Like many reviewers, I've read all of the Roy Grace books. Some have been better than others, hence my not rushing to get hold of a copy of Dead Man's Grip as soon as it was published. I did enjoy this latest offering but some of the enduring themes in the series are starting to grate. The love-in between Grace and his protege Branson was less pronounced in Dead Man's Grip, which was a relief, but the constant and sometimes extensive descriptions of how attractive the female characters are is really starting to irritate this reader. Even the odd woman who isn't careful with her appearance could, according to a male character, "be one attractive lady" given a makeover. The author has a similar tendency to ascribe a high level of competency and commitment to anyone in the orbit of Sussex police. Is no-one associated with the police plain ugly, useless or just burnt out and disinterested? It would appear not. I also find the interaction between Grace and the absurdly named and impossibly perfect Cleo Morey mawkish. Some of the dialogue between these characters, for example, Grace telling Cleo he was going to arrest every piece of brie in Brighton after she told him she fancied brie more than she fancied him, is just risible.
This said, Peter James does tend to come up with a decent storyline and I was eager to see what happened. In virtually all crime fiction you have to suspend belief and take it as entertainment. In Peter James books, the real effort comes from having to plough past some of the characterisation and dialogue.
Despite the negatives, I would recommend Dead Man's Grip as a decent page turner for anyone who enjoys crime fiction.
I hope in the future some of the characters will become a bit less one dimensional.
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