Cover Image: Dead at First Sight

Dead at First Sight

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Member Reviews

I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of Dead at First Sight, the fifteenth novel to feature Detective Superintendent Roy Grace of the Suffolk police.

A woman is murdered in Munich and Roy Grace is investigating a suspicious suicide in Brighton. At the same time a couple of men in different parts of the world are disappointed when their lovers don’t turn up. The link? The internet scamming of lonely people.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead at First Sight which is a complicated tale of greed and financial ruin. The opening chapter describing Johnny Fordwater’s wait for his new love at the airport grabs the reader immediately as it turns from anticipation to disappointment. I was hooked and drawn in by the vivid, realistic description and after that the novel never lets go. It has multiple points of view and I initially found it difficult to keep track of all the characters but it all quickly makes sense as the narrative progresses and the characters slot into place. I found it to be a compulsive read.

The plot centres around these dating scams and while it would be easy to dismiss the victims as gullible fools Mr James presents a complex scenario of smart scammers preying on the loneliness and essential niceness of the targets. It’s a much more sophisticated operation than the well known Nigerian prince scams. The novel is both scary and informative in this respect.

Grace is suffering from a touch of burnout with having to deal with his boss, the odious, glory hunting Cassian Pew and the realities of modern day policing, but, despite this, he still runs an excellent investigation. I like the operational detail in these novels and the personality clashes which add realism to the narrative. I also like the way Mr James moves his characters on from novel to novel. There are more changes coming in Grace’s life, not least facing up to his son Bruno’s strange behaviour.

Dead at First Sight is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

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Dead at First Sight is Peter James’ fifteenth SI Roy Grace novels and like all the previous novels, it is a fabulous read. Once again our favourite characters take us through another investigation, internet romance frauds. As Roy is working towards the trial of ‘the black widow’ he gets simultanious calls from colleagues in Munich and USA and suddenly his team are plunged into a worldwide network of internet scammers, who are targeting elderly singles and relieving them of their life savings. The growing concerns that Roy has for his son Bruno intensify in this story and yet again we are left hanging, what is up with Bruno ?
Peter James’ novels never disappoint, they are fast paced, thrilling journeys from start to finish, bit like Glen Branson’s driving; hang on tight because you’ll get there far faster than you think. Despite this being number fifteen in the series and all the familiar characters are there if you have not read previous novels you could pick this book up and enjoy it independently, although you should then go back and read the rest because each book has its own tale to tell.
Once again I get to the end of the book and start the wait for the next. Thank you Peter James for this excellent series.

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I really enjoyed this book - it has a great plot, excellent main characters and is a real page turner. I would highly recommend this book.

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I love peter James' novels and always look forward to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace being back and this time hes been called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a woman in Brighton, only hes convinced its murder, but why? Going head to head with his odious boss he finds proof that the woman was killed and that her murder is just the tip of the iceberg, he finds himself uncovering a global scam involving internet dating and ripping off the lonely. As always there is Graces family issues running in the background with his wife Cleo and now his new found son from his first marriage, I'm sure when Peter James is ready the Bruno story will cause more heartache for Roy then hes experienced in all the previous books, I can't wait. Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan for letting me read an advanced copy.

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Yet another impressive addition to the Roy Grace series. Well-written, excellent depiction of time and place, an original crime in what can be a repetitive genre. The only reason I award four and not five stars in this case is that Peter James goes to unnecessary lengths to describe the background to both the central crime and the villains.

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Firstly thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the advanced copy of what is one of my favourite series of books. An absolute welcome return to form by Peter James in this latest Roy Grace book. It is very fast paced and an absolute page turner. It was truly brilliant and non stop from the first page to the last. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book or even the series. Cracking read.

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Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

I am a big fan of the Roy Grace series by Peter James so was delighted at being able to read this early, but now realise I'll have to wait even longer for the next instalment! But I really really enjoyed it it was pure reading pleasure..

I have to say I was initially worried about how far-fetched he would have to go to make a murder mystery around internet romance scamming but within a couple of pages it was quite apparent that that fear was unfounded Without giving away any spoilers this book has a lot of characters and a lot moving and connected parts and was full and twist and turns, which I loved. Some over stereotyping of some characters but glad that their backgrounds were finally explained but maybe that should have come a bit earlier in the novel but really only a tiny personal niggle that didn't affect the story in any way.

There's all the growth and development of the regular characters - especially Roy Grace and his partner Cleo and his long lost and socially awkward son Bruno, which in itself is another unfolding mystery that I hope will be resolved in the next book. Although the rest of his crime fighting team make appearances they are less prominent than normal in this book.

While this works as a stand alone book its the excellent continuity that also keeps me coming back for more, Spoiler alert, not sure how I feel about the next book not possible being set in Brighton but really looking forward to it.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a great read, Have not read anything from this author for a while, silly me. This was a well plotted read. Loved it

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Just keeps getting better

After fourteen other novels based around the central character, Roy Grace, (all of which I have read) I am expecting my affection to diminish. In fact, for me, this is the best so far. One of the things Peter James manages to do is keep his storylines bang up-to-date with cleverly crafted characters and so many twists and turns it is impossible to put down.

