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A review by moobs
Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew Vachss
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I am a huge Batman fanatic, he is my favorite interest I have ever had, but this book felt very lack luster and I was at most, disappointed
.
Batman and Bruce were written as if they were two people, Bruce being a hollow shell of sorts, having no real emotion besides his C-PTSD. I felt as if that was very mischaracterized, and I find it even more odd that Bruce, being a grown man, had no idea what child trafficking or pedophilia was (even in the 90’s??). And THEN having an existential crisis over it… felt very weird to me! That’s just not how Bruce or ‘The’ Batman acts.
I understand the message the writer was trying to give, hence the 3.5* rating, but the writing and characters were very Not Great!
The way the child abuse/trafficking itself was written was weird as well, especially the part where the ONE victim that is interacting with Bruce and Rhama is then named after Rhama’s dead sister/cousin. Just very weird to me.
Not to mention, the way Martha was a Childcare agent/investigator (which was kept secret for some reason???), and her left over notes were left for Bruce to receive from Alfred right when he has this existential crisis? And they were locked away in the most mysterious way?!
Very weird to me personally.
I personally would not recommend this book, but it was an ok read.
A nice thing I **do** have to say is the writer seems like a nice guy, he does have first-hand experience in that field since he is a child/youth abuse lawyer, and I can bet some of this is even based off his experiences. I do admire people who stand up against child abuse. /shrug
.
Batman and Bruce were written as if they were two people, Bruce being a hollow shell of sorts, having no real emotion besides his C-PTSD. I felt as if that was very mischaracterized, and I find it even more odd that Bruce, being a grown man, had no idea what child trafficking or pedophilia was (even in the 90’s??). And THEN having an existential crisis over it… felt very weird to me! That’s just not how Bruce or ‘The’ Batman acts.
I understand the message the writer was trying to give, hence the 3.5* rating, but the writing and characters were very Not Great!
The way the child abuse/trafficking itself was written was weird as well, especially the part where the ONE victim that is interacting with Bruce and Rhama is then named after Rhama’s dead sister/cousin. Just very weird to me.
Not to mention, the way Martha was a Childcare agent/investigator (which was kept secret for some reason???), and her left over notes were left for Bruce to receive from Alfred right when he has this existential crisis? And they were locked away in the most mysterious way?!
Very weird to me personally.
I personally would not recommend this book, but it was an ok read.
A nice thing I **do** have to say is the writer seems like a nice guy, he does have first-hand experience in that field since he is a child/youth abuse lawyer, and I can bet some of this is even based off his experiences. I do admire people who stand up against child abuse. /shrug
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia