Dead Simple [Hardcover]

Peter James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 14, 2005

Michael Harrison had it all: good looks, charm, natural leadership, a wicked sense of humor, and now, Ashley, his fiancée. While out celebrating with a group of friends a few nights before the wedding, Michael suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself enclosed in a coffin equipped only with a flashlight, a dirty magazine, a walkie-talkie, and a tiny breathing tube. It's all in good fun — payback for the grief his mates suffered due to his own penchant for tomfoolery — that is until the four are killed in a drunk driving accident just moments after leaving Michael completely alone and buried alive.

Detective Superintendent Grace—himself dealing with the pain of losing his wife—is brought on to the case when Ashley reports Michael missing. Suspicions are raised when Michael's only friend not at the bachelor party refuses to cooperate, and Ashley's faithfulness—not to mention her increasingly mysterious past—are suddenly thrown in to question. As Superintendent Grace soon discovers, one man's disaster is another man's fortune.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author James's far-fetched but terrifying thriller is the first of a new series featuring Det. Supt. Roy Grace. Michael Harrison, a successful real estate developer with a penchant for practical jokes, gets a horrible taste of his own medicine. As a prank, four of his friends bury Michael alive in a coffin equipped with a breathing tube and a bottle of whiskey and leave him, ostensibly for a couple of hours. But when their van crashes head-on into a truck and three of them are killed (the fourth dies later "in hospital"), Michael is trapped. His cell phone doesn't work, but he does have a two-way radio whose companion is in the hands of Davey, a mentally challenged young man who finds the phone near the scene of the accident. Grace, a detective with a taste for the supernatural (he uses mediums to help him solve crimes), gets on the case and discovers just how devious Michael's friends have been. The "buried alive" trope is undeniably powerful, and Grace shows promise as a hero—but the crime and the plot surrounding Michael's plight are just too cumbersome and transparent to really engage the reader.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

James, the executive producer of the recent film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, brings his filmic talent to a suspense tale that is almost excruciatingly easy to visualize. His opening premise is startlingly simple, that of the trickster tricked. Four friends celebrate one of their members' impending marriage by embarking on a pub crawl through several Sussex villages. What the groom-to-be doesn't realize is that his pals plan to play a payback prank on him by burying him alive (with a breathing tube and a walkie-talkie) for a couple hours. They leave the scene and are killed by an oncoming vehicle. Enter Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, assigned to investigate the missing-bridegroom case. Grace finds the case difficult, both because of the dearth of clues and because of his own wife's disappearance some years before. Achingly well plotted, with suspense that has no letup. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (December 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078671641X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786716418
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping!, March 25, 2006

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Simple (Hardcover)

This is a book one should start with plenty of time to finish it in one sitting. Gripping is the word which comes to mind. James' background as a screenwriter and producer are evident in his ability to create strong characters and relationships, his ear for dialogue, and the pacing of the story. James' previous books look to be more in the horror or psychological suspense category, where this is a solid police procedural. My one slight criticism is the authors years in Los Angeles show as I kept having to remind myself the book is set in England; the style is more American than British. But the good news is this is the first in a series. The second book, "Looking Good Dead," is due out soon and is on my "must buy" list.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a thriller, March 18, 2006

By 

rgregg (Marina Del Rey, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dead Simple (Hardcover)

This was my first Peter James book but it certainly will not be my last. This page turning thriller that starts off as a stag night stunt gone horribly wrong turns out to be far from what the reader expects. Roy Grace is one fine new lead character...flawed but determined, intelligent but superstisous..he will be one to be reckoned with.
Michael Harrison is a soon-to-be groom who is buried alive by his joker friends as a gag. A terrible road accident leads the reader to an assumption of where this thriller is headed. The reader will soon find out that he it completely wrong.
James creates distinctive players in this game of who is good and who has hidden motives. This is a pure definition of page turner.
The reader will imagine watching this on the screen with appropriate scary music and moments of great shock and surprise.
My only quibble with James is the insertion of a phsycic late in the story that detracts from a nearly perfect conclusion.
Despite that I would recommend this book to nearly anyone who enjoys a great page turner and doesn't mind a "late night can't put it down" piece of suspense.
I finished this book in a single day and you will too!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you will need a seatbelt!!, July 23, 2006

By 

Barbara Cappucci (shrewsbury,MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Simple (Hardcover)

There are so many unexpected twists and turns you need a seatbelt!!! My jaw doesnt often drop when reading a book, but this one has done it. Ive read about three book from this author and always have my radar out for more, so when i saw this one i grabbed it!! Dont miss this book.....You will defintly be looking for more books by this author also. this is one of the books where you want the character to hear you yelling Do It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!