Gotham: Dawn of Darkness

Gotham

by Jason Starr

A break-in at Wayne Manor. The death of a masked intruder. Amid the seething crime and corruption of Gotham City, Thomas Wayne fights to protect his family and his company from forces unknown. While detective Harvey Bullock investigates the incident as a simple burglary, Wayne discovers that the threat may come from his own dark past. 

Peeling back layer upon layer of secrets, this is the official prequel to the hit television series.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Science Fiction, Mystery, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Adult

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 31, 2017

About the author

Jason Starr is the international bestselling author of many crime novels and thrillers, including Cold Caller, The Follower, The Pack and The Next Time I Die. He also writes comics for Marvel (Wolverine, The Punisher) and DC (Batman, The Avenger) and original graphic novels such as Red Border and Casual Fling. In addition, he writes film and TV tie-in novels including an official Ant-Man novel and the Gotham novels based on the hit TV show. His books have been published in sixteen languages and several of his novels are in development for film and TV. He has won the Anthony Award for mystery fiction twice, as well as a Barry Award. Starr lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been an avid fan of Batman now since the early 1970's with the TV series starring Adam West (I'm showing my age here) and absolutely love the more recent fantastic, dark and twisted 'Gotham'. When I found out there was a book "Gotham - Dawn of Darkness" written by Jason Starr and is the official prelude based on this latest TV series then I just had to read it.
As soon as you start reading this straight away you can hear the voices of the fantastic actors in the show - it's impossible not to - but for me this seriously adds to the reading enjoyment. It's like reading but watching the story unfold in your head with such clarity and imagery. The author has captured these characters spot on perfect - my favourite Harvey Bullock is just first class - a laid back, womanising mans man with classic banter. Another character that is written perfect is the Wayne's butler Alfred whose British mannerisms are just brilliant.
All the regular characters are here, Bruce, Nygma, Cobblepot, Fish, Hugo Strange.........all adding to an exciting and thrilling book. 5 huge stars!!
If you haven't watched the series this is still an outstanding book to read, easy to follow - I mean who doesn't know the Batman story? - an excellent storyline that keeps you hooked from the first page which is fast-paced, highly riveting and a absolute page turner. Like I mentioned this is the prelude to the series so you learn more about young Bruce, his parents, Wayne Enterprises and events running directly up to and including Thomas and Martha's murder.
Jason Starr is a very talented and imaginative writer and for Gotham/Batman fans this is the ultimate read! Highly recommended, this a huge 5 star book for me!!!

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is based on the television show. This is a prequel to that show as we don't see Jim Gordon at all and Bruce's parents are alive. In this one, there is a break in at Wayne Manor. Thomas believes there is more to it than just a simple robbery.

This is my second book reading by this author in this universe and I had a similar experience with this book as I had with the first one. This is filler. I know media tie-in novels cannot do much within the established universe but they should provide an adventure or have a purpose. Unfortunately this author just provides filler and nothing happens. By the end of this book we were in the exact same position as the beginning of the book and I asked myself what was the purpose of this book. I also had a problem with his portrayal of his characters. Harvey felt misogynistic instead of being a disillusioned cop. There were hints that Bruce was trending towards being Batman even though his parents are alive. I have always been under the belief that the tragedy of his parent's death is what put things in motion.

This author or his books are not for me. He does a good job with the sprinkling of easter eggs but the plot is lacking. There isn't anything to it and I imagine within a week I will forget what this book was about. I didn't despise the book but it did nothing for me.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotham: Dawn Of Darkness by Jason Starr is a media tie-in prequel novel based of the DC comic’s superhero show “Gotham”.

