The seventh in the Roy Grace series, Dead Man's Grip is a cracking little wedge of a book and a great page turner. I had been meaning to get around to starting this series, after I had the pleasure of getting to know Peter after doing a number of events at a central London bookshop I worked in and I really wish I started earlier. Police/crime etc is not really my sort of read but out of loyalty I gave it a go and surprised myself and everyone around me when I couldnt put it down. In this book, Peter covers the world of kidnapping and the fear of being stalked. This series just gets better and better. The Roy Grace series is just brilliant. Heavily researched and intriguing in its attention to detail when it comes to day to day procedure, I was surprised at how fascinating and surprising I found it all. The author achieves this by utilizing hardbolied noir and bonkbuster techniques in his writing to keep you hooked. The characters he has created are well crafted and sympathetic, which makes you really want to get to know them. To the point where you just cant put the book down. The book's read like film scripts sometimes, something the author knows a lot about, which makes it such easy and entertaining reading, full of plot twists turns and cliff hangers. Try the series but start at the beginning, just because not only are they great stand alone stories, but the magic is in the back story, the adventure and the intrigue. Highly recommended. Dead Man’s Grip by Peter James is a great book if you are in the mood for a mystery thriller. This book keeps you entertained and wanting to read more. The author switches the point of views from chapter to chapter keeping the reader involved and thinking. It is an exciting read about a girl, Carly, involved in a car crash. However, you later find out that it was not just an ordinary car crash. It turns out that the other drivers involved were tortured and killed before the crash and Carly was the target. As the police further investigate and offer her protective help, she declines and knows that those responsible can hunt her down if she goes into protection. As she tries to out run her killers, they are already one step ahead of her. Peter James uses several writing techniques in Dead Man’s Grip creating a fantastic story proving that a good mystery is never dull. I loved reading the murder mystery and how the detectives try to solve the case. It kept me interested throughout the book. I found myself always thinking ahead trying to solve the mystery. I liked how the book was written from different characters’ point of views and kept switching from chapter to chapter. Although it was tough to follow along for the first three chapters because I didn’t know the characters, I wanted to give this book a chance. I am glad that I did. Once I got deeper into it, the plot and the relationship between the characters became clearer and I found the story very entertaining and captivating. The author uses very descriptive details to describe some of the characters and is very graphic throughout the whole book. For example, when the author describes Roy’s wife as she looked in the hospital: “She was wearing a blue hospital gown, and her blonde hair, cascading round her face, had lost some of its usual luster“ (James 31). The author continues painting a picture about how pale she is and the condition she is in. He uses descriptive words like cascading and luster to create an image in your head. He is very descriptive throughout the book not only describing characters but also the settings and accidents in the book. His attention to details keeps you interested by creating images as if you were actually there. The book doesn’t just have one big story; it has side stories going on for each character. This keeps you entertained throughout the book because you read one person’s side story and then it ends with a cliffhanger switching to another’s story. You don’t know when it’s going to switch back to the first character’s point of view again so you just want to keep reading. For example, one of the side stories is: “The boy had a central nervous system that seemed to be wired all wrong. He appeared to have no pain receptors” (James 64). Later on in the book you figure out what this character’s role is in the accident, but before you get to that part the author provides you with his background and how he spends his life. This keeps you wondering and interested in why this character was introduced and has you wanting to know more about the character. A good book always has well-developed characters and James has done an excellent job in developing the characters in this story. Overall this book never had a dull moment and always kept me on the edge of my seat. I would highly recommend Dead Man’s Grip to anyone that enjoys reading a good mystery.
Do You like book Dodemansrit (2011)?
Enjoyed this thriller, police procedural. 7th in series with a sympathetic protagonist.
—mandy
Enjoy the Roy Grace books. He is an excellent storyteller of great consistenvy
—mblorix
As good as all his other books: superbly gripping with lots of gruesome bits!
—anashuya
Gritty detective series worth reading (set in Brighton England).
—pham
