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amothersmusings1's review
5.0
"Dead Set" is the third in Will Carver's Detective January David series and for me the best of the three!
Having enjoyed the first but disappointed in the second I was worried about reading this one and it not being up to the original standards but.....wow! - it surpassed all expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it, not being able to put it down at all.
"Dead Set" takes us back to January's wife Audrey David and the chilling Eames and I loved following all the new murders set between America and England.
Will Carver has a fabulous imagination and really knows how to engage the reader with a touch of the paranormal. Although you do need to suspend disbelief when January has his 'visions', these books are wonderfully entertaining and a very nice change to the run of the mill crime novels. Quite violent and descriptive in many ways this series is aimed at adults and overall I have really enjoyed following the detective, his wife, the sick twisted serial killer and the search for Cathy, January's young missing sister.
The denouement to the series (although I do hope for more) was beyond fabulous, I was gripped with the final few pages and stunned by one of the revelations. Well thought out and excellently crafted, I highly recommend this book and surreal series and will certainly be looking out for more by Will Carver in the future.
5 stars
Having enjoyed the first but disappointed in the second I was worried about reading this one and it not being up to the original standards but.....wow! - it surpassed all expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it, not being able to put it down at all.
"Dead Set" takes us back to January's wife Audrey David and the chilling Eames and I loved following all the new murders set between America and England.
Will Carver has a fabulous imagination and really knows how to engage the reader with a touch of the paranormal. Although you do need to suspend disbelief when January has his 'visions', these books are wonderfully entertaining and a very nice change to the run of the mill crime novels. Quite violent and descriptive in many ways this series is aimed at adults and overall I have really enjoyed following the detective, his wife, the sick twisted serial killer and the search for Cathy, January's young missing sister.
The denouement to the series (although I do hope for more) was beyond fabulous, I was gripped with the final few pages and stunned by one of the revelations. Well thought out and excellently crafted, I highly recommend this book and surreal series and will certainly be looking out for more by Will Carver in the future.
5 stars
karlou's review
5.0
I was perhaps a bit daft when I chose this book because I didn't realise until I'd started reading it that it is the third in a series about Detective January David. Therefore I knew nothing of the story thus far or anything about any of the characters who appear in all three books. Perhaps once I realised I should have stopped and read the other books first, in chronological order. The thing is though, I couldn't stop. Within a few pages I was hooked. It's been a while since I read a psychological thriller and longer still since I read one as different and as enthralling as Dead Set.
The author uses multiple characters to tell the story, often but not always in the first person. These characters include the voices of the victims, describing their own deaths. As I read the book these voices became like a jigsaw as I attempted to piece everything together. It may not be a style that every reader will like but I was completely engrossed by not only the story itself, which is chilling, absorbing and superbly paced, but by the unique way the book is written. It's not a book for the faint hearted, whilst not excessively gory it doesn't pull any punches and the paranormal slant adds an extra layer of thrills without taking over the story.
In conclusion, whilst I think it does make more sense to read these books in order, if like me you find yourself reading Dead Set first and if you enjoy well written thrillers that are intelligent and unpredictable then also like me you will love this book.
Of course I am going to have to read the first books, Girl 4 and The Two very soon!
Disclosure: I received a free copy of Dead Set from Netgalley in return for my honest review.
The author uses multiple characters to tell the story, often but not always in the first person. These characters include the voices of the victims, describing their own deaths. As I read the book these voices became like a jigsaw as I attempted to piece everything together. It may not be a style that every reader will like but I was completely engrossed by not only the story itself, which is chilling, absorbing and superbly paced, but by the unique way the book is written. It's not a book for the faint hearted, whilst not excessively gory it doesn't pull any punches and the paranormal slant adds an extra layer of thrills without taking over the story.
In conclusion, whilst I think it does make more sense to read these books in order, if like me you find yourself reading Dead Set first and if you enjoy well written thrillers that are intelligent and unpredictable then also like me you will love this book.
Of course I am going to have to read the first books, Girl 4 and The Two very soon!
Disclosure: I received a free copy of Dead Set from Netgalley in return for my honest review.
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