Set before the twisted city of Gotham came to know detective James Gordon, Bruce Wayne, and its greatest super villains there was Thomas Wayne: a great man with dark secrets, Harvey Bullock: a hard drinking, dirty cop, and Alfred who was still adjusting to life as a butler.
A break-in at Wayne Manor stirs up trouble in Gotham. Thomas is afraid that it’s connected to his old colleague, Doctor Hugo Strange, but Harvey isn’t so sure and he doesn’t really care. Lazily, he chases after the case sure that Thomas should just give it up. The deeper the two of them delve into the crime, the more danger there is. There are criminals lurking on every corner of Gotham and there’s more at risk than their own lives.

For fans of Gotham TV show, this is the ultimate prequel before James Gordon or Batman came onto the scene of the dark city of Gotham. This is the look at Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s father, that I’ve been waiting for. And to discover that he has a part of his past that he’s not proud of much like most of Gotham? That truly put him on an equal playing field with the city, as dark and dangerous secrets are a part of what makes Gotham.
Also, there were new details and stories about each of the characters that were focused on here that I didn’t learn about from the show, which was really cool. It gave me a stronger appreciation for all of it, characters, setting, and the show in its entirety.

The tone of the novel changed with each character’s POV and that was a major reason why I loved it. Each character on the page was true to the one on the TV screen. I swear I could hear their voices, like they were sitting on my shoulder, as I read. Very strong and enticing. Having a powerful voice is very important to me when I read. If you can carry me with that then I’m sucked in.

To see what life was like with the Wayne parents alive was intriguing and it grew even more so to see how they took care of Bruce and how they handled their affairs. They weren’t the perfect parents. Even they had disagreements. Seeing their day to day life and how they, for lack of a better term, survived in the twisted, Gothic city of Gotham.

Overall, The book is action and tense from start to finish. I enjoyed it very much. If you love Batman and/or Gotham then give this a read.

[hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been a huge fan of superhero stories. Sure, I've seen a few MCU movies, but despite my best intentions I likely won't watch all of them anytime soon.
There's also the DC universe. I admit, I know it even less than MCU. The Gotham series though... Somehow the story that boils down to "before Batman became Batman" managed to interest me and has had me in its grip for over three years now. I guess it was inevitable that one day I'd read one of the books tied to it.

This is a peculiar book, a prequel to a prequel, as it shows the events happening before the series. Who would I recommend it to? Should I recommend it at all?

My main problem with Dawn of Darkness is likely clear for any Gotham fan who knows that one: even though the general idea behind the book matches with the show, there are slight inconsistencies with the on-screen established canon. So if you already know it would prevent you from enjoying the book, noticing the small things that don't add up... yeah, better skip that one.
But if it's not a big deal for you, like it's not THAT BIG of a deal for me in the end, I recommend this one from my heart. Primarily it's a fun read and it definitely works well as another peek into the lives of the characters I grew to love. It's also a quite well done thriller/crime story, having my attention until the very last page – and in this aspect I feel anyone could read and enjoy it. If this would be your case though, definitely stay mindful that this is a part of a bigger, well-established universe, as I know that for me knowing the characters, their background and environment beforehand definitely helped me get more immersed in the story. But it's a good story nonetheless.

[C.J. Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the Easter eggs, nods to the comics, and cameos from the characters on the show. However, I feel like this book would work better purely as a mystery/crime novel set outside the Gotham universe.

The characters were well written and sounded like the would in the show, but some of the dialogue seemed forced and repetitive. Some of the subplots get resolved with little to no consequence to the greater plot of the novel.

