I always eagerly anticipate each Roy Grace book and was very excited to receive this from netgalley. However I felt this one took a while to really grip me and where I usually devour them quickly I didn't this time. I felt there was not much of Roy Grace and personal life in this book and the Armenian gangland aspect weighed down the story. This is the first time in the whole series I have not really enjoyed. If I consider it on a stand alone basis it was a good read but compared to the tense riveting read Peter James usually delivers I felt this fell short. however I still can't wait til the next one!

I have read all the Peter James books set in Brighton and featuring Roy Grace and have enjoyed them. However, I felt the last two or three were getting a bit bogged down in the never ending saga of his disappearing first wife who strikes me as being incredibly tedious. I was glad to see the back of her but now we have Roy being saddled with his son, I doubt if he is the father actually, and there are clearly going to be problems ahead as these have been signaled very clearly. We were left with a cliff hanger at the end of the last book regarding this child and I was wondering what would happen at the start of the next one. Well nothing is the answer which I found slightly disconcerting.

Anyway after this preamble I am glad to say that the meanderings of the last couple of titles seem to have come to a halt and this story is pacey and tense concerning a bomb scare and a kidnapping, both of which turn out to be not what they seem. The reader is kept on the edge of their toes right to the end and I felt that the author was back to his best. I do feel, however, that there is no need for the rather long and drawn out explanations of police procedures which slowed down the narrative.

But overall a good tight story with plenty of thrills

Another exciting yarn in the Roy Grace series with kidnapping plot,dastardly Albanians to the fore with the loathsome Cassian Pewe lurking. The usual clever plotline based around Brighton ,the patter between the regular characters make this a joy...long may Grace reign!

Really great read.

I have read all of Roy Grace novels from Peter James and expect my passion for the author to wain at some stage. It definitely did not in this one. After thirteen other novels based around the central character I expected I would be bored. In fact, just the opposite, because the author left out many of the familiar intricate relationship story lines and it worked well.

The characters were interesting and well developed and, as a football fan ,I found the bomb at the football stadium fascinating.

I guessed the first part of the kidnap but after that I went with the flow of the author’s story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmiilan and Peter James for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Excellent Read. Highly recommended.

Peter James is the master of British Crime drama. As with all the Roy Grace books this book was fast paced, gritty with lots going on! I loved the way all the various sub plots were linked and how Grace races against time, superbly aided by his team. A bit of a back seat for Cleo in this novel and obviously much more to come on Bruno's strange attitude, but a great story, told brilliantly. Couldn't put it down, read it in less than 24 hours!

I've read a number of the Roy Grace novels and have always found them really easy to get into and have been half way through the book before I know it.

Dead If You Don't was no exception. Set around the kidnapping of a local boy from a football stadium and a bomb scare in the same football stadium - DCI Grace thinks they must be linked, he's suspicious of coincidences.

There are a number of crimes in this novel all linking to the Albanian 'mafia' in Brighton and all with a link to the missing boy - or at least the link seems to be the head of the mafia family.

Peter James always manages to get really topical issues into his books which makes the plot relevant and more believable. He clearly does a lot of research into police work.

As a main character Roy Grace is not quite James Bond, but he is always willing to put his life on the line to save the day, thankfully he seems to have more lives than a cat and hopefully he'll continue to keep the streets of Brighton safe for a long time.

I really enjoyed this book and the supporting characters and their back stories add to plot and make you care about the characters. Glenn Branson in particular is a favourite reoccurring character of mine.

Looking forward to the next Roy Grace adventure. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book, this is my honest opinion.

I love Perter James and his Roy Grace books, however this one really let the side down. I love the banter between Roy and his team and this was missing. I felt this book could have been a stand alone without the Roy Grace name, if this was the case I would of given it more star but the lack of roy and his life in this book kind of let it down for me. That said Peter James always delivers fast pace book with tension galore to keep me reading.
I can't wait for his next book and please bring back more of Roy has his world in sunny Brighton.

Blooming heck! This book went all around the houses and back again with delightful convolution! We have a bomb at the Amex on Brighton's first premier league fixture, a body at an aggregate works and the subsequent death of the operator working there, the kidnap of a prominent person's son and the shenanigans of an Albanian gangster and his rather interesting pet. And front and centre of all things is one Roy Grace, his task being to solve all these crimes in record time or face the wrath of his superior who, shall we say, doesn't really like him. We revisit old friends from previous books too, a bonus for those who have followed this series religiously from book one. But, it doesn't matter if you haven't as the rest of the crimes herein are stand alone. Obviously for character development and series arcs (which this author is well known for dragging out) it is always best to start from book one and read in order. In the same vein as the Sandy series arc that has thankfully been concluded (and not before time) there are certain things that I have earmarked as being potential bubblings under and look forward to revisiting these in future books.
Anyway, back in this book and we do have a bit of everything. I do think that there was probably a bit too much going on and so each thing wasn't quite as well done as it could have been if it was given a bit more prominence. I sort of felt that some of the story was a bit diluted and small things that could have been expanded on more were lost in the noise of everything else going on. There were also a few things that just didn't quite sit right with me along the way. Whether that's poetic license or not is not for me to say but I have felt this a few times with this author/series so maybe I'm a bit over sensitive.
Characterisation was, as always, well played. Especially Mungo (Mary and Midge anyone!?) whose plight was very well described, and indeed terrifying. Even knowing what I do now, I couldn't help feeling for the lad. Roy himself is the constant he always is. Ripping up and re-writing the rule book to remove all the political correct claptrap and go back to the core values, it's why we all love him as a character. Some of the interactions with his boss had me laughing out loud at all the "management speak" that Pewe kept spouting.
All in all, a good solid addition to a series that is still keeping its head above water. If I'm right about what seeds are being sown for certain minor characters I really can't wait to see what happens next time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Another thrilling page turner from Peter James,

I devoured it in a weekend! I'm a big fan of Peter James' Roy Grace crime novels, not least because I live very near to a lot of the locations in the book, and have visited quite a few of them. This makes the experience of reading the books ever more real, and this was certainly true of Dead If You Don't. The Amex stadium, home to Brighton and Hove Albion is the star location for the start of the book, and having been there many times, it was really chilling to picture the scene of a bomb threat inside the stadium. The story develops from there, and in true Peter James style, the story is told through multiple characters.

