Need You Dead (13) (Roy Grace)

I have read all the Roy Grace novels and for the most part have enjoyed them. I grew tired of the Sandy storyline and was glad when she was finally killed off. Now we have the psycho son which I guess will go on as long as the Sandy story did. I do NOT want to read about the son trying to do harm to the baby or dog or whatever so I won't be buying anymore of the Roy Grace books until I know that the son is out of the picture. Also, why is it that in most mystery novels I read that the serial killer (in this book Tooth) is supposed to be dead, in a coma, or in jail that they suddenly appear again? I hate this and don't want to read any more books in which this happens.

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Branch in Brighton, England, is investigating a most baffling case. A housewife, Lorna Belling, is found dead in a bathtub inside a cheap apartment unit. The primary suspect is her abusive husband, Corin. Upon further investigation, Roy discovers there are several other men who may have wanted her dead. One of the suspects wants Roy dead before he can discover the truth. Meanwhile, Roy is preoccupied with burying his dead ex-wife, Sandy, who has been missing for many years, and becoming a father to their ten-year-old son, Bruno. Bruno is a strange child. Something is terribly wrong with him. Furthermore, Roy's nemesis, Assistant Chief Constable Cassian Pewe, is somehow connected to Bruno.

"Who killed Lorna Belling?" That is the million dollar question DS Roy Grace keeps asking himself in Peter James's latest mystery, "Need You Dead." Bringing Lorna's murderer to justice is this novel's focus; it kept me turning pages. However, there are numerous subplots that won't be resolved until future installments. The subplot that snagged me like a fish on a hook is the one involving the sullen, blatantly disobedient Bruno. There is an aura of doom about him. I think Roy has invited an evil, devilish child into his home. I feel that Roy's wife, Cleo, and their baby son, Noah, are in danger. Why did Bruno keep insisting that his friend Erik's female schnauzer, Adini, would never be found? Did Bruno kill it because it bit him on the hand? While reading "Need You Dead," look for other clues to Bruno's true nature.

As usual, James's writing style is superb. Thanks to his dedication to researching every detail, "Need You Dead" reads like non-fiction. (At the end of his novel, he acknowledges a "team" of people who helped him create it; he isn't merely name-dropping like some writers do in order to make readers feel they are popular and respected among best-selling authors.) James makes his characters and locales appear very believable. He gives me the impression that he has expert knowledge on everything pertaining to police and medical procedures. I love how he uses modern technology, such as cell phone triangulation, to track the locations of some of the suspects when Lorna was murdered. He uses the psychological term "progressive escalation" to describe the steps that a criminal takes that leads them to rape.

Also, I was impressed by the introduction of the Super Recognizer Unit. It is composed of a team of police officers who all share a special gift. They are able to recognize the true identity of a partially disguised criminal simply by looking at their eye, nose, jaw, or other facial feature. I did some research of my own and learned that this unit actually exists at Scotland Yard. The Super Recognizers sound like a group of super heroes. Police Officer Tim Weatherley is one such member of the unit. His life is endangered when he visits Roy Grace. Someone needs Tim dead. "Need You Dead" doesn't have a high body count. It isn't fodder for gore hounds such as me. However there are some gruesome killings--the type you might find in a horror movie.

DS Roy Grace is a very likeable character. He is extremely dedicated to his job. Some may say he is too dedicated. Roy fears it is his dedication that drove Sandy away. He blames himself for her death. Does Bruno also blame Roy for Sandy's death? The entire Roy Grace series reads like a prime-time soap opera. It is very melodramatic and intriguing. It is also fast paced. However, the only thing that bothered me about "Need You Dead" is that the killer doesn't make any serious attempts at murdering Roy. Only at the end of the novel, when he is pursuing the killer, is Roy's life threatened. Nevertheless, I need to read the next installment in the series. I eagerly await its publication in order to learn if my misgivings about Bruno are true.

I've read all of the Roy Grace series and have enjoyed every one. This is representative of the series and is a good read. Also, representative of the series, you should have read previous ones to fully enjoy (and not suffer spoilers of previous books needed to explain the current one). ANd also typically, it ends on something of a cliff hanger. THe central crime is solved, never fear, but a little taste of the next book and a continuing issue for that one is thrown in.