With that said, it was a fun read. My first couple sessions I read a few small chunks, but when I started to get into the heart of the book I couldn't put it down.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a "Gotham" prequel that takes place before Jim Gordon is assigned to the GCPD, and before Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered that fateful night that kickstart's Bruce's legacy. It's not the most eloquently-written crime thriller I've ever read (there are a few spelling errors and other typos that SHOULD have been caught by a more careful publisher/proofreader, but then again, I'm a writer and a former English major myself, so I might be a bit more bothered by that than some), but if you approach it not just as a Gotham story but also as a sort of a Dashiell Hammet/ Raymond Chandler-esque pulp crime novel, it makes for more of a fun, quick read, especially since old-school, broken-down detective Harvey Bullock always seemed like he came right out of that genre, and hearing his POV thoughts is like hearing the colorful, cheap-patter voice-over of one of those low-budget Film Noir detectives. Great fun hearing the voice of the amazing actor who plays Harvey on the show doing those lines in your head as you read, and interesting as well to see just how far the former eager young "Golden Boy" of the GCPD had fallen from grace in drunkeness and skating the edge of corruption before Gordon came along to remind him what being a good, honest cop was all about. I have to agree with another reviewer, though, that I found the parts that focused on Thomas Wayne's POV a bit dull and dreary, and not really what I would've really expected from the way we had been led to believe what a real Stoic he was from Lucius Fox and others; I get that the author was trying to show that even the vaunted Thomas Wayne had his human flaws and hidden side to him (thus setting up that he was passing that part on unconciously to his Dark Knight son with something to hide), but I still didn't find his character all that likeable or appealing since his angst over his past actions came off more like self-pitying whinging rather than any kind of admirable heroics. Although I did also enjoy the "pre-Penguin" cameo of Oswald Cobblepot, since he's one of my other favorites from the show besides Harvey-- and just like with Harvey's voice, the author also had a good ear for capturing the particular rhythms of Oswald's odd way of speaking as well, and I would've liked to have seen even more of him in the book. The only other thing I didn't like about this was the unecessarily graphic bits of violence here and there-- I mean, I get that the author was trying to capture the feel of a gritty pulp crime novel, but I think it still could've been done with more subtlety and less graphic gore (after all, the original pulp crime authors did it, and very effectively, without the gore!), which is actually one of the problems I have with the tv show itself as well; there have been some excessively bloody moments of too-graphic ultra-violence that I could've done without seeing: one that comes to mind right away was the extremely unecessary tight close-up of Fish Mooney's-- or was it Tabitha? Crazy-ass Barbara?-- spiked stiletto-heel as she stomped it violently into some guy's throat as he lay on the floor. I mean, really, did we NEED that close-up to drive the point home about what she was doing? Couldn't they just more creatively imply what was happening by cutting the camera shot away just before her heel landed, and just let the viewer hear the guy's screams as we see her in some kind of partially obscured long-shot? Like "Psycho" and other classic horror/thrillers have taught us, you don't even have to actually SEE the weapon hitting the body to have it be effectively terrifying-- it's much scarier to IMPLY what's happening rather than show it in heavy-handed graphic detail! Gotham is a good show with some really good (and sometimes not so-good) writing and performances, and I know they want to keep that gritty sense of Batman-esque Crime Noir just like the author of this book wants to do, but they could still do that and be even better than they realize without their dependence on ocassional moments of gratuitous violence-- you don't NEED that, fellas-- have the confidence in your actors and the writing to carry the mood of the show without that UFC-level bloodsport crap! :)

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Nice to see a story with Thomas Wayne and Harvey Bullock. Also nice to see Thomas interact with Martha, Bruce, and Alfred. Wonder of Dr. Strange and Pinewood will be revealed. RIP Amanda and Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Can't wait to read more Batman books and Gotham books!!!!

[The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Dawn of Darkness is a prequel to the Gotham TV show. In layman’s terms a robbery takes place at Wayne Manor and one of the criminals is killed while the other two manage to escape, in their possession is a priceless painting, but did they really mean to steal the painting or was it just an opportunity? If they are art thieves then why did they carve up the walls? Or were they searching for something else? Enter GCPD’s finest stalwart detective Harvey Bullock and his new partner Amanda Wong as they attempt to unravel the mystery of the crime.

