Description
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 fiancee, 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 realises, 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.
Tracey Harriman –
Five guys out on a stag party pub crawl. By the end of the night three are dead, one is in intensive care and the groom has gone missing. Cue a frantic fiance, an absent best man and a determined Detective Superintendent.
The is the first book in the incredibly popular D S Roy Grace series. Yet again, I am very, very late to the party. This book jumps into the action with both feet. There is no prolonged character build up, no back story to the event taking place, just BAM! I don’t think I can recall having read such a gripping initial chapter. The poor old groom is in some-what of a predicament. He’s the subject of a wickedly hilarious/cruel (depending on your viewpoint) stag party prank that has left him rather incapacitated, and the friends who could (and should) provide his eventual release, are dead.
Michael, our groom, has been left with a walkie-talkie. He was in contact with his prankster mates until minutes after they had left him. He doesn’t know they are no longer in a position to contact him or that they won’t be coming back for him. But he does know that they have been gone for a very long time and it’s no longer funny – if it ever was! But someone else hears Michael’s desperate pleas through the two-way radio as they have found the second hand-set. Now Michael has to convince them to help him.
In the meantime, a desperate Ashley (the bride to be) has contacted the police and D S Roy Grace is heading the investigation into Michael’s disappearance. Despite this series of books being known as the ‘Roy Grace’ series, I’m glad to say this really is an ensemble cast. Of course we get to learn some of the back history of Grace, and yes, he is a very central figure, but none of his team seem at all ‘incidental’. Their characters are well fleshed out, nobody comes across as just another random officer, they are well developed and we given a good sense of who they are right from their individual introductions.
As with all Peter James’s novels (at least all I have read), there is reference to the super-natural. Not in any kind of sensationalist or exaggerated sense, the topic is written with sensitivity and in no way over-shadows any element of the story, it is an interesting inclusion.
Now, I read quite a lot. A good 3 or 4 books a week. Whilst I generally enjoy them at the time of reading, by the time I’m half way through the next book I’ve forgotten the previous one. I read this book over a week ago. I’ve read three books since. I can still remember Dead Simple perfectly clearly. I think that is the best testament I can possibly give to any book. I can see the movie playing in my head. When I think of Michael spending all that time where he did, I can feel myself getting claustrophobic. I feel as though I lived through this book. Bravo Mr James! Subsequent books in the series are now being ordered and I look forward to following more of D S Grace’s cases and, of course, his out of office shenanigans.
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