Dead Like You

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace returns in Peter James' latest mystery, "Dead Like You".  He is now in charge of cold cases.  A woman has been raped on New Year's Eve in a Brighton hotel.  The case is disturbingly similar to the case of the Shoe Man back in 1997.

Author Peter James offers the reader parallel stories, which flip back and forth between 1997 and now.  Grace was in a loving relationship with his wife, who has been missing for nine and a half years.  Now his girlfriend is expecting their first child.  Then, a young woman had gone missing; possibly a victim of the Shoe Man, who assaulted women and took their panties and one shoe.  Now, the assailant takes all of their clothing.

A potential culprit is presented early on in the story, but later on a second potential culprit is also presented, leaving the reader second guessing themselves.

Grace is given a group of ex-coppers to work the cold cases.  As he starts with them he informs them that he had been reviewing the Shoe Man case, and when he returned to it the following day he discovered that several pages were now missing.  Another mystery is offered up to the reader, and it is just after this that the reader is presented with a third potential culprit.

Grace also has a good team to help him with the current rape cases, but can they solve the crime before another rape occurs, because the current rapist seems to be following the pattern of the Shoe Man.  The team is slowly gathering evidence when Grace reveals information to the press, which he hopes will cause the perpetrator to make a mistake.  Unfortunately at this same time, Grace is presented with another possible perp.

As the investigating team eliminates suspects, another young woman is kidnapped.  Grace and his team are now in a race to save her.  Time stretches out for her and Grace's team as author Peter James ups the tension while drawing the reader along to a surprising conclusion.  A great read!