Saturday 11 May 2013

Stop Dead - Leigh Russell

Stop dead is the 5th novel in a series about a female police detective – Geraldine Steel. At the start of this novel she has moved to a new police station and a new team this time in London. A man is found dead in a car, battered to death. Believing it at first to be a simple open and shut case, a second, unconnected man is also found dead, with identical injuries, and suddenly Geralidine has been thrust into a serial murder enquiry. Can she stop the killer before the bodies start piling up?

As with any book in a series, my main concern was whether I would have needed to have read the first four books first in order to enjoy this one. However I was relieved to find that I could follow the story and read it easily. There were references to people and events that were clearly based on earlier novels. And the reason for the move to London has probably been covered in more detail. But this would have only added padding to the story and wasn’t necessary to book number 5.

I did find the story a little frustrating, in that there were some screamingly obvious parts of the book. But it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the story.

Stop dead was an enjoyable and gripping detective story, which kept the tension going and wasn’t too gruesome to read. Without being anything special, it was a solid read and fitted into the genre well. I found I didn’t personally identify with Geraldine, nor with the other characters in the book but maybe this would be different if I had read the previous novels, and I certainly wouldn’t use this as a reason not to read the book.

If you enjoy the crime and detective genre, then this is a good book to read.

Lethal Profit by Alex Blackmore

Eva Scott believed her brother Jackson had died in a car crash when he was 18, only to discover he was still alive. She had only just begun to get to know him again when he is found dead in Paris, supposedly of an overdose. Eva doesn’t believe the police report and decides to head over to France herself, in a bid to find out what really did happen to her brother. In doing so, she becomes involved in one company’s bid for power, and unleashes a violent series of events.

The sad thing about this book is that if it were a film, or TV programme, it would probably work considerably better. Yes the plot itself is incredibly far-fetched, but then so are so many films. Yes the main character is rather prone to being chased, beaten and knocked unconscious, but Kiefer Sutherland survived more in apparently 24 hours. So as a visual story, it would have stood up to the test much better. As a book it just runs away too quickly. I found myself completely and utterly exhausted from reading each chapter, as they all involved running, chasing cars or being in a fight. From an attempted rape in the first chapter, she went on to be unconscious at least twice, alongside being hit by a car, being tied up, kidnapped……. Every chapter some new calamity would befall her. I also found Eva Scott to be one of the most naïve and annoying characters. She believes all the wrong people, and ignores the screamingly obvious!!

I didn’t dislike the book, and to some extent I did enjoy reading it, because I wanted to know what happened. My main grumble would be that it was all a little too action packed. Too much action, not enough events or explaining.