All the usual suspects make an appearance particularly Dr Hugo Strange and the work he did at the Pinewood facility, funded by Thomas Wayne and now a haunted burden of the past. Oswald Cobblepot, Fish Mooney and Ed Nygma also all appear and while a nice addition to the story, making it more fully encompassing of the Gotham canon, their roles aren’t significant and could simply have been roles written for a generic character profile, it was name adding to make the story more authentic to the Batman universe using established character names and personalities. But their inclusion was fun and their quirks and traits were written spot on. Likewise, Jerome has a very brief and fleeting appearance and Dr Leslie Thompkins is also mentioned by another character.

The GCPD Police Department is written in detail, giving you a sense of the gothic architecture for the building but other well-known Gotham locales like Blackgate and Arkham Asylum are only mentioned. While rife with criminals and corruption you never really get a sense of the dark and ominous overtone Gotham usually inspires thanks to its gothic architecture.

For the most part, the characters are well written and Starr does a good job of bringing them to life, you feel like you are reading about the same characters from the TV show and can easily picture the actors playing them. It was nice to read more of Harvey Bullock (one of my favourite characters in the TV show).

But……there’s always one exception and that, unfortunately, is Alfred, an essential part of the book, Gotham, Bruce Wayne and the whole Batman canon. Now don’t get me wrong, Alfred is the Alfred we all know but I’m a massive fan of the TV show and in the show, Alfred always (except on very rare occasions) refers to Bruce as ‘Master Bruce‘, no matter how close their relationship, it’s a sign of respect. In the book, apart from once or twice Alfred simply refers to Bruce as ‘Bruce‘ and it just sounded wrong to me while reading, I kept adding ‘Master‘ before Bruce in my mind!

The pacing throughout is generally good with the plot moving along nicely until you get near to the end (anyone with the slightest knowledge of Batman knows the tragic fate of Bruce’s parents, Martha and Thomas Wayne and the event that surrounds their demise).

The ending to Dawn of Darkness felt rather rushed and due to the fact that we already know what is going to transpire, could have done with an extra ten to fifteen pages to build some tension just ‘something‘ extra to add a portentous feeling of dread to the inevitable conclusion.

I’ve found Gotham: Dawn of Darkness a hard book to review. Along with Game of Thrones, Black Sails and The Goldbergs amongst others, Gotham is one of my favourite TV shows and I was excited at the opportunity to read this book. Somewhat sadly, it adds nothing new overall to the back story of the characters and is often formulaic, coming across as an elongated episode of the TV series but in book form. In essence, it’s a prequel episode to Gotham which is in itself already a prequel to Batman.

However, in saying that, I’m working on the assumption that if you don’t like the show or the Batman mythos in general then you wouldn’t pick this book up anyway. But for fans of the show, it’s an enjoyable read and an entertaining way to whittle away a few hours.

I might seem to be pulling the book apart, that’s really not my intention, I’m merely trying to be unbiased in my review as even with the issues I had, I read Dawn of Darkness in just two days which tells you how much I personally enjoyed it. I just wanted ‘more‘ as I feel with some additions to the story, the book could have been really good, a few little extra inclusions here and there to have taken it to the next level.

For me the pages flew by, I became engaged in the story and while not compelling or groundbreaking, it was just a good fun read that kept pulling me back and for the naysayers out there, there’s nothing wrong in that, sometimes we don’t want or need a literary masterpiece of profound prose and meaning. Sometimes we just want to kick back with a book where we can switch our brains off and partake in a quick and easy read.

Issues aside, Dawn of Darkness does work well as a prequel, and for fans of Gotham, this is a decent read that you will enjoy and appreciate.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was among the quick fix romances and animal mysteries in the mass market section and did well in appeasing my need for some Gotham. This is before Gordon came on the scene and before Bruce started his journey to being The Dark Knight.
I really enjoyed this. Each POV is well written. Felt like those characters were telling me their side of the story.

Read full review here:
https://beentherereadthat.blog/2017/1...

[🐦‍⬛ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think the concept of this book is better than the actual execution.
the story was ehh, there were some canon inaccuracies and oftentimes the characters were trying so hard to be in character that they ended up behaving out of character and it was annoying.

