Dead Simple (2005) by Peter James

Dead Simple (2005) by Peter James

Bad joke: Michael finds himself in a coffin six feet under with whisky and an erotic magazine for his stag party. Hours go by, no one comes to pick him up, his fiancée worries and calls Roy Grace. To locate him, the detective has only one lead: the wedding witnesses, all of whom died in a car accident…

Yes, it’s a bad joke that turns into a nightmare!

From 1981 onwards, Peter James published some thirty novels in the crime, fantasy and horror genres, translated into around 29 languages.

From 2005 onwards, he created Detective Superintendent Roy Grace of Brighton Police for a detective series of some fifteen titles. This book is the first story to feature an investigation by Inspector Roy Grace. Or rather Commissioner Grace! I don’t know why in my head I’m still convinced he’s a detective.

He is the main character in a series of books, the police commissioner in the series of detective novels devoted to him. His wife has disappeared. She left one morning and hasn’t been heard from since. Roy may meet other women, but he never loses hope of finding out what happened. Roy Grace is often described as a perceptive investigator who uses modern methods to solve criminal cases.

This book is not extraordinary, nor is it totally original. However, it is interesting, gripping and well-written enough to make me want to read all the Peter James books. Or at least this series of investigations.

Sometimes you get the impression that these characters, despite being from Brighton, are a little too Americanised. But aren’t we all influenced by America, whether we like it or not? Either you accept it, or you react so strongly against it that you marginalise yourself. After all, you can criticise and boycott all American products, but you’re bound to use them. We’re always criticising McDonald’s, but those fast-food restaurants are always full.

Or you could say that everyone is becoming the same! People look the same everywhere. The more they try to be original, the more banal they become.

Getting back to the book, you don’t have to be claustrophobic. After all, someone is being buried alive. It’s bad enough on film… but in a book, you can’t fast-forward or close your eyes.

It’s a fairly recurrent theme over the decades, if you look at The Screaming Woman, written by the great Ray Bradbury and made into a TV film by Jack Smight, or the other TV film, Buried Alive, by the excellent Frank Darabont starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. There was also an episode of Tales from the Crypt that ended that way, but The Vanishing (Spoorloos) also comes to mind.

Note that in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) – Uma Thurman is alive in a coffin, but it’s not exactly a live burial scene. In Buried (2010) – A man wakes up buried alive in a coffin. These films often feature scenes of suspense and anguish. If you’re sensitive to these types of scenes, you may want to be careful!

So, in this book, we suffocate with this character, experiencing his suffering at the same time as he does. You panic, wondering what you would do in his place. And the worst nightmares can surface. I wouldn’t recommend this book to asthmatics, whose greatest fear would be to leave this world suffocating!

On the other hand, there are problems that are resolved a little too easily and scenes that seem a little too familiar. These feelings of déjà vu can be disappointing, especially if you really wanted to be surprised on every page and not find yourself in scenes you’ve already enjoyed elsewhere.

Dead Simple is a good thriller to get you started with Peter James before fully immersing yourself in his next book, Looking Good Dead (2006).

Peter James, born on 22 August 1948 in Brighton, East Sussex, is a British writer, screenwriter and film producer, and author of crime fiction and fantasy. He spent several years in the United States, where he worked as a film producer and screenwriter.

He now lives in Ditchling, West Sussex, and the London borough of Notting Hill.