Perspectives – DaneCobain.com

Title: Want You Dead

Author: Peter James

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 504

Rating: 4*/5

Peter James – Want You Dead

What we have here is another of the books in Peter James’ Roy Grace series, although I couldn’t tell you which one because I lost track. I’ve read all of them out of order, but what I will say is that a fairly major character dies here and I already knew about it. I’m not going to say any more than that because I don’t want to spoil it.

Still, there’s plenty here for you to enjoy if you like crime and detective novels, and there are elements of a good old-fashioned thriller here, too. James also does his typical thing where he shows us the bad guy’s perspective, as well as the perspectives of the people who are trying to stop him. I feel like that’s been kind of overdone by now, but James does a decent enough job of it here. And based on the way that his books are structured, it’s kind of necessary.

Unfortunately, I’ve read enough of James’ books now that the initial wow factor has started to wear off, and while I did think this book was pretty good, it’s not the best in the series. It is, however, an important one, with a lot happening to the characters we know and love throughout. As well as the death that I mentioned, there’s a wedding – although life gets in the way of the honeymoon.

Peter James

There was plenty that I liked here, but there was also a fair amount that I didn’t. This isn’t necessarily constructive criticism but more of personal preference, though. One example of this is the use of the name ‘Red‘ for someone with red hair, which I’ve seen before and which bugged me then, too. It doesn’t feel natural, for some reason, but maybe I’m just complaining because I didn’t really like her as a character. She was okay, but she was bland – and that’s unusual for Peter James.

Still, it’s definitely still worth reading, which is why I gave it a 4/5. And, while you don’t really need to read the Grace books in order, you kind of do because of this one. A lot changes and if pick this one up too early or too late then the series as a whole will be slightly less enjoyable. At least, that’s what I found.

But if you want a decent crime novel and you happen to spot this in a charity shop, it’s got to be worth the investment. Peter James is always a lot of fun and this particular book is no different, even if it doesn’t shine quite as much as some of his others. Plus there are fires and who doesn’t like reading about fires? Turns out that the killer is something of an arsonist – as well as a semi-professional magician. That’s why he has so many different tricks up his sleeve, as you’ll find out when you grab a copy.

Peter James – Billionaire

Click here to buy Want You Dead.

Lee Hall – Darke Blood | Review

Title: Darke Blood

Author: Lee Hall

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 404

Rating: 3*/5

Lee Hall – Darke Blood

I was given a signed copy of this book for my birthday from a friend of mine – someone who comes to my monthly spoken word night. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from it, but I thought that I’d give it a go, and it kind of left me with mixed feelings.

The main problem that I had was the way that it switched perspectives. That threw me out of the story for a while, and I started to lose interest and to not take as much of it in. Because of that, it got more difficult to read towards the end when different elements of the story all came together – I couldn’t always understand what was happening, and I think I’d have to re-read it a couple of times to fully understand it all.

But despite that, the basic story line is pretty good, and the author has clearly put plenty of thought into how their fictional world works. If anything, that’s the problem – it’s so thoroughly planned that I found it hard to keep each of the different pieces together in my head as a reader. Luckily, the bits that I did get absorbed into were pretty good, and the writing style was just right for the type of book that this is.

Lee Hall

When I take a look at indie novels, I always find myself judging them based upon the quality of their editing. Too many of them go without editing completely, and that makes a huge difference when it comes to the quality of the finished product. In this case, the book has been edited pretty well, but there are a few mistakes here and there. Enough for me to notice, but not enough for it to hamper my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, as much as I’d like to say that I loved this because it was a gift, I mostly just thought it was okay. It does show promise, though, and so I’ll be curious to see how Hall’s career progresses. It’s strange though, because I thought it started out strong and then started to fizzle out, which was something of a disappointment. It could have been snappier, but I also gather that it was originally meant to be a standalone before becoming the first book in a trilogy.