Michael Harrison had it all: good looks, charm, natural leadership, a wicked sense of humor, and now, Ashley, his fiancare suddenly thrown in to qu...
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Nov 20, 2011
Rod
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Dec 23, 2010
Jim
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"Dead Simple" was the title, "Utterly Ludicrous" was a plot that is just about gotten away with. Your mate is a big prankster, so you decide to pay him back on his stag night by burying him alive. Perhaps you can't take a joke lads and therefore the four of you deserved to be wiped out in a tragic accident on the way to the next pub? Yes, with friends like these. As the unfortunately interred yuppie lies whimpering in his grave, his best mate, who has been shagging his fiancé
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May 30, 2011
Barb
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The beginning of this story was so uncomfortably tense that I almost didn't carry on reading but I am so glad I did otherwise I would have missed a smashing tale.
The mystery unfolds layer by layer, by twists and turns, piling on more tension and urgency all the way. At first I considered some of the twists came a little fortuitously out of the blue. Sometimes I can be a bit thick. It soon sank in that it was exactly how it would have appeared to the two main tellers of the tale. Thank h More...
The mystery unfolds layer by layer, by twists and turns, piling on more tension and urgency all the way. At first I considered some of the twists came a little fortuitously out of the blue. Sometimes I can be a bit thick. It soon sank in that it was exactly how it would have appeared to the two main tellers of the tale. Thank h More...
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Apr 25, 2011
Deepa
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Story- Michael and four of his close friends are having a bachelor’s party three days before his wedding. They drink till they almost drop and are not in their senses. The four friends are now all set to take playful revenge on Michael for all the pranks that he has played on them. They put him into a coffin, throw in a walkie-talkie and a beer bottle, nail it down, fix a narrow breathing tube through an opening in the coffin and bury it in the woods. They burst into laughter and drive off to en
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Mar 29, 2008
Linda
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An outstanding series debut that will have you guessing right to the end. On a stag night the groom is buried alive in a coffin as his stag night prank...but it all goes horribly wrong when the best men responsible, are killed in a car accident before they have had a chance to dig their friend up. just when you think you have worked out what is happening, the story takes another twist and leaves you wondering how it will all end
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Aug 06, 2008
Michelle
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Great book. First in Detective Grace series. Page turner because you have more information than the detective and are anxious for him to know what you know, plus anxious for him to solve rest of mystery. Wish I had read series in order, but not essential. Can't wait to read books 3 and 4, which are already published in UK but not in US yet.
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Oct 01, 2011
Steve
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Jan 17, 2011
J.R.
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A get-even prank on the stag night before his wedding has Michael Harrison, a wealthy property developer, buried alive in a coffin and fighting for his life as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace leads the search for the missing young man.
Despite the bride-to-be’s displays of grief and concern, Grace has a gut feeling she isn’t being entirely truthful with him.
James’ interest in the paranormal is brought in early on and there’s a car chase, if you like those things. Overa More...
Despite the bride-to-be’s displays of grief and concern, Grace has a gut feeling she isn’t being entirely truthful with him.
James’ interest in the paranormal is brought in early on and there’s a car chase, if you like those things. Overa More...
Apr 21, 2010
Victoria
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Simple this story was not! This mystery, the start of a series, involved complex characters, a well-layered plot and quite a riveting premise: a bachelor party prank (or, more properly, a stag night stunt) gone horrible wrong leads to a twisty plot that keeps getting crazier and crazier. I certainly did not predict where the story went. And the main character, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, was likable with an interesting backstory that I hope will continue to develop throughout the series.
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Jun 23, 2008
Edmund
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The venue/setting for the book, Brighton, happens to be where I grew up. That, plus the fact that this police procedural novel is well written/suspenseful makes it a winner with me. I look forward to reading others in the series.
