Sunday 28 August 2016

Dead Simple (Roy Grace Book 1) - Peter James


It was meant to be a harmless stag-night prank. A few hours later Michael Harrison has disappeared and his friends are dead.
With only three days to the wedding, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace - a man haunted by the shadow of his own missing wife - is contacted by Michael's beautiful, distraught fiancée, Ashley Harper.
Grace discovers that the one man who ought to know Michael Harrison's whereabouts is saying nothing. But then he has a lot more to gain than anyone realizes, For one man's disaster is another man's fortune . . .
Dead Simple is the stunning first novel in the number one bestselling Roy Grace series from award-winning author, Peter James.

What did I think?

After seeing rave reviews of Peter James novels on THE Book Club on Facebook, I picked up a few copies in one of the church fayres I visited recently.  When I recorded them on Goodreads I realised that I had purchased numbers 9, 10 and 11 in the Roy Grace series.  I couldn't possibly start a series at this stage, however unrelated each book is, so I bought a pack of the first three novels from The Book People for the bargain price of £4.99.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I then wrapped them up and gave them to my Mam for her birthday - even more of a bargain!  (She loved them, by the way!)

Dead Simple is a fantastic start to a series and has perhaps the best chapter 1 of all time.  Michael Harrison, who has been known to pull a prank or two himself, is on his stag night with four friends.  His friends decide to pay him back for all the pranks he pulled on them by placing him in a coffin and burying him in a shallow grave.  Before screwing down the lid of the coffin, they leave Michael with a torch, porn magazine, bottle of whiskey, walkie talkie and a breathing tube.  Their plan is to drive away for a few drinks then go back to collect Michael, but on their way to the next pub they are involved in a road traffic accident and there are no survivors.  How long can Michael survive when nobody knows where he is?

As Michael's wedding day looms, and the police look at the option of a runaway groom, his distraught fiancée, Ashley,  can't believe what is happening.  Ashley is determined that the wedding will go ahead, so she turns up at the church with her last shred of hope that Michael will appear.  As the police hunt for any clues, it soon becomes apparent that some people know more about Michael's whereabouts than they are prepared to reveal.  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, is all I'm prepared to say!

As Detective Superintendent Roy Grace investigates Michael's disappearance, he's prepared to use any means available to him, however unconventional, to find out what happened to Michael.  As the clock ticks and the plot thickens, I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.  I simply couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

Dead Simple is an edge of your seat, race against time thriller and a cracking start to a series.

My rating:




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2 comments:

  1. Great review, this sounds really good. I already opened the website of The Bookpeople to order my copies.

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    1. I can't wait to read the rest of them - my Mam read all 3 straight away and, although Dead Simple was her favourite, she gave them all a big thumbs up!

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