Hi all. Also on Dooyo as same name. Thanks for all RRC's, much appreciated.
Hi all. Also on Dooyo as same name. Thanks for all RRC's, much appreciated.
Member since:25.04.2007
Reviews:52
Members who trust:17
This is the forth book in the Roy Grace series and I was very pleased to receive it for Christmas as I have read the other three. You do not need to have read the others though as this stands fine on it's own as a stand alone story but you would have more background into the characters if you had read them.
The story centres around the discovery of a skeleton in a storm drain in Brighton, a man caught up in the 9/11 disaster and a woman on the run. The book starts in the present day with the discovery of the skeleton and Superintendent Roy Grace being called to the scene. The skeleton appears to be about 9 years old which causes Grace to worry that it may be the skeleton of his wife who disappeared that long ago and has never been seen since. The book then travels back to 11th September 2001 and you discover Ronnie
Wilson on his way to a meeting at the World Trade Centre when the tragedy strikes and he realises that this is his opportunity to shed his old life and start again minus all his debts. It then comes back again to the present and a woman who is in hiding from someone after her, but when she decides to take the lift in her building instead of the fire exit becomes trapped and it appears someone may have done it deliberately.
As I mentioned above this is the forth Roy Grace book and I was hoping that I would enjoy this as I had loved the first two but not really the third one, but it did live up to my expectations and as the Times described perfectly on the back "Tense, beautifully paced and excellent on police atmosphere and procedure."
If you have read any of the other books you will know there is a running theme about Grace's wife having run off nine years before, and although he is involved with a new woman he still hasn't had closure from his wife disappearance and so when the body is found and seems to be around Sandy's age and hair colouring it reopens old wounds. As I have read the other books I know more about his wife's disappearance and the start of his new relationship but this book doesn't really focus to much on Grace's personal life it is more about the policing and although this made for a great story if you hadn't read the other books you may feel a bit like you're missing something.
It is set in Brighton which I really like as I enjoy going there for weekends and so can picture some of the scenery as it's described but this story is also told in New York and Australia. I felt the descriptions of the unfolding nightmare of 9/11 were told extremely vividly and I could almost feel the chaos and incomprehension of the people there as they struggled to understand what was going on. We also got to see Ronnie's wife at home on 9/11 and her panic as she watched the drama on the television and tried to spot him on the screen and to constantly ring him and I just can't imagine how horrific it must have been to everyone who had a loved one there.
The chapters all vary in length but none are too long and each one starts with the date so you know if you are reading the present or past. It is well paced and drew me in straight away with the three different stories which you know are going to be linked but you have no idea how at the start, and I often found myself saying just one more chapter to find out what was going to happen next. The main characters are all described well and I found myself engrossed in what would happen and who would get away with what even though most of them were villainous and up to no good. The end was action packed as any good crime novel should be with all the loose ends tied up nicely but not always predictably.
I really enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one to come out to find out what will happen in Grace's life and another excellent police drama. I would recommend reading this if you enjoy crime books, but perhaps read the others first just to get the background information and the first one Dead Simple was brilliant anyway and a must read in my opinion.
Published by Pan. Paperback 566 pages.
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Jan 10th, 2009
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