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Dec 28, 2011
Donna
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Aug 21, 2011
Tanja
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Michael is a succesful business entreprenuer who is getting married to a beautiful woman. During his bachelor's party his friends decide to get back at him and pull a dreadful prank: they put him in a casket and bury him. They intend to leave him for a couple of hours, but then all four of them get killed in a car accident. Michael's best man and parnter Mark misses the bachelor's party because of a delayed flight. He knows the plans though, but does nothing to help the police.
This book is inter More...
This book is inter More...
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Sep 22, 2007
Lily
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Great page turner...imagine being buried alive in a coffin. I love/hate suspense books and finished this one in 2 days.
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Sep 02, 2011
John
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I started reading the novels of Peter James last year and found that just by the down-to-earth well written stories with the confident understanding of characters, he has taken me at times to such a state of suspense that I just couldn’t stop reading them, it is no wonder that he has become one of Britain's best-loved crime writers.
All his stories are located in Brighton, just an hour's train ride from London, and over the sequence of his novels, Peter James is establishing himself t More...
All his stories are located in Brighton, just an hour's train ride from London, and over the sequence of his novels, Peter James is establishing himself t More...
Aug 21, 2008
Keiran
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A great book, not just for crime fans. Good suspense and interesting detective methods? 8/10
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May 15, 2011
comfort
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Very good who-done-it. Stories within stories and a rowdy car chase which is easy to see as a movie sequence.
a bucks night prank gone wrong, an unfortunate accident and a man buried alive with a walkie talkie, a bottle of scotch a dirty mag and a torch. The only person he can reach on the walkie talkie is a "slow" young boy a great fan of American movies who is afraid to tell anyone that he is talking to the missing man.
The fiance and the business partner are susp More...
a bucks night prank gone wrong, an unfortunate accident and a man buried alive with a walkie talkie, a bottle of scotch a dirty mag and a torch. The only person he can reach on the walkie talkie is a "slow" young boy a great fan of American movies who is afraid to tell anyone that he is talking to the missing man.
The fiance and the business partner are susp More...
Oct 26, 2011
Steve
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Jan 18, 2012
Natasha
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This book took a little while to get into. It was also different from a lot of crime novels I've read. I haven't read many as crime fiction isn't my usual genre but of the ones I've read, the killer or the culprits are unknown. In this novel, we already know who the guilty parties are. However, I really loved the character of Roy Grace and I'm now really invested into his story of his missing wife and what happened to her. It's definitely an ongoing mystery that I will follow in the subsequent n
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May 30, 2011
Jue
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Dead Simple is my first Peter James read, wow, what a damn good read it was to, can't believe I have a selection of his books sitting on my shelf that have been collecting dust for at least a couple of years and I have only just decided to start reading them now!
Five men and a coffin in a van out on a stag night. The groom is put in the coffin and buried two feet underground. Two minutes later a truck runs into van and bang go his chances of getting out alive as all his frien More...
Five men and a coffin in a van out on a stag night. The groom is put in the coffin and buried two feet underground. Two minutes later a truck runs into van and bang go his chances of getting out alive as all his frien More...
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Aug 19, 2007
LJ
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DEAD SIMPLE (Police Procedural-UK-Cont) – VG
James, Peter – 1st of series
Macmillan, 2005 – UK Hardcover
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace’s wife disappeared several years ago without a trace. Now Grace is asked by Ashley Harper to find her fiancée, missing three days before their wedding. Michael Harrison is a practical joker. But his friends have turned the table, taken him out, got him drunk and buried him in a coffin with an air tube. But the joke goes bad when the frien More...
James, Peter – 1st of series
Macmillan, 2005 – UK Hardcover
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace’s wife disappeared several years ago without a trace. Now Grace is asked by Ashley Harper to find her fiancée, missing three days before their wedding. Michael Harrison is a practical joker. But his friends have turned the table, taken him out, got him drunk and buried him in a coffin with an air tube. But the joke goes bad when the frien More...
