Category: Peter James

My Rating: 4/5

<Big sigh>, Peter James and Roy Grace, where do I begin? I have read all of the books in this series and am normally gripped by each and every book I read. When I read the synopsis for this one I really wasn’t sure. I was (as usual) to be proved wrong. This latest Roy Grace novel starts out with a vicious robbery at a Brighton Mansion and millions of pounds worth of antiques taken. It also leaves an elderly woman, Aileen McWhirter, fighting for her life. Roy Grace and his team lead the enquiry when the woman dies from her injuries and her brother Gavin Daly gets involved. There is one item that is absolutely invaluable to Gavin, and although he is now well into his nineties he is still a force to be reckoned with. The invaluable item is a specific watch and the story, believe it or not, all revolves around the watch. I’m not one for major spoilers so will go no further with the story line or plot.

What I will say is that Peter James is an awesome writer, however, there is one thing that is driving me insane. If, like me, you follow the series there has been an element to each book regarding Roy’s first wife Sandy who has been missing for over 10 years. This is the thing that is the cause of my angst. I really think the story line concerning her needs to be dealt with and then finished, or dropped altogether. I feel like it has gone on for far too long and to the point where it’s lessening my enjoyment of the book. This particular book tells the story of Roy Grace and his team now, and the past concerning Gavin Daly and his family which forms part of New York’s gangs in the 1920’s. This alone, was done with skill and the story had me gripped from start to finish. However, every time Sandy get’s mentioned I feel like hurling my book into a wall.

Okay, I know some of you may think that’s extreme but when you have read a certain story line for years (8 years in the case of the Roy Grace novels) certain elements are key. Sandy is now NOT key in my opinion, and the more I hear about it the more it grates on me. Do I want answers, yes! Do I want snippets each year, No! Deal with it and let’s move on?!?  Anyway, that aside this is actually a brilliant story and as usual Peter James shows off his skill with style. I think the majority of fans will love this book and newcomers should definitely read from the beginning of the series (although not an absolute necessity). Once again, we wait another year to see what is next on the agenda for Roy and his family and friends.

I have read each and every one of the Roy Grace series and I would imagine like many others was looking forward to the latest book. Like many other popular series of books the characters and their history are what add another dimension for the readers. In this latest Roy Grace book we again see the return of my favourite and much loved characters I have got to know. Of course we have Roy himself and his other half Cleo who is now pregnant and expecting their first child. In addition we see many favourites like Glenn Branson (who I adore), Norman Potting and Bella Moy.

The Brighton police force has its work cut out for them. The international superstar Gaia is filming in Brighton for the LA Producer Larry Brooker. Before Gaia leaves Bel Air an attempt is made on her life. By the time she arrives in Brighton Roy is set the challenge of ensuring her safety as well as running a murder investigation. Initially the story hits the ground running and when we see Gaia arrive in Brighton there are already two plots running through the book. On the one side we have the security and attempted murder of Gaia and on the other we have a torso found which the Murder team are trying to identify.

My attention was grabbed a lot more with the storyline in this current book than the last one so I almost felt like the books were back on the up again. The story certainly kept its pace up and I have to be honest as the story continued I got the feeling that this was a real `who dunnit’ kind of story. There are lots of plot threads, lots of action and a real head scratcher of a case. Now on the down side I have to say I am getting slightly irritated by the `Sandy’ thread of the story. I think a conclusion to this element of the story would make me a lot happier because I find myself just shaking my head in disappointment every time I read a bit more.

As I neared the end, I was genuinely taken aback by the plot conclusion and thought it was a good wrap up of the story. Then I was thrown with the last three chapters. I think one part of me admires Peter James for doing this as he has almost certainly drawn a large percentage of readers into the next book (and I admit I am one of them!). I fear that the series may get tedious but there certainly doesn’t seem to be any sign of that (apart from the Sandy part). The only one minor niggle I had was that I never got to find out the conclusion of the story regarding Norman and Bella. Yet again I think that this has been done with good reason and yet again there are things pulling me back and preparing myself for the pre-order again this time next year.

Peter James has certainly continued to show his brilliance as a Crime Writer and as usual I look forward to the next Roy Grace book.

Now the first thing I want to point out is that I am a huge Peter James fan and in particular of this series. Roy Grace is a fantastic character who I have studiously followed in each book. Peter James has always done a fantastic job of creating stories that capture you and the recurring characters that I have slowly fallen in love with. However, this book failed to leave me with the same satisfaction as others in the past.

The story itself starts off with quite a dramatic car accident. We have a short introduction of the main characters and then the accident itself is described in all its horrific detail. The beginning set the pace and as usual with a Peter James book the pace stays that way usually to the very end. This new book is as usual over 500 pages long and I felt that around the halfway mark my interest was becoming far less that it usually is.

The main storyline is centred on Carly Chase who was involved in the traffic accident that involved the death of a young man. It now seems that Carly’s life is in danger by a killer that has already murdered the other two people involved in the accident. I think the main let down for me was the killer themselves; there was a certain air of disbelief that Peter James had taken this route and I found it lessened my enjoyment of the book.

His writing style is as ever fantastic which makes a book ten times easier to read and as usual his characters are all very strong and make a lasting impression. The appearance of the much loved characters is again a sign of how good a writer he is, so from that perspective he cannot be faulted. Roy Grace along with Glenn Branson and some other recurring characters are as ever brilliantly written and people I want to continue seeing.

Roy’s relationship with Cleo is visited throughout the story and we see the glimpses of potential problems for both of them in the future. It is hard to explain why without containing plot spoilers but trust me; this element of the book is brilliant because Peter James has you so hooked on finding out what will happen you just HAVE to buy the next book he publishes.

The last part of these books is the element of Roy’s past concerning his wife Sandy. At the end of his last book I was convinced we would see a conclusion to it in this book. I was wrong! In a way I was irritated by the fact as a reader I didn’t get the answers I wanted, but boy does Peter James throw in a shocker at the end of this book! It was enough of a shocker to nearly make me forgive him the weak killer element of this story.

Overall I really enjoyed the writing style and elements of the story, but the weak element of the killer really made it feel a bit of a let down for me. Finding it hard to rate but will probably say middle of the road. Not his best book in this series, but a crucial element in the ongoing saga of Roy’s past! My advice is to start at the beginning of the series and work your way through.

I first picked up a Peter James book a while back entitled `Dead Simple’. It was (luckily for me) the first in the Roy Grace Series and was based around a harmless stag night prank that went wrong. From that book I was hooked and each of the 4 books that followed was fantastic. Thankfully this latest instalment is no different. This latest Roy Grace offering is pretty hefty with a massive 500 pages. This didn’t put me off, in actual fact quite the opposite.

This story all starts following the brutal rape of a woman on New Years Eve. Only a week later another woman is attacked. What concerns Roy is that both of the women that were attacked had their shoes taken. It begins to ring alarm bells with him as these current attacks seem to mirror those that haunted Brighton back in 1997. The attacker back in 1997 had been named `The Shoe man’ and was believed to have raped 5 women before moving on to kill another 2. The attacker was never caught and Roy finds himself wondering whether the killer is back or whether they have a copycat on their hands.