The Commonwealth Games are coming to town and the city is alive with possibilities. Caught up in the commercial feeding frenzy is Tom Benwell, account manager at an advertising firm. The pressure is getting to Tom—too many deals to make and lies to tell, and his passion for the job is waning. Meanwhile, his friend, Detective Inspector Jon Spicer, is on the fast track, showing a commitment to his job that borders on obsession. In the aftermath of the Games, a series of brutal killings shatters the city's newfound spirit, and Jon Spicer gets the case. Each victim has been murdered in the same bizarre and grotesque manner, yet the lack of motive leaves the police utterly baffled. With the race on to catch the killer, both men find themselves caught up in a nightmare where the most innocent action can cost the highest price.
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From Publishers Weekly
In this solid British police procedural from Simms (Pecking Order), Manchester Det. Insp. Jon Spicer looks into a bizarre series of murders, starting with the death of 22-year-old singer Polly Mather, whose throat is found clogged with a mysterious hard white substance. Simms shifts back and forth between the present—the autumn of 2002—and earlier the same year, when Spicer reconnected with an old friend, Tom Benwell, an advertising executive. Benwell has an unusual phobia, triggered by discarded used chewing gum, that's extreme enough to jeopardize his job. As Spicer investigates the murders, he finds a prime suspect in Benwell's company, a social misfit known by his colleagues as Creepy George. The author does a decent job of mixing the police investigation with Benwell's professional decline, though the resolution may strike some readers as too predictable. Spicer makes an appealing, if familiar, lead character. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
'Pacy, gripping and original storytelling' YORKSHIRE POST
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More About the Author
Chris Simms has worked in airports, nightclubs, post offices and telesales centres. Along with nominations for Crime Writer's Association Daggers and the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year award, Chris has been selected by Waterstone's as one of their '25 authors for the future'.
Chris says he is drawn to books that give insights into unusual minds. The twisted desires of Frederick in John Fowles', The Collector, the tormented thoughts of Scobie in Graham Greene's Heart of the Matter, the violent urges of Francie in Patrick McCabe's Butcher Boy are all are books Chris states had an influence in shaping him as a writer. The idea for his debut novel, Outside the White Lines, came to him in the early hours of the morning while broken down on the hard shoulder of the M40.
His series of DI Spicer novels - psychological thrillers set very firmly in Manchester - follow the police detective's fortunes as he pursues mad, bad and deadly individuals through the city's ever-changing landscape.
Chris says he is drawn to books that give insights into unusual minds. The twisted desires of Frederick in John Fowles', The Collector, the tormented thoughts of Scobie in Graham Greene's Heart of the Matter, the violent urges of Francie in Patrick McCabe's Butcher Boy are all are books Chris states had an influence in shaping him as a writer. The idea for his debut novel, Outside the White Lines, came to him in the early hours of the morning while broken down on the hard shoulder of the M40.
His series of DI Spicer novels - psychological thrillers set very firmly in Manchester - follow the police detective's fortunes as he pursues mad, bad and deadly individuals through the city's ever-changing landscape.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A perceptive and absorbing whodunnit,
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This review is from: Killing the Beasts (Detective Jon Spicer Thrillers) (Paperback)
Jon Spicer is pulled off a long running car theft operation to lead the hunt for the killer of Polly Mather. His chance to prove he can cut the mustard. Soon more bodies are discovered and Jon is desperate to find a link between the murders.Meanwhile he wonders about his old friend Tom Benwell. Tom works for an advertising agency and is unexpectedly promoted as the pressure builds for advertising opportunities around Manchester city centre during the run up to The Commonwealth Games. The story all takes place in 2002 but the chapters swap between the Autumn (the present) and earlier in the year. Although it took me a few chapters to get used to the time swapping, once I had, it worked really well and is very necessary to the story. Simms specialises in damaged and disturbed characters and whether you're creeped out, sympathetic to, or repulsed by them...he certainly makes them realistic. His 'normal' characters are well written too. I liked DI Jon Spicer. A rugby man (Spicer the Slicer) who enjoys his job, loves his girlfriend, but isn't infallible. A story that gives you a disturbing but very believable glimpse of madness alongside an engrossing crime investigation.
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