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Sep 12, 2011
Alecia
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Although this was an "easy read" and doesn't particularly insult the reader's intelligence, it was still a rather predictable story. I bought this from a limited selection of books while away, and it passed the time and was bearable. It's about a stag night prank gone terribly wrong (the groom is buried alive as a "joke"...already they've lost me) and also major betrayals between the main characters. It does move right along, so for that reason, I'd give it a 2.5/5stars.
Mar 16, 2009
Chris
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Couldn't put it down - a good read for a particular mood. But after reflection there were some annoying aspects. I do dislike it when authors keep switching narrative points of view - narrating from many different characters. This means you don't get to understand a particular character and the narrative is everything which means it may be a good read but not a great novel. I'm looking forward to the Looking Good Dead all the same.
Jul 23, 2011
Tom
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I am not really a fan of these Police thrillers but this is well written, fast paced and pretty funny in places. Centres around a Brighton based copper called Roy Grace who is an unorthodox and who uses mediums for example especially after his wife vanished 10 years ago. I couldn't put this down. A simple and effective read and I am going to read the rest of the Roy Grace novels as and when I get time.
Dec 27, 2011
Sarah
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Aug 30, 2011
Jeanne
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Actually I was prepared not to like it and I would probably have given it 4.5 stars. It starts out very dark and disturbing. Four young men take their friend out for his stag party. Michael is a prankster and their plan to get back at him is to bury him alive, but only for a couple of hours. On the way to the next pub they are all killed in a car accident and then the evil unfolds layer by layer until the end of the book.
Jan 10, 2011
CreamOfLife
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www.amazon.uk.com says:
It was meant to be a harmless stag night prank. A few hours later four of his best friends are dead and Michael Harrison has disappeared. With only three days to the wedding, Detective Superintendent Grace - a man haunted by the shadow of his own missing wife - is contacted by Michael's beautiful, distraught fiancée, Ashley Harper. Grace discovers that the one man who ought to know Michael Harrison's whereabouts is saying nothing. But then he has a lot to gain - more More...
It was meant to be a harmless stag night prank. A few hours later four of his best friends are dead and Michael Harrison has disappeared. With only three days to the wedding, Detective Superintendent Grace - a man haunted by the shadow of his own missing wife - is contacted by Michael's beautiful, distraught fiancée, Ashley Harper. Grace discovers that the one man who ought to know Michael Harrison's whereabouts is saying nothing. But then he has a lot to gain - more More...
Oct 17, 2011
Lea
rated it:
I loved this book, i was about 10% in and i thought i had it figured out and i was wrong. It had a few twists and turns and some of them i didnt see coming.
I found it quite distressing - what happened to Michael - dont want to give the game away, but what happened to him is my worst nightmare and my skin crawled when reading it.
I have downloaded the second book in the series.
I found it quite distressing - what happened to Michael - dont want to give the game away, but what happened to him is my worst nightmare and my skin crawled when reading it.
I have downloaded the second book in the series.
Jul 29, 2011
Living in Brighton, I just had to check this out. I hadnt read Peter James before so wanted to start with the first in the Roy Grace series. I'm glad I did, I read it in 3 days and only took breaks for working, eating and sleeping. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and have started on the 2nd in the series straight away. Great suspense thriller.
Aug 07, 2011
Sam
rated it:
The Roy Grace series by Peter James are such great crime stories! Every time he releases a new one I have to read it straight away and I literally cannot put them down! I think it helps that each one is set around Brighton or that his writing style is very fluent and easy to digest..
Dec 18, 2010
Mickey Hoffman
rated it:
A clever page turner set in England, the MC is a cop who
isn't averse to getting help from psychics. Interesting idea
and not over done. Normally, I don't like paranormal anything
but it worked in this book. Would have liked to see some of
the characters developed more.
isn't averse to getting help from psychics. Interesting idea
and not over done. Normally, I don't like paranormal anything
but it worked in this book. Would have liked to see some of
the characters developed more.
