melrose10's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A quick, easy and fairly enjoyable read. Sort of predictable in places but it's fast paced with a decent, well-wrapped ending.
kirkw1972's review
5.0
Another great book in the DSI Roy Grace series. This is a really taut, tight thriller as Grace and his team race to save a young kidnapped boy. There were so many twists and turns in here and at one point several plot points I wasn't sure where they were going. However it all pulled together neatly towards the end.
What starts with a kidnap ends up with 8 people dead, several bombs and hoaxes, tortured criminals and drug smuggling! There's a lot going on and all over the space of a weekend. It's easy to read the book in the same short space of time as the book is set. It's hard to put it down, especially when thinking about the kidnapped young boy.
Absolutely loved it and looking forward to the next
Free arc from netgalley
What starts with a kidnap ends up with 8 people dead, several bombs and hoaxes, tortured criminals and drug smuggling! There's a lot going on and all over the space of a weekend. It's easy to read the book in the same short space of time as the book is set. It's hard to put it down, especially when thinking about the kidnapped young boy.
Absolutely loved it and looking forward to the next
Free arc from netgalley
xherdanjackiri's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
merlin2023's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.75
geekylou's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book - Book 14 in the series and still got me gripped. Can't wait for the next one.
kingfan30's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
suzzej2510's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
booksandbark's review against another edition
3.0
Actually 2.5/5 stars, but rounding up because life is short
This was a good read, but I’m not sure I’ll be reading the rest of the Roy Grace series. Essentially, a young boy has been kidnapped at the same time a bunch of other strange things are happening in the city of Brighton and Hove—a bomb threat, a dead drug mule, and another dead guy—all linked to the Dervishi crime family. It was a good premise, and Grace seems like a good detective, but there were so many names! Also, the prose was stilted and I didn’t care too much for the characters. It sometimes seemed as if the author cared more about writing a procedural than about writing a novel (this book reads more like a court case brief and less like an actual novel, which was interesting to me but might not be for everyone), and by the end of the book, I barely felt I knew who everyone was let alone what they were like. The POV jumps around A LOT, so it felt less like a “Roy Grace” book and more like a “this is the crime, what happened here” book.
This was probably more accurate than a lot of other crime fiction I read in terms of procedure (in the acknowledgments it’s revealed that Peter James, the author, interviewed a ton of police officers in the Surrey and Sussex PD before writing the book), but that also means that it was really, really long and sometimes got too bogged down in procedure, which made it less engaging.
The publishers provided me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was a good read, but I’m not sure I’ll be reading the rest of the Roy Grace series. Essentially, a young boy has been kidnapped at the same time a bunch of other strange things are happening in the city of Brighton and Hove—a bomb threat, a dead drug mule, and another dead guy—all linked to the Dervishi crime family. It was a good premise, and Grace seems like a good detective, but there were so many names! Also, the prose was stilted and I didn’t care too much for the characters. It sometimes seemed as if the author cared more about writing a procedural than about writing a novel (this book reads more like a court case brief and less like an actual novel, which was interesting to me but might not be for everyone), and by the end of the book, I barely felt I knew who everyone was let alone what they were like. The POV jumps around A LOT, so it felt less like a “Roy Grace” book and more like a “this is the crime, what happened here” book.
Spoiler
Also, the ending wasn’t super resolved from the detective’s POV, and you kind of have to connect the dots yourself as to how all the crimes are related. There’s also no real motive, which is often my favorite part of mystery books.This was probably more accurate than a lot of other crime fiction I read in terms of procedure (in the acknowledgments it’s revealed that Peter James, the author, interviewed a ton of police officers in the Surrey and Sussex PD before writing the book), but that also means that it was really, really long and sometimes got too bogged down in procedure, which made it less engaging.
The publishers provided me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
i_glow's review
3.0
First time I've read a mystery novel like this. I liked it well enough, but was also eager to finish it to start/finish other books. It was interesting and I learned some things, but I don't know if it's really my style. At least at this point in my life.
toellandback's review
4.0
The latest release of the “Dead” series by Peter James is always a highlight and appearance number 14 of DS Roy Grace is, as expected, a really enjoyable read. Set over the weekend of Brighton's first ever Premier League game, it begins with a bomb threat to the AMEX stadium and progresses into an extremely busy couple of days for Grace and his team.
Add a diverse mixture of Albanian's into the mix and you have a number of overlapping stories which could become confusing but never does thanks to a clever manner of interweaving and writing, resulting in a race against time worthy of one of Simon Kernick's early novels!
Unusually, there is a lot less emphasis on Grace's “family issues” of the past and far more on the here and now which is inevitable really after the previous book and even his son Bruno only plays a small part as the novel concentrates on the difficulties faced by the police on multiple levels,
As you'd expect, the writing is fast paced and bounces from differing viewpoints on a regular basis and there is a cracking twist half way through which I certainly didn’t see coming and it made up for a slightly predictable ending but I can forgive that!
The Albanian's were interesting, ranging from wanting to be accepted as part of the Sussex community to plain outright brutality and it was good to see one character in particular change his viewpoint and attitude as the story progressed.
Another strong outing for Roy Grace and another worthy addition to a great series.
Add a diverse mixture of Albanian's into the mix and you have a number of overlapping stories which could become confusing but never does thanks to a clever manner of interweaving and writing, resulting in a race against time worthy of one of Simon Kernick's early novels!
Unusually, there is a lot less emphasis on Grace's “family issues” of the past and far more on the here and now which is inevitable really after the previous book and even his son Bruno only plays a small part as the novel concentrates on the difficulties faced by the police on multiple levels,
As you'd expect, the writing is fast paced and bounces from differing viewpoints on a regular basis and there is a cracking twist half way through which I certainly didn’t see coming and it made up for a slightly predictable ending but I can forgive that!
The Albanian's were interesting, ranging from wanting to be accepted as part of the Sussex community to plain outright brutality and it was good to see one character in particular change his viewpoint and attitude as the story progressed.
Another strong outing for Roy Grace and another worthy addition to a great series.