Not Dead Yet (Ds Roy Grace 8)

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James utilises his knowledge of the movie industry (he used to be a Hollywood producer) to create convincingly gross and egotistical characters like Larry Brooker. This is followed by two different paragraphs within 50 or so pages of Roy Grace rhapsodizing to himself about how much he loves his job and in almost the same words. The plot was clever, the characters were engaging, and the end was really exciting—I found myself reading faster and faster to find out what happened! The first half of the book was the usual setting the scene with various characters, main plot and sub plots.

As always, the locations are firmly rooted in Sussex, in places known – and, in the case of the Royal Pavilion – loved by Sussex readers. When to kill, who to kill, whether to kill are all questions which have to be answered at great speed if he wants to stay alive. And that’s before we get to Glenn Branson, Roy Grace and his partner, the heavily pregnant Cleo, who is about to have their child.The eighth novel featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, from number one bestselling author Peter James. I understand that this is a commonly used ploy to help delineate character but used to this extent it was off putting. There is a death threat hanging over Gaia and there has been an attempt to murder her in California. I’ve been concerned by this issue in a few other books of late and I’ve been trying to avoid it in my own writing. As his investigations continue, he uncovers a global empire of internet scams and the murder of anyone who tries to expose it.

Goblets on the table crashed over, shattering, spilling their contents; plates, chandeliers and tureens slid down into the tangled mess of chains, gilded metal framework and glass.

When a mutilated torso is found on a chicken farm miles away in the countryside, Roy Grace has no reason at all to connect this to the star’s visit to the county. One of the villains of the story plans to kill Gaia and a few other famous actors by making the Dragon Chandelier collapse onto them during the filming of a crucial scene in the Banqueting Room.

That’s my fault and no fault of the author’s, but it’s something to think about if you’re reading them yourself. Applicability of cancellation rights: Legal rights of cancellation under the Distance Selling Regulations available for UK or EU consumers do not apply to certain products and services.

As such, the book reads less like a crime novel and more like the literary equivalent of an episode in a TV series.

Initially, I found it hard to get into the book - each chapter, some no longer than 1-2 pages, flicked to another person narrating.As Detective Superintendent Roy Grace investigates the recovered bodies, he unearths the trail of a gang of child traffickers operating from Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, Roy Grace finds himself on a chicken farm with a headless torso, a piece of cloth and no further clues. I can't put my finger on what's wrong, as the two leads haven't changed the way they're playing the characters, but I'm finding the whole thing a bit of a drag. Maybe this is because, with his ”Paul Newman eyes”, good looks, fit body and attractive partner, he’s neither complicated nor miserable enough to really care about, although he does have a ”tragic” event in his past.