Need You Dead

Crime Of Passion

Peter James has created the popular crime series with ‘Dead’ in the titles and the hard-working cop Roy Grace as the protagonist. The thirteenth book in the series, Need You Dead, goes to show why the author is so popular and was awarded the 2016 Crime Writers’ Association’s Diamond Dagger award.

Unlike so many other trigger-happy, lone wolf policemen in crime fiction, Grace is a stable family man, with a wife Cleo, infant son Noah, and a dog. In the past, his wife Sandy had disappeared, causing him a great deal of anguish. In the last book, Love You Dead,Sandy has resurfaced in a Berlin hospital, where she committed suicide and left behind a son, Bruno, who turns out to be Grace’s. With Cleo’s gentle encouragement, he decides to bring Bruno to live with them in England.

So in between his investigation into the strange case of Lorna Belling, he has to prepare for the domestic upheaval that would be caused by the arrival of Bruno, as well as the professional annoyance of getting as his superior the hated Cassian Pewe.

Lorna was trying to escape an abusive marriage by having an affair with a married man, who, she discovers quite by chance, had been lying to her all along. She is found dead in a love nest she was sharing with her lover. During a quarrel, the man ended up killing her. He not just took care to remove all traces of his presence from the apartment, but also plotted to implicate Lorna’s worthless husband Corin.

When Grace, along with devoted deputy Guy Batchelor go to arrest Corin, he makes a run for and is crushed to death by a car.  Grace is not convinced that Corin was the killer, despite all evidence pointing at him. He believes in the credo, Assume nothing. Believe no one. Check everything. Which stand him in good stead in his career as a homicide detective.

The red herrings pile up and more suspects turn up. In the midst of all this chaos, Grace brings Bruno home—the strange, quiet child with a love for football and drums. 

The book is a serious police procedural, but also keeps an eye on Grace’s personal life and the emotional turbulence that is caused by Bruno’s arrival.  There is always a new twist introduced, but James takes time with new developments in the plot, which might get the impatient reader skip pages, but Need You Dead is ultimately a rewarding read for fans of crime fiction.

Need You Dead

By Peter James

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Pages: 512