Want You Dead - Peter James

Peter James's latest book, Want You Dead, has just released. This is the tenth entry in James's Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series.

The opening pages set the stage for the whodunit in Want You Dead. In this case, we know who - and it's up to Grace to catch him.

Red Cameron left an abusive relationship and hopes she's found a fresh start in the widowed doctor she's just begun dating. She has.....but her old flame Bryce has other ideas. Red is his and will always be his. And he's more than a little upset by the breakup.

James writes from the point of view of Bryce, Red and Grace, The reader is privy to the entire picture and can only hope that Grace and his team make the connections in time.

I've always enjoyed Grace - he's a great lead character - strong minded, strong willed, intelligent and caring. The supporting cast of detectives returns, but one won't be returning for the next book. I was a little upset with that - I'm not really sure what this development added to the overall plot at all. I was really hoping that Grace's ex wife Sandy was finally out of the picture, but she makes another appearance in this book. And for as much as I am tired of her, James has piqued my curiosity - without giving anything away, the ending and Sandy's involvement will have me happily snapping up the next in this series.

James does add a good personal storyline to this series, rounding Grace out as a person. He's still coming to terms with his new role as a father. As is his wife Chloe.

I did feel that this plot wasn't one of James's strongest - the premise has been done before, but stalkers do seem to be hot this year. James puts his own spin on it, with a good, sinister antagonist.

But, there were a few things that annoyed me in this book. James seems to beleaguer some points - in the first few chapters, there are at least 4-5 mentions that burnt human flesh smells like pork. Once or twice maybe, more than that was just overkill. And I do wonder about an abused woman putting herself back into the dating scene within four months of leaving a bad relationship. It seems a bit soon to me. Some of her actions and decisions I saw as just plain foolhardy, rather than being her being 'strong'. I found myself feeling unsympathetic towards her.

This is still one of my favourite British detective series, but for this reader, it wasn't one of the strongest entries. Read an excerpt of Want You Dead.

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