“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 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.”

Welcome to the world of Internet dating and scamming of the rich and over fifties who are bereaved and looking for some love and affection later in life. We all like to think we would never be taken in by any of these tricks but it happens and this is an astute look at how it does.

Roy Grace becomes involved when called in to investigate the ‘apparent suicide’ of one woman in Brighton who has a sister who recently took a fall from her flat onto railings in Munich, Germany.

This is a stand-alone novel, if you haven’t read any of the others, but there are a couple of characters and situations it definitely improves the enjoyment if you know the background.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmiilan and Peter James for my ARC of Dead At First Sight in return for my honest review.

Utterly brilliant read. Highly recommended.

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I have just read Dead at First Sight by Peter James. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for this ARC.

I loved this novel featuring Peter James' DS Roy Grace. Two men in different part of the world are scammed out of their life savings when supposedly meeting the love of their lives on the internet. D S Roy Grace gets involved when the women involved in the scams are murdered. Set mainly in Brighton, the home of Roy Grace, if you are a fan of Roy Grace, you will recognise a few shady characters from his previous novel along with his police team. A brilliant and heartbreaking story telling of the dark cruel side of the internet.

#DeadAtFirstSightRoyGrace15 #NetGalley

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Dead at First Sight is the 15th book in the Roy Grace series and is another superb read from Peter James. I have read all the books in this series and have loved each and every one of them.

In this book Roy Grace is faced with tackling the internet romance fraudsters who have conned thousands of people across the world out of huge amounts of money. As you would expect the subject has been meticulously researched by Peter James in this well constructed story. As we have come to expect from this series, the book is gripping, fast paced and draws you in right from the very first pages. As well as the main storyline we have the background stories of Roy's personal life, his career, and his son Bruno, from his first marriage, (this story in particular is building nicely, I can't wait to see where this is going to lead).

I can highly recommend this book. If you haven't read any of the other books in this series, then what are you waiting for? You really don't know what you are missing. I'm already looking forward to Roy Grace Number 16. Peter James just can't write them fast enough for me!

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Pan Macmillan for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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In this tale of the complexities and dangers of internet dating, and the reappearance of Roy’s nemesis, there are an awful lot of characters in this book, particularly in the beginning third - I thought I was going to have to write myself notes to remind me who was who!

I have two small niggles that others may not agree with... 1) the continued overuse of exclamation marks and 2) Roy’s team aren’t that prevalent in this book.

There is a lot of longevity in this series and I have a feeling the next book may be more focused on Bruno.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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The latest Roy Grace novel only disappoints when you realise that you have more than a year to wait for the next one!
An old “friend” pop up in Brighton as Roy, together with his team, take on the world of online scamming via internet dating.
This novel is more about the main story and Roy’s life with Cleo, Noah and now Bruno takes a backseat. I can’t wait to find out more about Bruno after the few times he appears.
Roll on May 2020!

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You know you're in safe hands with a Roy Grace novel, you can literally sit back and watch the drama unfold, Dead at First Sight is no exception.

Dipping into the world of internet romance scams, Roy Grace has a potentially unsolvable crime, with thousands being scammed out of their life savings across the world, trying to get to the source of the problem is difficult.

However, fans of Roy will know, he never shies away from a difficult task, particularly when the body count starts to mount up.

Great story, which is supported by a great cast of regulars (Glenn Branson is my favourite character),

There is the back story of Roy's personal life and how he is trying to reconnect with the son her never knew he had.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book, this is my honest opinion.

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Another chapter in the D I Grace story,complex and intriguing tale which is bang up to date involving internet scamming. It's hard to believe that some people can be so gullible. yet we read of it often.

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I loved this book read a lot by this author & he never disappoints. Well written & thought out, plenty of twists & amazing characters what more can you ask for...read all the books in this series it’s addictive.

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You know exactly what you are going to get from Peter James, a well plotted, exciting and accurate episode in the life of Roy Grace and the rest of the team in Brighton.

This one is well up to standards and engrossed me from the opening page. A fascinating plot about internet dating scams linked to murder showed that there is still a lot of like in this established series.

Excellent as always.

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* spoiler alert ** 3.5 stars

I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of this from netgalley... it's a great series of books.
I hope Mr James will forgive me for saying though,it's not the hours of research and plotting that mostly keeps me reading these books,but the characters.
Once again we have a really interesting,and very relevant crime.... internet dating,and conning people out of their money.
It's a lucrative crime,as our criminals showed.
Throw into that an old familiar face,and two sets of people watching s suspect... it all builds the tension to a tense climax.
All good there.
Whilst the last part of the book had more interaction,I still feel I'm missing banter between Glenn and Grace.
Again though,I'm left wondering about Bruno...

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