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Book Review of Death on Account (Penguin Crime Fiction)

Death on Account (Penguin Crime Fiction)
reviewed on + 38 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3


This is the type of crime novel where you know right from the start who did what. There is no guessing game as to who the "bad guy" is and there is no chase to the finish line where you will test your own detective abilities by trying to figure out the story before last chapter.
Robbie Robinson is a simple man. He is no longer young, completely
dominated by his wife, Isabel, works in a local bank with no chance of advancing, never does anything out of "character". Loves his garden, wild birds and really really hates his wife. For some time now Robbie fantasizes about robbing his bank (the same bank he's worked at for almost a quarter of a century) He never thinks that he will go through with it....until one day, he surprises himself by actually doing it. of course, being Robbie, he manages to create a little bit of a mess in the process.
To be honest, I couldn't stand Robbie at first. I wanted to scream" "Grow some damn balls, man". He was simply a pathetic creature and I didn't care for him a tiny bit. However, later on, after bank raid, he started to change. First of all, the way he robbed the bank was very amateurish and that by itself made me look at Robbie in a little softer way. Almost like when you see a child do something really stupid and you can't really get angry at him/her because they are just a kid and what do they know? Ahh, Robbie, Robbie, what are we going to do with you? I couldn't help myself, I sort of started rooting for him.
The ending surprised me a little at first, but I couldn't think of a better way to finish Robbie's story. In some weird sense, it was very fitting.