[Parmy Violet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a novel based on the television series "Gotham", which is a re-interpretation of Batman's childhood. This novel doesn't tell the story of Bruce Wayne as it's a prequel to the series, so the book ends where the first episode of season one begins.

I am a huge fan of the series so was delighted when I found this book in my local library, but the delight was short lived.

The good:

This reminds you of past events of you haven't watched the show in a long time. It has some brief mentions of some characters (e.g. Jerome, Cobblepot, etc.) that you wouldn't expect to encounter.

The bad:

The story was boring and predictable. If you have watched Gotham then you already know almost everything that's going to happen, anything you don't know is just filler and is not important.

Every female character was written in the same way - great body, really sexy, delicious hips, etc. and with a completely crazy personality, so there was no variation between the "slutty" news reporter, Harvey Bullock's partner, Fish Mooney, or Martha Wayne.

The editing was terrible. Some sentences made no sense whatsoever.

Some of the characters don't keep to their characters, and there are other inconsistencies. For example, Bruce Wayne was very well written throughout the book only to then comment on how he thought the movie was "kinda lame" at the very end. This is not the way he speaks. He is very well spoken and eloquent for the first 99% of the book, there is no other occurrence of him speaking like this and no reason for him to do so. Leslie Thomkins is mentioned in the book briefly and is called a psychiatrist, in the series she works in Arkham Asylum but she is a medical doctor in the female ward, not any sort of therapist. In the series all of the mobile phones are old chunky phones as it is set in the mid-90's or so (a year is never specified), in the novel people use smart phones despite it being set before the series.

I give this book 2/5 stars as I didn't give up on it, but I would not recommend it to anyone. If you're a fan of the show you are not missing anything by not reading this.

[Amy Beer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that I enjoyed this book most when read in large doses. If I committed myself at least half an hour to this book, I really got absorbed in the story and the characters but anything less than that and I found myself not really caring most of the time. This is a shame as certain characters, like Harvey, are loveable all of the time, then you get a POV chapter from someone like Thomas Wayne who, on his own, is incredible dreary and monotonous. This novel had to lose 1 star from me for that. A good story should not only make you want to read more, but should make you want to read more even if you only had time to read 1 chapter the night before.

I also had to drop a star for the bad editing. I don't know if this is just my edition of the book or if this is a recurring problem, but characters would quite often have their names changed mid-sentence (e.g. Jake would suddenly become Jack) and odd words would appear in the middle of sentences where they shouldn't have been. It also always seemed to happen at a really exciting time in the book, causing me to completely lose the narrative and flow of the story so I struggled to wrap my mind around what was going on.

I really wanted to love this novel as I am such a huge fan of the TV show and, for the most part, I did really enjoy it. There were just parts where it didn't really flow properly or I would read a page 3 times and not take a lot of it in because it felt so similar to something I read 20 pages before. There were times when the writing felt quite amateurish. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars for an enjoyable storyline (when a good chunk of it is read in a single sitting) and a very intriguing concept regarding the lead-up to Thomas and Martha Wayne's murders.

[Richard L. Haas III · Rating 1 out of 5]

Years ago when I begin reading more seriously, I loved the idea of tie-in novels. But although the idea intrigued me, I didn’t technically get to read a tie-in novel until a year or so ago when I dived into the world of Star Wars. This was in part to my father saying most of those novels are poorly written and often rushed. As it would turn out, the Star Wars novels are actually mostly good… and this Gotham novel is pointless and absolutely poorly written. I mean, there’s a reason why the quotes on the back of the book are praising Gotham the prequel TV show and not Gotham the prequel novel.

