and a conclusion that ties the initial murder back into the plot. I give it a lukewarm one thumb up.
( )
  nvellis01 | Aug 11, 2014 |
John Harvey is an accomplished novelist with several fine pieces to his credit. Good Bait: A Novel is Harvey’s latest offering and despite rave reviews and a good opening I found it ultimately disappointing.

Having read several of Harvey’s previous efforts I found Good Bait had the strengths I have come to expect. Characters are finely drawn, interesting, with both flaws and admirable qualities. These are people I wanted to get to know, admire or despise and ultimately care about. The plot is robust, convoluted and complex. Dialogue is artfully used to move the story along. Two story lines, two smart cops, bring the reader glimpses of relationships hidden to the main characters but ultimately critical to the story’s final resolution.

The first case involves the murder of a 17-year-old Moldovan boy found in a frozen pond, assigned to DCI Karen Shields and her team. But more bodies pile up and there is every appearance that all the mess is related. Separately, Cornwall DI Trevor Cordon is troubled by the death of a woman he’s known, is her death in the London Tube suicide, accident or murder? Well outside his realm of responsibility he takes time off and calls in favors to poke around until he become embroiled in a plot bigger than he could have expected.

This is a police procedural. It gives a solid view of methods, problems and even technologies used by the UK police. It does this quite well. It is accurate, authentic and believable. But it like many crime stories it is ultimately a character study and here it falls short. While there is a stark contrast between the thirty-ish Jamaican Shields and the fifty-ish Cordon these differences are never fully developed. There is only a hint of the racism and sexism Shields must have experienced. She is efficient, a sound investigator and manager but she is sterile and left this reader wanting to know more. Condon is aptly described as a lonely, divorced old cop waiting for his retirement but his emotions and motivations are at times vague. There are glimpses of the workings of his mind but they are all too brief.

I found the vast cast of characters, good guys and bad, a challenge to keep straight. The multitude of UK place and roads names, to this reader who is not familiar with the county, also became a distraction.
I read the Kindle version of Good Bait. I found spelling and formatting errors throughout. This novel came from a major publishing house. Don’t they have editors or readers anymore? These errors, in addition to the British spell, Harvey is after all a British author, were a distraction but unfortunately, I have come to expect this from Kindle books.

Good Bait, while a good read, was ultimately a disappointment. It needs more characterization and a conclusion that ties the initial murder back into the plot. I give it a lukewarm one thumb up.
( )
  nvellis01 | Aug 11, 2014 |
John Harvey is an accomplished novelist with several fine pieces to his credit. Good Bait: A Novel is Harvey’s latest offering and despite rave reviews and a good opening I found it ultimately disappointing.

Having read several of Harvey’s previous efforts I found Good Bait had the strengths I have come to expect. Characters are finely drawn, interesting, with both flaws and admirable qualities. These are people I wanted to get to know, admire or despise and ultimately care about. The plot is robust, convoluted and complex. Dialogue is artfully used to move the story along. Two story lines, two smart cops, bring the reader glimpses of relationships hidden to the main characters but ultimately critical to the story’s final resolution.

The first case involves the murder of a 17-year-old Moldovan boy found in a frozen pond, assigned to DCI Karen Shields and her team. But more bodies pile up and there is every appearance that all the mess is related. Separately, Cornwall DI Trevor Cordon is troubled by the death of a woman he’s known, is her death in the London Tube suicide, accident or murder? Well outside his realm of responsibility he takes time off and calls in favors to poke around until he become embroiled in a plot bigger than he could have expected.

This is a police procedural. It gives a solid view of methods, problems and even technologies used by the UK police. It does this quite well. It is accurate, authentic and believable. But it like many crime stories it is ultimately a character study and here it falls short. While there is a stark contrast between the thirty-ish Jamaican Shields and the fifty-ish Cordon these differences are never fully developed. There is only a hint of the racism and sexism Shields must have experienced. She is efficient, a sound investigator and manager but she is sterile and left this reader wanting to know more. Condon is aptly described as a lonely, divorced old cop waiting for his retirement but his emotions and motivations are at times vague. There are glimpses of the workings of his mind but they are all too brief.

I found the vast cast of characters, good guys and bad, a challenge to keep straight. The multitude of UK place and roads names, to this reader who is not familiar with the county, also became a distraction.
I read the Kindle version of Good Bait. I found spelling and formatting errors throughout. This novel came from a major publishing house. Don’t they have editors or readers anymore? These errors, in addition to the British spell, Harvey is after all a British author, were a distraction but unfortunately, I have come to expect this from Kindle books.

Good Bait, while a good read, was ultimately a disappointment. It needs more characterization and a conclusion that ties the initial murder back into the plot. I give it a lukewarm one thumb up.
( )
  NickVellis | May 6, 2013 |
So-so, but I still miss the old Resnick. Harvey's newest policeman is a bit more flawed than is appealing. ( )
  sheilaref | May 5, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
This standalone novel by the veteran English crime writer features two parallel stories, both of them down and dirty. In one, a London homicide detective, female and from a Jamaican background, traces an ordinary murder case until it leads deep into gang warfare. In the other, an old-time copper from Cornwall follows a local missing persons case all the way to London and into the same territory that the homicide detective is working. Harvey tells both stories in a pleasingly clinical and documentary style.
added by VivienneR | editThe Toronto Star, Jack Batten (Mar 24, 2012)
 
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Oakley Hall
1920-2008

May his work live on.
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The face looked back up at her from beneath the ice.
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When a 17-year-old Moldovan boy is found dead on Hampstead Heath, the case falls to DCI Karen Shields and her overstretched Homicide & Serious Crime Unit. Karen knows she needs a result. What she doesn't know is that her new case is tied inextricably to a much larger web of gang warfare and organized crime which infiltrates almost every aspect of London society. Several hundred miles away in Cornwall, Detective Inspector Trevor Cordon is stirred from his day-to-day duties by another tragic London fatality. Traveling to the capital and determined to establish the cause of death and trace the deceased's daughter, Cordon becomes entangled in a complicated situation of his own. A situation much closer to Karen's case than either of them will ever know.

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