Love his books and this one as well

Another winner... Gets better as you really wonder who the killer is. I didn't see the surprising culprit coming!
His books are simply impossible to put down. And very well researched, by the way!

Since 2005 Peter James has been entertaining readers with his Roy Grace series of detective thrillers, in the process creating one of the most extensive and beguiling crime sagas in recent memory. Set in Sussex, Detective Superintendent Grace battles some of the most devious and cold-blooded adversaries imaginable, all the while struggling with family matters that would defeat a lesser man. His first wife, Sandy, disappeared over a decade earlier, and had been presumed and declared dead, only to surface in Germany in a hospital, in a coma, the result of a traffic accident. Grace learns he has a son, Bruno, whom he has never seen. Meanwhile Grace had remarried, and he and his wife Cleo now have an infant son of their own.
All this, of course, would make for a riveting tale of it’s own; but as a CID officer Grace has a professional life every bit as dramatic. He had recently encountered a pathological killer from America nicknamed Tooth, who, after narrowly failing to kill Grace, lies in a coma in a hospital in Brighton. Meanwhile, Grace lands a new case involving the death of a woman who was leading a complicated personal life that gave several men a motive to want her dead.
Roy Grace must juggle all these issues in his personal life and work while leading a team of CID officers who are not without problems of their own, and wrestle with his own senior officer, Assistant Chief Constable Cassian Pewe, who is always looking over Grace’s shoulder and who would delight in being able to bring him down. It all makes for a continuing saga that puts Coronation Street and Eastenders to shame.
With 18 million copies of the thirteen novels in the series sold to date, James has earned the mantle of the most successful contemporary thriller writer alive. His debut novel in the series, Dead Simple, is as good as anything penned by the creator of the crime thriller, Edgar Allan Poe; and James is known for his meticulous research into police procedures and forensic investigations. Millions of fans around the world await the next Roy Grace novel, eager to discover the latest turn in the embattled detective’s complex life. It is a formula that has served the author very well.
________
Reviewed by Jim Napier, May 2017.
§Since 2005 Jim Napier's reviews and interviews have appeared in several Canadian newspapers and on various crime fiction and literary websites, including his own award-winning site, Deadly Diversions. His own crime novel, Legacy, was published iin the Spring of 2017. He can be reached at [email protected]

Very good book

Peter James routinely charts his books as best sellers in his native England. These books are set in the Crime Capitol of England; Brighton and Hove and in this one, the 13th in the series, James has actually written his first truly complex Who-Done-It? Usually his readers and Inspector Roy Grace have a very solid notion of who the killers might be. Not in this one. A woman is found dead in the bathtub in what was apparently a love nest she shared with her married lover. She was unhappily married. So who did it? The husband? The lover? The guy she met through eBay who is really upset with her? We don't know. James has written another rippling read.

i'm so disappointed the book didn't come out on the 6th like it said it would!

Brilliantly clever, extremely fast-paced and wonderfully unpredictable!

This is a skillfully executed, perfectly crafted police procedural that sees Detective Superintendent Roy Grace leaving Temporary Detective Inspector Guy Batchelor in charge of the latest murder while he heads to Germany to meet the son he never knew he had, but as often is the case this investigation may not be as open-and-shut as first believed and may just get a little bit more complicated before the case is closed.

The writing is fluid, seamless and structured in an easy to follow timeline. The characters are well-developed, varied and realistic. And the plot is told from differing points-of-view and jam-packed with suspense, twists, suspects, violence, and murder that will keep you riveted from start to finish.

I have to admit I am probably one of the few people on the planet, or at least one in 18 million, who hasn’t read a Peter James book before. And when you read as many books as I do in a year, close to 300, you tend to pick up on or at least guess the ending long before you get there and I thought that this book was no exception. After the first quarter I was pretty confident I had figured out where the story was going and as the story progressed I got more and more confident I had pegged it, but you know what Mr. Peter James, congratulations, YOU GOT ME! This is definitely one of my favourite mysteries of the year and you surely have a new fan in me. I not only devoured this book but loved it from beginning to end and if you haven’t guessed by now I highly recommend it!