The timeline is also very important, with the hour markers reminding you how tense the story becomes. I found myself really feeling the tension, and wanting to keep reading to find out what happens. What I love about the Roy Grace books is that you don't have to wait until the very end for a major plot development or cliffhanger, they are dropped into the text unexpectedly, and you often have to read on quite a bit to find out the conclusion. Plus, anything can happen, so you cannot bank on a happy ending!

Despite there being many books in the series, they are not formulaic or predictable and address a different concept or notion each time. This time it was around the Albanian community in Brighton and Hove, and you do get a really good insight into this world.

I would have no hesitation in recommending this book, and I have no doubt that I will re-read it at least once.

It is hard to keep a series fresh and exciting but Peter James is a master of his trade and this, the fourteenth Roy Grace police procedural is as good as ever.

There is much that is familiar and comforting in terms of the same much loved characters returning yet again but that is fine with me because the plotting is so good and it is obvious how much research the author has done into the machinations and politics of modern policing. The book reeks of authenticity.

His descriptions of life in Brighton are, as usual, spot on and the book was a total delight to read.

Highly recommended.

** spoiler alert ** In the past I've read all the Roy Grace books,but then it got to a point where the soap opera that was Sandy got a bit too much.
I probably missed two books out,and am surprised to find not only do we not have Sandy,but in this book,we barely have any interaction between our characters.
Glenn and Roy don't exchange any banter,Cleo is hardly there,and the long lost son seems only to be mentioned to sew seeds that he's going off the rails at some point.
The story itself was interesting enough,crime bosses,loyalty,cheating,lying,kidnap.... it built tension up well and made you doubt everyone.
It just didn't feel like a Grace story to me.

First of all, I would like to thank Pan Macmillan and Net Galley for a copy of this book. This is the 14th novel in the Roy Grace series.
Kipp Brown is a successful businessman but also a compulsive gambler. He has gambled all his money away and is broke. He is at the Amex Stadium with his teenage son Mungo to watch Brighton and Hove Albion, when Mungo sees his friend Alexander and he runs off to meet him. Kipp continues to his cooperate box for the game but there is no sign of Mungo when the game starts.
Also at the game is Roy Grace with his son. Even on his day off he can’t help himself. He sees a suspicious looking man with a camera. And when the man abandons the camera he goes to check it out. To discover that it’s actually a bomb, when he realises what it is, he runs it out of the stadium with it.
Kipp is wondering where his son is, when he gets a saying that kidnappers has got his son and they want £250,000 in bitcoin for his release. As Kipp has money problems he contacts the police. Roy grace is heading the team.
I have heard great things about the Roy Grace series. I must confess, before this, I had only read the first one. I really enjoyed this. Loved the action and violence and the overall story. Peter’s writing flows nicely and it’s easy to read. I can’t wait to read the rest in the series.

As always, I am not disappointed and find myself frustrated that I have to wait for the next one in the series

Dead if you don’t- Peter James 5* 17th May- Netgalley
When a bomb is placed in a football stadium and the stadium boss is told not to go to the police things are a little tense. His son disappears on the same day and is likely to be held ransom. What no-one knows is that Kipp is stoney broke, he has gambled everything away and more . Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is at the stadium with his son and is soon involved in the action. This is my first Peter James novel (I know- where have I been and what have I been reading all these years?! ) and yes- the author absolutely lives up to his reputation. You are drawn in from the word go and kept there right until the end, and even thrown around a little in the middle.This is a stand alone book -there was nothing I felt I was missing not having read the 13 others in the series. A brilliant plot, wonderfully executed. I might just be reading another one in the future!
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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really enjoy all this authors books and was really pleased to see Roy Grace back in action. Great Police procedural read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of Dead if You Don't, the fourteenth police procedural to feature Brighton based Superintendent Roy Grace.

It's all go at the Amex Stadium at Brighton and Hove Albion's first premiership game with a bomb threat and the disappearance of teenager Mungo Brown. It soon emerges that Mungo has been kidnapped so Roy and the team swing into action but the deeper they dig the more violent things become.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead if You Don't which is an absorbing read with plenty of action, tension and some good twists. Initially I found it a bit hard going with a different perspective and character in every chapter as it's tiring trying to keep up and work out who fits in where. Once I got it all sorted out the novel is a rattling good read - I never knew what to expect next and while some of it is violent and gory it's implied rather than detailed so it didn't put me off.

I like the procedural aspects of the novel which give the reader a good sense of modern policing, especially when Roy rips up the guidelines on humanitarian grounds and gets hauled over the coals (frequently) by his boss ACC Cassian Pewe. Their interplay is amusing and Pewe's command of management gobbledygook has to be read to be believed, and hysterical.

Dead if You Don't is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Another great Roy Grace read, a favourite character of mine and this one didn't disappoint, a bomb, a kidnapping drugs and even a crocodile, all came together in a fast paced well told story