by Peter James
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Just released: July 1, 2018
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 400
Rating: 4
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series:
Dead Simple
Looking Good Dead
Not Dead Enough
Dead Man's Footsteps
Dead Tomorrow
Dead Like You
Dead Man's Grip
Not Dead Yet
Dead Man's Time
Want You Dead
You Are Dead
Love You Dead
Need You Dead
Dead If You Don't
First sentence(s):
The small white ball skittered over the numbers own the spinning roulette wheel, passing 36, 11, 30.
Kipp Brown, successful businessman and compulsive gambler, is having the worst run of luck of his life. He’s beginning to lose, big style. However, taking his teenage son, Mungo, to their club’s Saturday afternoon football match should have given him a welcome respite, if only for a few hours. But it’s at the stadium where his nightmare begins.
Within minutes of arriving at the game, Kipp bumps into a client. He takes his eye off Mungo for a few moments, and in that time, the boy disappears. Then he gets the terrifying message that someone has his child, and to get him back alive, Kipp will have to pay.
Defying instruction not to contact the police, Kipp reluctantly does just that, and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is brought in to investigate. At first it seems a straightforward case of kidnap. But rapidly Grace finds himself entering a dark, criminal underbelly of the city, where the rules are different and nothing is what it seems.
Velvet sighting:
'What's the latest from the EOD on the device, Sir?' asked DC Velvet Wilde, another recent recruit to his team.
-chapter 42, page 119
My two-bits:
The 14th book in the series, Dead If You Don't, is the second book I have read in this series. And while I missed out on some history of the main players, I did not feel lost in the story. This is a treat to those who like Roy Grace and his investigative team.
The story is told in a multi-player mode with multi-perspectives and brief insights into each person (including the people at fault) - all pretty much unlikable sorts.
There is a touch of the Albanian immigrant experience.
The thriller aspect is heavier than the mystery. So, the suspense lies in finding out whether or not things get resolved and how it all goes down.
* review copy courtesy of publisher
