Wedding – 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.

Robert Galbraith – Career of Evil | Review

Title: Career of Evil

Author: Robert Galbraith

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 584

Rating: 8/10

Robert Galbraith – Career of Evil

This is the third book in Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Srike series, a set of detective novels which follow the exploits of a private detective and his assistant as they investigate crimes in the British capital. Robert Galbraith is, of course, the pseudonym for J. K. Rowling, and I can totally understand why she’d use a pen name – this is so different to the Harry Potter series that by writing under a pseudonym, even once that pseudonym has been revealed, she draws a line between the two series, and that’s important.

Now, I’ll admit here that I’ve approached this series in a strange way – I read The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first book of the series, in one sitting, while I was reading for 24-hours straight to raise money for Dyslexia Action. I enjoyed it, but I was never sure whether it was purely because I marathoned my way through it.

This book, though, took me three or four days to get through it, and the interesting thing is that I did actually find it difficult to put it down. This is despite accidentally skipping the second book in the series, purely because I haven’t seen a copy in the charity shops that I trawl for books. But it worked just as well as a standalone, even if it ends on something of a cliffhanger. That’s doubly annoying because I’m pretty sure that the fourth book in the series is yet to be released.

J. K. Rowling Quote On Robert Galbraith

So, the story. In this book, private investigator Cormoran Strike is stirred into action after his assistant, Robin, receives a leg in the post. The leg belongs to a young woman, and Strike immediately finds himself investigating a couple of suspects – faces from the past, all of them with a grudge against him for some reason or another.

Because of that, the book lets us see a little bit more of the back story, which helps to flesh Strike out as a fully-developed character. He’s always been believable, but here we get to see how the events of his past have made him into the character he is today, and all of this is happening at the same time as Robin is facing a crisis, too. At the start of the series, she’d just got engaged, but this book is all about the arrival of the wedding. As you can imagine, it’s pretty difficult for her to concentrate on the wedding when she’s just received a leg in the post, especially when she starts being followed.

Interestingly, we also get a glimpse into the killer’s mind, thanks to occasional chapters that are dedicated to his point of view. He’s obsessed with Blue Oyster Cult, and the band plays into the story line – their lyrics are also quoted at the top of the chapters, except for the ones which follow the killer. I’m sure that’s deliberate, but I can’t really figure out why.

Overall then, if you like a good thriller with a little bit of a back story thrown in there, you’re going to enjoy this. That said, with a series like this, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t start at the beginning – with The Cuckoo’s Calling – and work your way along. So with that in mind, you’re probably not going to want to read this until you’ve read the other two. See how quickly you can read the whole series