Left You Dead: A Realistically Creepy Crime Thriller (Roy Grace Book 17)

Product Information

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I'd guessed the outcome early on and found everthing drawn out with pointless conversations that left me feeling frustrated.

Also, this is crime fiction and not bioethics, but the utilitarian equation of 'not going to recover' to being 'dead' scares me.I found the Bruno storyline slightly random and bizarre as if Peter James had run out of ideas about what to do with him. Cassian Pewe continues to rub Grace up the wrong way, and I shall be interested to see where the storyline goes for my favourite character, Norman Potting.

This is a very good series and although each book can be read as a standalone there are plenty of back stories for the regular reader to add to the enjoyment. This book sees Grace investigating the disappearance of Eden Paternoster, who drops in to Tesco for kitty litter while her husband Niall waits outside. I was continually on edge trying to work out what exactly was going on, then it had me in tears when tragedy strikes and finally I felt uplifted as hope blooms at the last minute, setting up the next novel nicely. Left You Dead is the seventeenth instalment in the Roy Grace series and is Detective Superintendent Grace's most challenging case to date as he investigates the file of a missing woman in Brighton.The first seems more likely initially, but later as more information comes to light, it’s anyone’s guess.

The novel opens with a recounting of Eden’s disappearance from Niall Paternoster’s point of view and this sets the tone, a relatively straightforward account that seems true until the doubts creep in and the reader is unsure what to believe. There’s two main plot lines at play in Left You Dead - the police investigation and a secondary plot that strikes the core of Grace’s family. Found the whole Bruno thing could have been handled differently, Cleo has become dull and Humphrey the dog gets mentioned more than poor little Noah who always seems to be with the nanny or in bed poor little chap. They were on their way home from a day out visiting a stately manor when Eden, the wife, wanted to stop on the way for some kitty litter.Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, creation of the CWA Diamond Dagger award-winning author Peter James, faces his most engrossing case yet in Left You Dead. I loved Roy and Cleo’s moments together, and Roy’s friendship with Branson is exactly how best friends should be! I was sure at some stage there would be a shocking revelation that would tie it in to the mystery, but nope. I'm all for organ donation, but as long as a person is alive, their dignity and rights are inalienable and they should never be downgraded to the status of a resource to be wheeled off and mined. Unusually for these books, I went through a range of emotions as the story focussed on these other stories and found myself moved to tears at times.