| Product: |
Looking Good Dead - Peter James |
| Date: |
10/12/07 (49 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Impossible to put down, a great read
Disadvantages: It's the only one I've read by this author so thats a disadvantage for me
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Introduction
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I bought this book (as I do with most of my novels) in a buy one get one half price deal from WH Smith so I'm not sure what I paid but the marked price is £6.99.
Peter James is by and large a crime writer and the main character, Roy Grace was also featured in his last novel "Dead Simple" but I have not read it and didn't feel I knew Roy any less for missing out on the last offering.
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Main Characters
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Tom Bryce: A family man in his mid thirties with his own company. Work is struggling which keeps him up in London for most of his week and his wife Kellie's has a spending habit that puts extra pressure on the already stretched bank balance.
Roy Grace: A detective superintendent married to his job, partly due to the fact that his wife Sandy disappeared on his thirtieth birthday, and has never been seen or heard from since. He controversially consults mediums with relation to cases he's working on and in the hope of receiving a message his wife.
The Weatherman: An IT whiz kid who's age and background aren't ventured into in any great detail. It's not immediately clear why his actual name isn't used at the start of the story but this appropriate nickname was given to him during school because of his habit of reciting the shipping forecasts.
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The Story
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The story is based in Brighton, I've only visited the place once or twice myself but I related to the writers description of the place immediately.
The book starts by introducing us to a young lady called Janie whose death is to become the reason for all the main characters to meet.
We then meet Tom who is returning to Brighton from London on a crowded commuter train. He is hot and bothered and focuses his bad mood on an annoyingly loud passenger who's talking into his mobile phone. When the annoying passenger leaves the train Tom spots that he has left a CD which he picks it up with the intention of returning it to the owner.
When he arrives home Tom loads up the CD onto his laptop in the hope that it may contain information about the owner however the CD logs him onto a website that seems to contain a video trailer in which a woman is being stabbed.
The very next day we are introduce to detective Grace who is called to the crime scene where a woman's body has been found, the head is missing which makes identification difficult.
The weatherman then pops up for a few pages, he seems to be involved with some foreign gangsters and is being used, but not paid, for his IT skills.
Tom then receives a warning for accessing the website unauthorized, this confirms his gut feeling that what he viewed wasn't a movie trailer at all but the warning threatens him not to speak of what he has seen.
I don't think I can really say too much more without reading the book to you but that should give you an idea of why the characters all end up involved with each other.
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My Views
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I absolutely could not put this book down!
We are throw into the 'story' very early on into the book and once the pace has been set it's not eased up on.
The characters, no matter how large or smaller part they play are all beautifully described, as are locations which really does create the feeling of being involved in the story.
I'm desperate to get hold of some of his other offerings as I've never been a fan of crime novels but this has changed my mind.
Summary: Read it, Read it, Read it!
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