Some good bits - Rated 
Just finished this book, having read it in a few hours. Its almost good, James is close to being a really good writer, However, the coincidence of Roy meeting Mark in the hallway after the poker game was a real turn off, but not as bad as the rotten ending. Using a medium to find the body?? Really scrapping the barrel.
Potiential but too sloppy - Rated
In Peter James' "Dead Simple" Michael Harrison ends up in coffin as a stag night prank, his four friends who were supposed to get him out again die in a car crash, and his best man isn't sure he wants him to be found!
He writes well James, but the plot in this crime novel is just way too sloppy.
Like they can't find this guy, but the police doesn't think to check the computers, mobiles of the four friends who planned the stag night (and then the bad guy gets access to them weeks later and deletes everything)
And then he makes a crime novel faux pas (an big no no!) one of the main villains isn't introduced until the last 10% of the book, (oh by the way this guy (who's barely been mentioned or seen for 90% of the story)plays a big relevant part of it too!). t seems like James changes the direction of the plot several times to make it surprising. Instead it becomes incoherent and deus ex machina like. Lots of angles remain unexplored as the author piles more and more of them onto the story.
I like the detective Roy Grace, but the structure of the story just doesnt work. It's way too improbable and badly structured, which is a shame as the writing itself is quite good. We should be hearing more about why Mark and Ashley choose to act like they do, Vic should be in the story much earlier and the bad guy shouldn't be exposed so soon.
disappointed - Rated
This was the first Peter james book I have read. I thought the plot interesting, but several things spoilt it for me. One was the policeman's fascination for the occult etc. Another was the policeman's background,i.e. missing wife. A very irritating aspect was the Americanisms, but mostly what has put me off reading any more of Peter James' books is the frequent use of obscenities. The use of these words - whether as expletives or in their proper context - by nearly every character on almost every page indicates a lack of vocabulary on the part of the author.
A bit below par. - Rated 
A British police procedural introducing Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.
The plot was very interesting - a stag night prank that goes wrong followed by a well-paced escalation of events as many plot twists unfold around an opportunistic business partner and a fiancee that is not all she seems.
The book was a very readable crime thriller but Roy Grace is not as engaging a central character as others in the genre: Rebus (Ian Rankin); Tom Thorne (Mark Billingham).
I found some of the narrative to be a little stilted in parts and was irritated by some faux Americanisms peppered in the dialogue.
Grace's interest in the supernatural and the engagement of mediums and the like somewhat undermined my overall enjoyment of the book.
The use of this particular ploy made for a convenient and rather far fetched ending in my opinion.
I won't be buying into this particular series.
really really scary - Rated 
I've read the first three Roy Grace books and they are superb - I am a bit of a 'burnt out' reader and or a while all i could read were CSI novels and now all I can read are detective novels especially police procedurals. Peter James' formula - a traditional start ie we don't have to wait long for a dead body. Then will the characters in mortal danger make it alive to the end of the book? The action switches between the police and the 'baddy' - will the policeman win? At times I had to put it down because it was so scary but the endings were very satisfactory.
| 
