Roy Grace, creation of the award-winning author Peter James, exposes the dark side of the internet in Dead at First Sight.You don’t know me, but I thought I knew you . . . A man waits at a London airport for Ingrid Ostermann, the love of his life, to arrive. Across the Atlantic, a retired NYPD cop waits in a bar in Florida’s Key West for his first date with the lady who is, without question, his … date with the lady who is, without question, his soulmate. The two men are about to discover they’ve been scammed out of almost every penny they have in the world – and that neither women exist.
Meanwhile, a wealthy divorcée plunges, in suspicious circumstances, from an apartment block in Munich. In the same week, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is called to investigate the suicide of a woman in Brighton, that is clearly not what it seems. As his investigations continue, a handsome Brighton motivational speaker comes forward. He’s discovered his identity is being used to scam eleven different women, online. The first he knew of it was a phone call from one of them, out of the blue, saying, ‘You don’t know me, but I thought I knew you’.
That woman is now dead.
Roy Grace realizes he is looking at the tip of an iceberg. A global empire built on clever, cruel internet scams and the murder of anyone who threatens to expose them.
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“Dead at First Sight” by Peter James is book fifteen in the Roy Grace series, but new readers can easily follow the characters and the story. James seamlessly provides any needed information about past events as part of the storyline. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, Head of Major Crime for Sussex Police, encounters the emotional devastation wrought by internet scammers, and uncovers the dark and sometimes lethal side of online identity fraud and internet romance deception, something that has cost victims over a billion dollars in the last year.
James tells the stories of participants on all sides of the internet swindle. The stories are emotionally and financially devastating; people lose life savings and self-respect. The characters are complex and multi layered. Readers get to them well, the victims, the perpetrators, the ruthless, and the avenging. Actions are told from various points of view so readers picture the whole chain of events and the consequences of internet treachery.
James entices readers with hints of what is to come. “Had he known the consequences that were to follow, he would never have picked the phone up.” Events take place over just a few weeks, and the story and people are complex on many levels. Victims go public and lay traps to catch offenders; villains hunt victims who discover the swindle to shut them up, and online scammers protect their business by hunting rogue offenders to kill them. Everyone is after someone else, and DS Grace and his team have to sort all this out, catch the criminals, protect the innocent, and keep both groups from imploding and killing each other.
Police actions are interspersed with everyday events to remind readers that characters are people after all, with normal joys and problems both at work and at home. There is also humor in the midst of trauma and monetary disaster including the chance of recovering lost money when pigs fly and people as inconspicuous as two sharks in a toddler’s paddling pool.
“Dead at First Sight’ is a compelling story with social importance, compelling characters, and lessons for this digital age; guard your privacy; do not believe everything you see online, except great book reviews.
You know you’re always going to get an original and topical plot with Peter James. With the fifteenth and latest outing in the Roy Grace series, it’s internet romance fraud and the havoc it wreaks on lonely people. On the surface, it doesn’t sound like a subject made for thrills, but when victims begin to fight back against the fraudsters the body count starts to rise.
And then there’s the welcome return of assassin, Tooth. He returns to Brighton, tasked with eliminating a couple of the bad guys by their former employer. Only Tooth’s not at his best.
Even though it lacked the pace and suspense of many of the Roy Grace novels, I enjoyed the story and the continuing struggles he has with his slimy boss, Cassian Pewe. The story’s easy to read and follow as the various characters head for the final showdown in the countryside. It looks like it could be mayhem, but Peter James always has a couple of welcome twists up his sleeve to make you gasp and smile.
While not the best of the series, Dead at First Sight remains an entertaining read with a serious message, highlighting the dangers of internet romance. There is humour, great writing and plenty of twists and turns from an author at the top of his game. He even leaves some unanswered questions from Grace’s private and work lives, so it will be interesting to see where the story goes from here.
Thoroughly recommended.
My favorite author writing on a current headline-grabbing subject. Just a brilliant author who’s humanity is defined on every page. Follow his Roy Grace series in order, but do yourself a favor and check out this remarkable Brit author.
Haven’t even finished this but I’m going to recommend it anyway – perfect for anyone who loves a tense police procedural. Full of authentic police details, interesting (and harrowing) information about internet romance scams, and a great backstory with everyman Roy Grace
Typical Peter James. Great as usual!
Peter James has written another superior installment in the Roy Grace Series.
This time Roy tackles internet scams that effects a lot of seniors who lose everything to the scammers,; their pension, their savings, even their homes never to recoup a cent. Over 300 million dollars go to scammers every year.
You just have to cheer Roy on and his team to get these scammers. Familiar faces and new ones.
It is an eye opener and a cracking good story. The pages fly by, specially as Roy’s team closes in to the culprits.
Peter James never disappoints. If you have not yet read a Roy Grace novel you are missing out. I feel like I know him.
Thanks to Net Galley and Pan MacMillian , MacMillian for the opportunity to spend a few hours in Roy Grace’s world.