You Are Dead

Roy Grace book # 11
Once I started reading this mystery, I had a hard time to stop. I treasure Roy Grace series although I am way behind into it but I will bit by bit catch up one day. In the meantime, I am savouring every moment.
Roy Grace is the type of investigator you would want should a loved one be a victim. He is driven, methodical and is no fool. The author tells us a lot in the space given within the binding of this complex story and in no ways do we feel rushed.
It begins with audacious abduction of a young woman named Logan Somerville from her parking garage and the discovery of a decaying corpse of a woman at a construction site. Is someone targeting young women? Bizarrely the bodies have been branded with the words “U R show more Dead”…..and then goes Grace trying to finds links between the murders before the killer strikes again.
This story is said in short chapters leaving details to a minimum, it only reveals what is necessary at a given time. It flows seamlessly and holds attention till the very end. Mr. James manages to add enough surprises and drama that by the end you will be rooting for the police….but did they get their man… as this story unfolded, the suspense held me captive till I reached the conclusion.
Not surprising, Sandy, Roy’s first wife as a small part an I expect she will resurface at another time…
In a few words:
Filled with twists and turns, “Your Are Dead” is a solidly-written story that no doubt will keep you on your toes until the very end. show less

This is my first Alex Grace as well as my first Peter James. When told YOU ARE DEAD could be read without going back and catching up I took it with a grain of salt. It’s not an easy thing, to pick up a series so far in and not feel a bit lost or feel the loss of the history, all the interactions and events that have occurred. Color me surprised when it turned out to be true.

Roy Grace is a protagonist who’s easy to like. Well seasoned and mature, he’s no stranger to heartache. His first wife, Sandy, disappeared ten years prior. But now he’s re-married, has a young son, Noah, and is moving to the country. Despite all these fresh starts, the intervening years, and his love for Cleo and Noah, Sandy is never far from his show more thoughts.
The Sandy –missing wife- subplot was, truth be told, as intriguing to me as the murder mystery, maybe even a little more.

Grace’s Major Crime Team is like a small family but his new boss is a PITA. That’s often the case but there’s more than a personality clash in this situation.
As a reader whose first experience with procedurals were Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct and Dell Shannon’s Luis Mendoza’s, the demonstrativeness Grace shows with members of his team, especially Glenn Branson, took some getting used to. Given his close relationship with police Mr. James is likely dead on but still…..

The sections told from the killer’s perspective are creepy as Mr. James takes readers on short trips to the past to witness the evolution of a serial killer. The devils in the details and they’re there. Part of the appeal of mysteries is trying to figure everything out. While the “who” wasn’t difficult, the one aspect I was completely off in the weeds on was much more disturbing than I’d imagined when revealed. Never in a million years would that have occurred to me.
There’s one thing that strikes me every time I read or watch a contemporary mystery set in England, the prevalence of CCTV cameras. They’re as ubiquitous there as McDonald’s seem to be here.

The Roy Grace series with its quick pace, provocative subplot(s), tangled relationships, and interesting characters is engaging and highly readable. Whether you start at the beginning or with YOU ARE DEAD, it’s easy to get hooked.
Reviewed for Novels Alive TV show less

This book begins when we meet Logan, a young woman talking on her cell phone while driving into her apartment’s parking garage. Before her cell phone goes dead she screams and tells her boyfriend there's someone hiding down there. By the time the police arrive, she has disappeared without a trace. Meanwhile construction workers are uncovering a 30 year old skeleton which turns out to b e a woman who disappeared in a similar way. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his team begin an investigation trying to link the common elements in these missing persons cases, revealing evidence of the abduction and murder of several young women going back decades. One common thread that keeps appearing is a tattoo found on the bodies that reads show more “U R Dead.”

Taking up right after events that occurred in Want You Dead, the Brighton police team is still in mourning. Roy and his wife, Cleo, are about to move to a new home and he's stressed out that his current case is interfering with plans to assist with the packing and care of their baby son, Noah. Roy is dedicated to this marriage, a new chance at happiness after the disappearance of his first wife, Sandy, years before. That mystery has yet to be solved, and each book in the series provides another clue to what might have happened to Sandy.

This is one of the best mystery series I've ever read. The secondary characters are woven into each new investigation which really enhances the story. If you are already a fan of this series, you won't be disappointed. Unlike many long running series, this series is still going strong. You Are Dead is one of the best in the series. I can't wait to read the next one. show less

From Amazon:

The last words Jamie Ball hears from his fiance, Logan Somervile, are in a terrified mobile phone call from her. She has just driven into the underground car park beneath the apartment block where they live in Brighton, and seen a man acting strangely. Then she screams and the phone goes dead. The police are on the scene within minutes, but Logan has vanished, leaving behind her neatly parked car and cell phone. That same afternoon, workmen digging up an old asphalt path in a park in another part of the city, unearth the remains of a young woman in her early twenties, who has probably been dead for 30 years. At first, to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his Major Crime Team, these two events seem totally unconnected. show more But then another young woman in Brighton goes missing and another body from the past surfaces. At the same time a strange man visits an eminent London psychiatrist, claiming to have a piece of information on the missing woman, Logan, that turns out, at first, to be wrong-or so it seems. It is only later Roy Grace makes the chilling realization that this one thing is the key to both the past and the present-and now, beyond any doubt, he knows that Brighton has its first ever serial killer.

