Want You Dead (Roy Grace Series #10)

by Peter James

Overview

An obsessive psychopath must be stopped whilst Detective Superintendent Roy Grace also deals with a very personal mystery in Want You Dead, by award winning crime writer Peter James.

Grace’s wife Sandy is officially declared dead after being missing for a decade, allowing him to marry the mother of his baby son. But Sandy’s disappearance is unexplained for a reason.

Bryce Laurent doesn’t want his ex-girlfriend to move on. Terrified by Bryce’s dark side, she seeks police protection. But Bryce will not be stopped, determined to destroy everything and everyone she has ever known and loved – and then her too . . .

Although the Roy Grace novels can be read in any order, Want You Dead is the tenth thrilling title in the bestselling series. Enjoy more of the Brighton detective’s investigations with You Are Dead and Love You Dead.

Now a major ITV series, Grace, starring John Simm.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230760615
Publisher:	Pan Macmillan
Publication date:	06/02/2014
Series:	Roy Grace Series , #10
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	56,614
File size:	762 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter James is a UK number one bestselling author, best known for writing crime and thriller novels, and the creator of the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. Globally, his books have been translated into thirty-seven languages.

Synonymous with plot-twisting page-turners, Peter has garnered an army of loyal fans throughout his storytelling career – which also included stints writing for TV and producing films. He has won over forty awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award, Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger and a BAFTA nomination for The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons for which he was an Executive Producer. Many of Peter’s novels have been adapted for film, TV and stage.

Peter James is a UK No.1 bestselling author, best known for his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, now a hit ITV drama starring John Simm as the troubled Brighton copper.

Much loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters, and accurate portrayal of modern day policing, he has won over 40 awards for his work including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger.

To date, Peter has written an impressive total of 19 Sunday Times No. 1s, sold over 21 million copies worldwide and been translated into 38 languages. His books are also often adapted for the stage – the most recent being Looking Good Dead.

Editorial Reviews

08/04/2014
British author James’s 10th novel featuring Det. Supt. Roy Grace of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team (after 2013’s Dead Man’s Time) is an adroit study of obsession and revenge. Bryce Laurent, a violent narcissist who can’t bear to see ex-girlfriend Red Westwood dating someone else, rents an apartment nearby, and spies on her using the night-sights of his crossbow and several bugging devices. Shortly after Red’s new boyfriend, Dr. Karl Murphy, fails to show up for a date, the police question her about his disappearance, while also enquiring after Laurent, against whom Red has a restraining order. When a group of golfers discover a badly burned corpse, Grace gets on the case. The author is unflinching in his descriptions of domestic abuse, and paints a vivid picture of Brighton with daily life punctuated by cigarettes, booze, and greasy food. A subplot involving Grace’s vanished wife, Sandy, will please series regulars. Agent: Carole Blake, Blake Friedmann Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

An adroit study of obsession and revenge.” ―Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2014-09-13
While he counts down the days till he marries pathology technician Cleo Morey, the mother of his baby son, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace tangles with a dangerously unbalanced jack-of-all-trades who just won't let his ex-lover go. "If I can't have you, no one will," thinks George Clooney look-alike Bryce Laurent about Red Westwood, the flame-haired beauty who dumped him when his over-the-top devotion turned abusive and scary. It's hardly an original concept, but Bryce brings unusual qualifications to the role of the spurned lover-turned-avenger. Though his stories about being an airplane pilot and air traffic controller were piffle, he has expert knowledge of locks (and how to pick them), fires (how to put them out, how to start them) and explosives (guess). He's a classic narcissist who's perfectly prepared to warm up for his planned torture killing of Red by attacking those closest to her, beginning with her current boyfriend, widowed family physician Karl Murphy. As Bryce considers whom to strike next—perhaps Red's best friend, dentist Raquel Evans, or Camilla Westwood, the mother who hired a detective to dig up dirt on Bruce—Grace (Dead Man's Time, 2013, etc.) faces an adversary closer to home: Sandy Lohmann, his wife, who plans to end her secret life in Munich with their son Bruno by interrupting Grace and Cleo's wedding with the news that even though she's been declared legally dead, there's enough life in her yet to ruin their big day. Bryce's ruthless proficiency as an arsonist guarantees the requisite number of pulse-pounding set pieces, but the whole affair feels a bit mechanical, right down to the climactic sequence in which he and Red are locked together inside the panic room she's installed to keep him at bay.

Kirkus Reviews