There’s a line in the book that reads: “Literature’s all based on opinion. Any two people can read the same book and gave vastly different views of it.” Looking at the other reviews here, author Jason Starr seems to be speaking about his own book as well. Personally, I found only a couple pros with the book: the cameos from different villains we would see in the show surprisingly felt natural and most of the dialogue, albeit awkwardly written at times, is at least reminiscent of their television show counterparts— making it pretty easy to imagine those actors in your head… The rest of the book is comprised of cons upon cons.

One of my pet peeves is to show, not tell and there is a lot of expository telling. The novel is filled with it. It’s also filled with characters arguing nearly nonstop, and it’s filled with completely obvious and by-the-book allusions and references. To be honest, I’m not sure Starr could embrace the subtleness that Easter Eggs require. Anything that hints to future character development or plot points hits you in the face like a fastball you’re not prepared for. (see: Thomas Wayne talking about Police corruption, Martha and Thomas asking Alfred to take care of Bruce if anything happens, or Bruce calling himself a vigilante— the list goes on).

The most awkward instance of this had to be the bit where Bruce says that “things do make me angry... When people get away with things— you could call it injustice... It angers me that people can get away with crimes... without being punished.” Cringe. Just. Cringe. Especially for a fourteen-year-old to say. (Side Note… Fourteen? Was he really that old in the first episode of Gotham?). Ultimately having him say this shifts his opinion on crime away from stemming from the eventual murder of his parents. If he’s had these feelings all along, it renders this belief pointless. This happens again when his mother suspects that he seeks trouble or as his father put it, “adventures.” Which, didn’t make much sense to me. Bruce’s love for fighting and boxing seemingly comes out of nowhere. It’s so prominent throughout the book and barely touched upon in the show. And Martha’s hatred towards fighting and boxing isn’t fully justified but I get it. Just feels awkward when you know the only point to it is to juxtapose it with the dramatic irony of Bruce’s future.

But the Waynes aren’t the most problematic characters in the book. That title goes to Harvey Bullock. To be fair I never really liked his character on Gotham that much (he was in less than a handful of comics and his only point in them was to betray the GCPD as a dirty cop), but Donal Logue is so charismatic and plays him so well that it works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in Starr’s novel. In the first season you weren’t particular supposed to love Harvey but you knew he had some good in him. Starr writes him as a deplorable sexist and riddles him with textbook toxic masculinity. It felt like he was supposed to be an exaggerated parody of the alt-right but then his actions are seemingly justified by other characters. I think the most frustrating example of this is he tells his partner, Amanda Wong, that women shouldn’t be police officers (among other rude, sexist and even racist comments) and even makes her get out of the car before leaving her on the side of the road. I thought we would get some character development but Amanda comes back and APOLOGIZES to Harvey for being rude herself! What?! Look, I may not be the most PC guy in the bunch but reading that I felt disgusted. It was like watching a husband in an abusive relationship slapping his wife with the wife apologizing for making him angry. And then at the end of the novel, we are teased heavily at an unearned romance between the two. Wong’s character was completely pointless and totally wasted by doing this— especially by shoehorning it into the final chapters.

As far as the other characters, they’re mostly fine. Strange is fine, Oswald is fine, Nygma is fine, Alfred is fine, and as for new characters, Frank is… okay at best. Frank, the private investigator, reminded me a bit of Mike from Breaking Bad at first. When he’s first introduced he’s presented as being calm, cool, collected and trustworthy and then he snaps out of nowhere. The snap does not feel justified. He barely had any character development and then out of nowhere, he begins to go down a dark path. Didn’t make much sense and then the plot thread just drops.

And that’s the thing about this book. The plot kind of just exists. It doesn’t add anything significant to the lore of Fox’s Gotham. The entire book could have simply not happened and it would have had just about the same effect on the show. There was no inciting action that leads to cause and effect. Again, the book is just pointless. It was laughable to me that Thomas was convinced Hugo Strange had something to do with the robbery of the painting at Wayne Manor but offers no solid reason to as why he thought that until he mentions— towards the end of the book— that Strange spoke with an art benefactor at a party once. That information would have been handy at the front of the novel. I’m pretty sure that moments like that (and there are a lot) are just poor attempts at subverting expectations.

