This book is my most recent immersion in the life of a fictional British policeman named Roy Grace (see earlier posts). In dealing with books of this kin, where plot details are all-important, it is most important not to give away anything crucial, so I have been carefully trying to avoid that unforgivable sin.
It's always a good sign in a book series if you can see the author becoming more skilled, more self assured, with each instalment. That is certainly the case with these novels, of which I have now read seven. Roy himself is less annoying than he was at first and Mr James seems to be enjoying himself by explaining the various social and occupational contexts with which the characters find themselves interacting. Perhaps it is significant that some of these contexts are the kinds that I am personally attracted to: manufacturing processes, industrial plant, harbours, decaying buildings. When I was young and worked in settings like those I sometimes amused myself by devising, while I worked, scenes for thrillers set in similar locations. God knows what my colleagues would have thought had they known; probably: "I always knew he was mad."
As I've said before, interwoven with the plot of the individual novels is a mysterious episode lurking in Roy Grace's past. From time to time we get hints about its cause and ramifications. The hints are getting stronger as the series progresses and the pot is given a nice old swirl right at the end of Dead Man's Grip.
What are the essential qualities of a good thriller? At the very least it should be interesting, suspenseful and gripping. This book meets those standards comfortably and I've already ordered the next one.
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