Sunday, December 5, 2010

Dead Like You-Peter James

Dead Like You
Peter James
Minotaur, Nov 23 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780312642822

Brighton, England Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his major crimes unit investigate two brutal rapes in which the predator used the woman’s shoes to penetrate. The cases are horrific but more so to Roy as the shoes are the same M.O. as the unsolved 1997 serial rapes of five known victims by the "Shoe Man."

As he is engaged to his pregnant girlfriend, this case sends Roy also back to a time of his most haunting personal tragedy; the disappearance of his wife during that same period. Roy is disturbed by his memory of who he assumes was the sixth female victim twentyish Rachael Ryan but her body was never found; the DS believes she was the only one the rapist murdered.

This is a great British police procedural due to the various viewpoints from obviously Grace, but also other cops, victims and potential rapists. The story line is fast-paced throughout and most harrowing when a rape victim explains her feelings of violation; yet Peter James keeps these revelations flowing within the strong investigative plot. Readers will relish the latest “dead” Grace thriller while seeking his previous works published on this side of the pond (see Dead Tomorrow and Dead Man’s Footsteps).

Harriet Klausner

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