I had planned to read this novel around May 2019, the 80th Anniversary of the creation of Batman, but now I feel like I did the character wrong and wasted my time. Hell, Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin is more enjoyable than this. Let’s hope Starr’s other Gotham novel is as well. Check my review on that when the time comes to see.

[Stéphanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blandest book I've ever read, with dull, cheap characterization and characters that feel paper thin. Makes me realize how amazing the actor playing Harvey in the TV show is; seriously, my heart goes out for him. He gives nuances where there is none in the book.
I seriously tried getting into it, for the sake of the show alone. Getting to know Bruce before his parents' death was... nice, I guess. Alfred wanting to teach him how to box was easily the best scene in the entire thing -- not that it was great.
Just... Dull, dull writing, plot that doesn't get tied because it's supposed to in the show and, yeah, you make the connection, but it makes the pay off of having to read the entire thing non-existent. The book relies heavily on noir tropes, to the point that it feels just like one trope stitched after the other, and not a cohesive plot. By the point Harvey's possible future girlfriend and hardass cop gets fridged a second after they kiss for the first time, I was groaning.
So. Bad.

[Anna Shiverdecker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I don't think an editor went over it at all. It was lazy writing, or at the very least odd word choices were made, and it was often repetitive, probably to reach some word count. And we're supposed to believe Bruce is 14 when the show picks up? I don't think so.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prequel to the TV show. And the TV show is a prequel to the whole Batman thing. How far do we have to go back to know that it was all just a series of unfortunate events?

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this novel to be rather mediocre. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great. I very much enjoyed the interactions between the Wayne family and Alfred. Seeing Thomas and Martha alive and getting to know them as people was a fun experience. Apparently, Bruce got his deduction from his mother and his fighter spirit from his father. Another aspect that I enjoyed were the Easter eggs that were sprinkled throughout the novel. However, the foreshadowing of the elder Waynes' demise was prominently peppered in the story and the conclusion that it may not have been as random as later thought is an interesting notion. Additionally, I enjoyed seeing Harvey Bullock as more than a delinquent. He clearly had a reason to become a cop and the skill to back it up.
There was an issue that I found within the novel that manifested itself in a couple of ways that drove me crazy. What it all boils down to is that whoever was in charge of proofreading the story before publication dropped the ball...hard. There were several minor inconsistencies that while didn't impact the plot still momentarily confuses the reader. A minor example is that on page 15 Mr Starr refers to Alfred being in his sixties but on page 168 referred to him as being "well into his fifties." A more important example was that on page 107 Karen Jennings states "Strange and Pinewood didn't turn me into a monster" but on page 108 the exposition reflects that "Though she didn't know Strange by name, she'd seen him many times." She had just called Strange by name on the previous page! While I understand that mistakes are made, that one could have easily been avoided. The lack of real editing / proofreading also showed up in the form of grammatical errors and typos. I feel terrible for Mr. Starr as someone was trusted to handle this and failed.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book to any Batman fan and honorary Gothamite. Those who appreciate the Dark Knight and his city will appreciate this. But if you are stickler for perfection, the amount of typos and minor inconsistencies might require you to check into Arkham (I'll see you there).

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing prequel to season one of the Gotham tv show. The author accurately captures the character styles of the characters as if this happened in the show. This book does not have the famous Jim Gordan but it sets up the events for the first episode of season 1. This book also shows the months before Bruce Wayans parents were murdered from the perspective of his father Thomas Wayne.

Pros
- You get to see the relationship between Bruce and his parents which is not something you get to see in the show.
- You find out why Thomas and Martha Wayan were killed (I'm only on season 3 so it actually could be in the show)
- You get to read about Harvy (That's a good enough reason to read the book)
- You get to learn more of Alfred's backstory and how he came to work for the Wayans.

