Evil Valley (The TV Detective)
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Review
Once again Simon Hall weaves characters, plot and backdrops into a compelling story which keeps drawing you towards its end, and even then makes you want to go back and solve the clues yourself. --Eurocrime. --Eurocrime.
A compelling thriller... very difficult to put down --New Books Mag
one to savour... absolutely first class --Books Monthly
A compelling thriller... very difficult to put down --New Books Mag
one to savour... absolutely first class --Books Monthly
Product Description
TV reporter Dan Groves and Detective Adam Breen are reunited to try to save a young girl who's been abducted by a psychopath, a once brilliant man tormented by war and the death of his best friend and utterly bent on taking his revenge on society. A masked attacker breaks into women's homes, threatens them with a gun, but never speaks and steals nothing of value, only a document bearing their name. He leaves behind a note addressed to Dan, boasting of plans for a great crime, one which will shock the country. A police marksman kills two men in separate but frighteningly similar shootings. Detectives are suspicious, but is it murder? Their only clue is a cryptic password they find hidden at the man's home and a possible motive festering in his past.Another woman is attacked, another document taken, another note left. It claims each contains a code revealing the great crime. And it's growing closer, hour by passing hour. Dan is put under police guard as it becomes clear the man is stalking him. Adam and Dan face baffling questions. Why does the attacker steal only documents bearing the women's names? How to solve the riddles contained in the notes? Code breaking experts are called in to help. But before they can, a young girl is abducted. An intensive manhunt is launched. The battle to solve the clues in the letters grows more frantic. The pressure is intense. But as each riddle is cracked, the man is always one step ahead of the police - until the increasingly desperate search converges on Dartmoor.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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They say - writers that is - always say write about what you know. So it makes sense for Simon Hall , who is a regional crime news reporter for the BBC, to write crime mysteries based around the character Dan Groves who you've guessed it , is a regional crimes news reporter .Don't know if it's for the BBC. Anyway this is the third book featuring the character but the first I have read.
It takes some getting into but once the narrative warms up the two concurrent plots.- one about a police officer shooting dead a man in a domestic violence incident and one about Groves being dragged into the convoluted revenge plan of a former member of the armed forces - it becomes an absorbing exciting read.
There are problems however. The plot , especially the central revenge plot is just too silly for words - more like something Sideshow Bob would come up with and the motivation for it made me laugh out loud. There is some soapy guff about Groves love life I could have done without and his relationship with the police just doesn't ring true. Hall isn't the greatest writer in the world either. He uses literary clichés like "dark evil woods" too often . The cold is "vicious", a knife is "vicious looking " and one character "hisses" that many of his lines I started to think he was the snake out of Jungle Book . The books title is rubbish as well.
Still, I found the stuff about TV reporting surprisingly interesting and while I feel the story doesn't justify over 300 pages it is a pacy reasonably exciting read. Hall still has a considerable way to go before he is in the same league as writers in the same genre like Peter James or Stuart McBride though.
It takes some getting into but once the narrative warms up the two concurrent plots.- one about a police officer shooting dead a man in a domestic violence incident and one about Groves being dragged into the convoluted revenge plan of a former member of the armed forces - it becomes an absorbing exciting read.
There are problems however. The plot , especially the central revenge plot is just too silly for words - more like something Sideshow Bob would come up with and the motivation for it made me laugh out loud. There is some soapy guff about Groves love life I could have done without and his relationship with the police just doesn't ring true. Hall isn't the greatest writer in the world either. He uses literary clichés like "dark evil woods" too often . The cold is "vicious", a knife is "vicious looking " and one character "hisses" that many of his lines I started to think he was the snake out of Jungle Book . The books title is rubbish as well.
Still, I found the stuff about TV reporting surprisingly interesting and while I feel the story doesn't justify over 300 pages it is a pacy reasonably exciting read. Hall still has a considerable way to go before he is in the same league as writers in the same genre like Peter James or Stuart McBride though.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I'm afraid this book really did nothing for me. When it comes to thrillers, I am quite hard to please I'll admit, but this one was very generic and too slowly paced for me. It isn't necessarily badly written, and the characters aren't the worst I've ever come across. If you're a crime/thriller fanatic you will probably quite enjoy it. But for me, there just wasn't quite enough to grab my attention and show me something new. Sorry...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My first novel by the author, but he has used the main characters in previous novels. Dan Groves, TV reporter and Adam Breen, Police Inspector work together on an investigation where women are the victims and strange clues are being left. I wont go into the plot in any more detail because it may spoil it.
Suffice to say this does not have the pace or excitement I would have desired and even the main lead characters are not engaging. Plot is somewhat convoluted and not helped by a number of things that make you go "eh?". Mainly it is the relationship between the Police and the reporter, it just feels wrong and as they are the pivotal characters it does influence your enjoyment of the book.
So, I'm sorry, this didn't work for me.
Suffice to say this does not have the pace or excitement I would have desired and even the main lead characters are not engaging. Plot is somewhat convoluted and not helped by a number of things that make you go "eh?". Mainly it is the relationship between the Police and the reporter, it just feels wrong and as they are the pivotal characters it does influence your enjoyment of the book.
So, I'm sorry, this didn't work for me.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Loved it!
This was the third book of Simon Hall's that I have read. I totally enjoy the fact that the more I read the more I get to know about his main two characters Dan and Adam. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Tiger
Evil Valley
First book I have read by Simon Hall and I really struggled with it and found it all rather boring and dull. Slow moving story and it just didn't hold my attention. Read more
Published on 17 July 2009 by Bookworm
Disappointing, just disappointing
It's a struggle to get through, not because it's complex or anything, it's just... dull. Not something I wanted to pick up again once I set it down. Also, the blurb's misleading. Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by P. McCauley
Never judge a book by it's cover, but it can be a clue to the contents
This isn't a bad book- but it is pretty average. The characters have all been done and seen before, from the maverick reporter to the grim and hardened cop. Read more
Published on 11 July 2009 by Bezerus Bezby
Very poor
I dont know about difficult to put down more like difficult to pick up again. To say this book is dry would be an understatement. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2009 by Gogol
Decent thriller
Evil Valley is a fairly decent "by the numbers" thriller. If you like thrillers then you'll probably enjoy it, but not be surprised by how it all turns out. Read more
Published on 21 May 2009 by Mrs. H. L. Little
nothing new...
struggled to finish this one. Can't be bothered to say anything else so just give me the "not useful" mark now.
Published on 29 April 2009 by pompeyman
A Well Written Thriller
Simon Hall has written a well plotted and tense thriller. His obvious knowledge of television journalism comes through in his writing. Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2009 by R. E. Quinn
Enjoyable - but too long
The third in the TV Detective series, featuring Dan Groves, crime reporter for Wessex Tv, has a satisfyingly convuluted plot involving police marksmen, domestic violence, child... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2009 by Johnnybluetime
griping
i picked this book be cause i like crime and thriller books. i wasent expecting much from this but was plesently surpirsed areal gripping read i was hookeked and was up late in to... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2009 by Ms. B. E. Harris
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