Not Dead Yet (Ds Roy Grace 8)

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Best of all, there is a lovely twist at the end when Grace finally confronts Gaia’s would-be murderer. There were an over abundance of crazies but I found that, if not entirely believable, close to it since they were all massing around a Hollywood star, for whatever reason celebrity seems to brings out the loonies as well as the more realistic admirers. Lorna Belling, desperate to escape the marriage from hell, falls for the charms of another man who promises her the earth.

Her agent has promised it will be the next The King’s Speech and Gaia is convinced the stars are Oscar aligned. I understand that this is a commonly used ploy to help delineate character but used to this extent it was off putting. I love the fact that with every book we get to know the characters a little better and love them or dislike them (Ari) more. James weaves in various elements into this tale of celebrity obsession, including several back stories, side stories, names from the past and one specific ghost from the past, very close to home for our hero DS Roy Grace.Perhaps the recipe for polularity is just that, violence and murders in very very short chapters for barely literate audiences.

The issue of Sandy seems to be nearing a conclusion though I was a bit perturbed to see a very different version of the last few weeks between her and Roy's thoughts. And they are fully prepared to take the law into their own hands, and will do anything to get it back. Now on the down side I have to say I am getting slightly irritated by the ‘Sandy’ thread of the story.Overall, it was an enjoyable tale, told in Peter James' usual easy to read style, but let down by a few sore points. Perhaps it's the direction or editing that isn't up to scratch, or is it they're being careful not to offend anyone by making it too graphic? Initially, I found it hard to get into the book - each chapter, some no longer than 1-2 pages, flicked to another person narrating. Six years later the discovery of the skeletal remains of a woman’s body in a storm drain in Brighton leads Detective Superintendent Roy Grace on an enquiry spanning the globe, and into a desperate race against time to save the life of a woman being hunted down like an animal in the streets and alleys of the city of Brighton.

After the halfway mark, I actually came to really like this as it kept me on my toes and made the book a bit more exciting. Defying instruction not to contact the police, Kipp reluctantly does just that, and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is brought into investigate.But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.