Dead Simple by Peter James

Synopsis :

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.


This is what I say :

I have never heard of Peter James let along read his book. However, since I inherited a few copies not too long ago, I thought I give it a try.  I was ready to be disappointed.  I was not disappointed.  Dead Simple is simply good.

I like it that the writing was entertaining and I was especially surprised to find elements of supernatural in the book as in the good detective actually consulted mediums to assist him in his case.  This wasn't blown into a huge story or step but was rather subtle in it's introduction and that made it different from other thriller.

The author also has a way of writing that is rather captivating.  I felt myself being in the coffin with Michael from the way he writes and I can felt Michael's panic being real through the words and pages.

All in all, it was a good discovery of this author.  I found 2 more of hims books among what I inherited so I shall be going through them real soon.  Let me go and see if there's more.