Review: Cop & Robber


Fans of Tristan Bancks’ pacy action-orientated middle grade novels will be lunging for his latest serving of thrills and spills, Cop & Robber. The incongruous grouping of nouns as a title was enough to whet my appetite but the opening paragraph literally haunted me for days in a ‘this feels so real, must keep reading’ kinda way. Bancks is master at creating authentic suspense with a mere sprinkling of words, teasing the reader in like an experienced fly fisherman. And chapter one certainly hooks.

Nash witnesses his dad, commit a robbery from the local Broken Ridge service station. It’s not the smoothest of criminal operations and yields very little if you don’t count the mounting dread and colossal sense of shame that chokes Nash. He knows his dad, Lyle is a decent sort of bloke deep down, the type who models himself on historic bushrangers with a will to stand up for the little guy. Dad is an ex-boxing champ with no other bankable skills other than an urge to rob banks to make ends meet. All this might have earned a smattering of admiration from Nash except for one uncomfortable road hump. His mother is the Senior Sergeant of their country town with a no-leniency-granted attitude when it comes to Lyle’s unlawful ways.

Torn between his innate sense of righteousness and a wavering loyalty for his father, Nash oscillates between households and the truth. When things escalate and thugs breach the boundaries of normalcy, Nash is squeezed into a mind game of scruples. Unable to decide between fessing up, protecting the safety of his mother or assisting his father in pulling off an improbable heist, Nash takes refuge in his sole source of solace; running.

The ambiguity of Nash’s mental state is beautifully staged against a blinding sandstorm and ticking time bomb, enough to get young hearts (and not so young ones) racing with uncertainty and dread. Consummate Bancks.

Cop & Robber presents that classic conundrum: What would you do? It’s a question that Nash repeatedly asks himself while weighing every possible outcome but there’s an end game Nash didn’t see coming. Nor did I, which makes this fast-paced read a belting rollercoaster ride of emotions. Perfect for would be crime-solvers who love a bit of thoughtful provocation with their high energy thrillers.

This is a story about filial loyalty, rights and wrongs and never giving up on yourself. And thanks to a considered balance of top-gear action and jurisprudence, 7 – 12-year-olds will find Cop & Robber simultaneously exhilarating and grounding.

Title: Cop & Robber
Author: Tristan Bancks
Publisher: Penguin, $16.99
Publication Date: July 2022
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761045943
For ages: 7 – 13
Type: Middle Grade Fiction 

Buy the Book: Penguin, Boomerang Books

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