Cons
- No Jim Gordon
- The story is kinda short

*Note to parents: There is some sexual content in this book and some sexual suggestions in conversations.

If you are a DC fan, batman fan, have watched the show or just like a good mystery then this is a good book for you to read.

[Charlocked (Bookish-Charlie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before Batman, there was Gotham.
This book is a prequel to the TV series Gotham. It is set before the Waynes' murder.

Thomas Wayne tries to live an honest life but as Detective Bullock pointed out, everyone has secrets in Gotham, even Thomas Wayne. Thomas's secret is called Pinewood, a facility once ran by Doctor Hugo Strange, who made genetic experiments on patients. When Thomas discovered it, it was too late but the facility was closed. But now, a robbery occured at Wayne Manor and the thieves stole a Picasso painting. But why destroying the walls in that case? Were they looking for something else? That's what Thomas thinks and between the GCPD, a PI and himself, will they find the real story behind this robbery?

I really enjoyed the story since you have the impression of living with the Wayne family. You also come across famous future Batman villains and all in all, the story was fast-paced and well written.

[John Michael Strubhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the TV series, Gotham. It's in my top ten favorite series of all time. I'm pleased to report that this prequel novel is top notch! The characters are true to form. No, we don't see Jim Gordon in this one, but Harvey, Oswald, Alfred, Bruce, Hugo Strange and Fish Mooney all all present.
Basically, this novel details the events that led to the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. I'll say no more than that. The writing is among the best done for novels based on television series or movies. There is another by the same author that covers Jim Gordon's bounty hunter days.
With the final season about to be unleashed upon us, this is a good time to catch up with some inside scoop.

[Stijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gotham TV series is for me a highly visual show. The tilted camera position, the blueish tints through the windows, the creeping fog that rises from the ground, the filthy streets, wet from the messy rain... It's one of the best shows I've seen, visually-wise. I kinda hoped they used the same approach in this prequal story to the series, but that may be the only thing missing here. It's very conversation based.
Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice book. The characters are presented true to their personality, that I like very much. Also, that raw feeling you get from watching an episode of Gotham is also here. The book tells the story before the first episode, a prelude to the first episode. It's a sad story, a tragedy really, happening in the dark city called Gotham.

[travis williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one is safe in Gotham

What I liked about this book is that like the show this could of been a starting point for Gotham the television show I mean there isn’t much background story to Gotham as far as Thomas and Martha Wayne story goes so I enjoyed reading about it and I would recommend this to anyone who has read any Batman comics or watch the movies or television show Gotham which is very good and I choose five stars because there wasn’t to much to the story that I didn’t enjoy

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent prequel to the Gotham TV show. This story dives into more info about Dr. Strange, Pinewood Farms, the guilt Thomas Wayne felt and Karen Jennings. You also get to follow good old Bullock with his new partner and Bruce, as he adopts some of the infamous Batman ethics. I do highly recommend this book to any Gotham fan, though I feel the last chapter, possibly the last two weren't needed.

[Gary D. Powell Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice

Having watched the show, it was good to get some more detail on the characters. Hopefully, there will be more to come in the future. Any fan of the show will get into this and want more.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched the tv show Gotham and this is an interesting story leading right up to the start of the show. It balances the story telling between the Waynes (Thomas, Bruce and Alfred) and the police (mostly Harvey Bullock).

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of the show Gotham, then this is a really fun read. If a fan of the Batman mythos, maybe not.

However, I am a fan of Gotham. This books has all the insanity of the show, and somehow managed to also capture the flaws from the show as well.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! What a great tie-in to the series! The writing portrayed each of the characters just perfectly, and I loved the background to add to the already wonderful plot of the TV series. A must-read for fans of Gotham!

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! The only inaccuracy was that in this story Arkham is up and running.

[Katie Motorola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Jan van Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

really great novel pre-Gotham TV show. I wish there were more novels out than just this one about Gotham.