Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Robert Hale
Publication Date: 30th June 2015
Pages: 226
MY REVIEW:
A copy of Dying
Wish was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author James Raven in
exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Robert
Hale.
This is another of those instances where someone totally
random to me and someone I have never heard of before takes the time to email
me at Confessions and ask if I would consider reviewing their book. James Raven
was a name I was not familiar with at all but after checking out the synopsis
for this one I decided to give it a go.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it
again. If these people take the time to self-promote and contact you about
their book, it doesn’t cost you anything but a little bit of your time and you
never know, you might just come across a little gem. I did with this one.
Jeff Temple is a Detective Chief Inspector with the
Hampshire Police. Temple and his team of investigators in the Major Crime
Investigations division are investigating the disappearance of married couple
Bob and Rosemary Hamilton. They went missing whilst on their way to a night out
with friends and an intended overnight stay in a hotel. They were a happily
married couple with a young child with no reason to disappear. When their car
is found abandoned, the worries for their safety grow.
Grant Mason is a local author who lives in the New
Forest. He writes books about the forest and gives advice on treks that can be
taken in the local area. He has a heart attack at a book signing event. Just
before he dies he whispers to his PA that he needs her to do him a favour. He
needs her to go to his house and burn it to the ground.
She mentions this to Temple who knew Mason on a social
level so he agrees to go to his house to see if there is anything mysterious.
When he gets there he is assaulted by a masked intruder and left for dead. When
his team arrive at the house they find a secret in Mason’s loft. It’s a map of
the New Forest, covered with little crosses with names beside them.
On investigation, the names belong to various people who
are listed as missing persons. Could these sites be graves? Who is the mystery
person that appears in some disturbing video evidence found at Mason’s house?
These are questions that Temple and his team must answer before time runs out
for Bob and Rosemary.
After starting to read this book it became very clear
that it is part of a series involving Temple and his team. I didn’t know this
before reading the book but to be honest it doesn’t make any difference to the
story. It works extremely well as a stand-alone book. I will, however,
definitely be checking out the rest in the series because Temple is a really
good character.
We have a mixed bag of characters in this story, most of
them really good. Jeff Temple himself is a man in his late forties whose wife
has died a few years previous and he is now in a relationship with a much
younger girl from his team. He is a workaholic but runs a very tight ship and
seems to be well respected for his work and personal ethics. Members of his
team who stand out would DC Walsh and DS Vaughan. Both are very dedicated and
driven individuals who seem to get on well with Temple in both professional and
personal circumstances. You don’t know a lot about their pasts but you don’t
need too. You basically meet them, like them and let them get on with their
jobs. All of the police characters in this story work extremely well together
giving the impression of a very well-oiled machine.
Villains wise we have Grant Mason. On the outside and to
his readers a well-educated man with an astounding knowledge of the New Forest.
You don’t actually see a lot of involvement from him in the story before he
dies but it’s what he has left behind that shapes the story. It is quite clear
the man was a disgusting, disturbed and evil individual and you will be very
glad, very quickly that he is indeed dead. His accomplice is obviously made of
the same stuff and you want him to be caught very very quickly.
The plot is nothing new. It’s a British crime thriller
where people have gone missing and the police are racing against time to try
and find them and rescue them before they get added to the statistics. The
thing that makes this book so good is the tension and the mystery. You know
there is an accomplice out there. You know they are evil beyond imagination.
There are a few people within the story that you think may be that person but
if you manage to guess who it is before reading about 80% of this book then you
are a genius. When you eventually do find out who it is you will soon realise
there was no way you were ever going to guess. It all comes out in an absolute
perfect twist.
I really like the writing style of James Raven. If this
story were real life it would be horrific. Especially in the UK. It would be
the sort of story that would have every single person in the country talking
about it non-stop. People would have the twenty four hour news channels on
permanently following the story to see where it was going to end up. This is
exactly how you feel when you read the book as well. It is very fast paced and
there are very few times that there isn’t something happening that makes you
want to keep turning the pages. It is very hard to put down.
Epilogues in books tend to tidy things up and bring
everything to an end. Not with this baby. It leaves you with a sinking feeling
in your stomach knowing that there is much much more to come from this story.
Whether it gets continued in a follow up book remains to be seen but I for one
would certainly be reading it.
To summarise: British crime thriller. Very gritty.
Horrific at times due to some of the subject nature and detail. Very well
written and makes your imagination go wild thinking what is going on after only
giving you a snippet of information. I’m sure fans of James Raven already know
this but this man can write very good stories. This is sort of thing that if it
was a series on TV, I would use the “series link” button after one episode.
General rating:
★★★★ well worth picking up.
Thriller rating:
★★★★ thrills galore.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer then please consider using the links below to buy Dying Wish or any other books from James or indeed anything at all
from Amazon. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many
people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
Murder, kidnap, torture—these are not words usually
associated with Hampshire’s beautiful New Forest. But when local author Grant
Mason has a heart attack, he makes a bizarre dying wish: he wants his loyal
assistant to burn down his house. His request sets off a chain of events which
leads to a police hunt for a missing couple and a deranged killer. DCI Jeff
Temple and his Major Investigations Team take on their toughest case yet, and
in the process they uncover dark secrets that were meant to stay buried forever.
This is the fourth book in the DCI Jeff Temple series.
James Raven has been
a journalist for most of his working life. After reporting for newspapers he
moved into television as a news scriptwriter. He then worked his way up to
become Director of a UK News Division. He now runs his own TV production
company. James spends much of his time writing and travelling. He is also an
accomplished magician.
He
is the author of a number of crime novels including bestsellers MALICIOUS AND
AFTER THE EXECUTION. His other books are Rollover, Stark Warning, Urban Myth
and Arctic Blood.
And for more about James, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Amazon Page
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