Not Dead Yet

Not Dead Yet is one in the Peter James Roy Grace series. It's 8th in a series I've only read the 1st one of, but that worked out fine. I'd intended to read these in order, but someone gave this one to me. This detective reminds me strangely of Adam Dalgliesh (and I'm not saying that as a compliment), and I don't like the feeling that Roy Grace is just a bit too much like a detective I've known much longer. There is a plethora of subplots, and at times the book felt disjointed. The main detective has two different subplots going on, neither of them at all connected to the crime and neither of which is resolved. The main assistant detective also has a romantic subplot that is unresolved at the end of the book. The plot is just a bit busy for my taste. As when I read the first in the series: I like the detective just fine, but the plot doesn't suit me. I have so many books in my TBR stack that I think I won't add any more by this author to it.

from the dust jacket:

Days before one of Hollywood's hottest stars, Gaia Lafayette, leaves her Bel Air home for a movie role on location in Brighton, England, there is a bungled attempt on her life. The whole city of Brighton awaits Gaia's arrival, including her dangerously obsessive number-one fan looking for revenge and an anxious Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, charged with protecting Gaia.

When a mutilated torso is found on a chicken farm miles away in the countryside, Grace has no reason to connect this to the star's visit to the country. But as events rapidly begin to unfold, Grace and his team find themselves in a desperate race against time to save Gaia's life from a clever maniac who will stop at nothing to kill her.

Eurocrime closes a generally positive review with this: "it is becoming more the case that you will appreciate it much more if you read the series in sequence." Kirkus Reviews notes that criminals are unbelievably "thick on the ground". Publishers Weekly calls it "unnecessarily complicated".