My Thoughts:

James is excellent at the police procedural aspect. Developments play out in short sharp chapters in what feels like real time, keeping the pace and tension. He also brings great deal of psychological insight into each of his characters. This book works very well as a stand alone...as there are threads throughout and sub plots that continue to develop. The story is told from three different perspectives... DS Roy Grace's...the victim, Logan Somerville's... and the perpetrator's. It works well that we are allowed to see the story from all sides. And then there is the ever present mystery of Grace's first wife, Sandy, who went mysteriously missing ten years ago. Once again, an excellent story from Peter James. show less

You Are Dead by Peter James is the 11th book in the Detective Roy Grace police procedural series and the author is doing an excellent job of keeping his reader’s interest. This current book finds Roy and his team hunting a serial killer who is terrifying the Brighton public.

As well as the pressure of working such an important case, Roy is also dealing with new information about his first wife who has been missing for years, while his new wife is expressing displeasure at the hours he is putting into the job instead of spending time with her, their new baby and moving into a new house. To make matters even more difficult, Roy is trying to adjust to working under a boss that he actively dislikes.

This is a great series that is show more obviously well researched and well planned. As always the pages turn rapidly when I am reading about Roy Grace and I am already looking to fit the next book in soon. show less

This book begins when we meet Logan, a young woman talking on her cell phone while driving into her apartment’s parking garage. Before her cell phone goes dead she screams and tells her boyfriend there's someone hiding down there. By the time the police arrive, she has disappeared without a trace. Meanwhile construction workers are uncovering a 30 year old skeleton which turns out to b e a woman who disappeared in a similar way. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace and his team begin an investigation trying to link the common elements in these missing persons cases, revealing evidence of the abduction and murder of several young women going back decades. One common thread that keeps appearing is a tattoo found on the bodies that reads show more “U R Dead.”

Taking up right after events that occurred in Want You Dead, the Brighton police team is still in mourning. Roy and his wife, Cleo, are about to move to a new home and he's stressed out that his current case is interfering with plans to assist with the packing and care of their baby son, Noah. Roy is dedicated to this marriage, a new chance at happiness after the disappearance of his first wife, Sandy, years before. That mystery has yet to be solved, and each book in the series provides another clue to what might have happened to Sandy.

This is one of the best mystery series I've ever read. The secondary characters are woven into each new investigation which really enhances the story. If you are already a fan of this series, you won't be disappointed. Unlike many long running series, this series is still going strong. You Are Dead is one of the best in the series. I can't wait to read the next one. show less

Dual review with Swedish first and then English!

SWEDISH REVIEW

Den föregående boken var den första jag läst i Roy Grace serien och jag fann boken mycket bra. Så bra att jag blev riktigt glad över chansen att få läsa uppföljaren. Dödsmärkt börjar med att en kvinna försvinner spårlöst från parkeringen under bostadshuset där hon bor. I en annan del av staden hittas kvarlevor efter en kvinna i en park. Det visar sig att hon har varit begravd i trettio år. Inte kan dessa fall ha något gemensamt? Men så försvinner ännu en kvinna och Roy börjar inse att fallen har gemensamma nämnare. Kan kvinnan i parken vara det första offret?

Jag tycker att Roy Grace serien är behaglig att läsa, böckerna är lättlästa och show more intressanta. Vad som jag tycker fascinerande med denna serie är att Roy Grace första fru Sandy försvann för flera år sedan. Roy är nu omgift och har en liten son. Men han grubblar fortfarande över vad som hände med Sandy och i denna bok kan han kanske äntligen få svar på gåtan.

Fallet var intressant, speciellt när det visade sig Logan, den försvunna kvinnan kan ha hamnat i klorna på en seriemördare. Frågan är om Roy och hans kollegor kan finna henne i livet och det verkar som om kidnapparen/mördaren inte är nöjd med att bara föra bort en kvinna då snart en annan kvinna blir kidnappad. vem är mördaren och vad är hans motiv? Kanske måste de söka sig tillbaka i tiden för att finna svaren. Kan liket vara svaret på deras gåta?

Dödsmärkt är en spännande och intressant bok. Jag tycker om att läsa böcker som sträcker sig tillbaka i tiden och Roy privatliv är fängslande. Slutet på denna bok, tja allt jag kan säga är att det ska blir intressant att läsa nästa bok...

Tack till Massolit Förlag för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

The previous book was the first one I read in the Roy Grace series, and I found the book quite good. So good that I was really happy for the chance to read the sequel. You Are Dead begins with a woman who disappears without a trace from the car park below the apartment building where she lives. In another part of the town, the remains of a woman buried thirty years ago are discovered in a park. Nothing indicates that the cases have something in common. But, then another woman disappears and Roy starts to notice similarities between the victims, could the corpse have been the first victim of a serial killer?

I think the Roy Grace series is very enjoyable to read, the books are easy to read and interesting. What I find fascinating about this series is that Roy Grace's first wife Sandy disappeared several years ago. Roy is now remarried and has a young son. But he is still brooding over what happened with Sandy and in this book he might finally get the answer to the riddle.

The case was interesting, especially when it turned out that Logan, the missing woman may have fallen into the clutches of a serial killer. The question is whether Roy and his colleagues can find her before it's too late and it seems that the kidnapper/murderer is not content to just take away a woman as soon as another woman is kidnapped. Who is the killer and what are his motives? Maybe they need to look back in time to find the answers. Can the body be the answer to their mystery?

You Are Dead is an exciting and interesting book. I like to read books where cases go back in time and Roy private life is fascinating to read about. The end of this book, well all I can say is that it should be interesting to read the next book...

Thanks to Massolit Förlag for the review copy! show less