Stop dead is the 5th novel in a series about a female police detective – Geraldine Steel. At the start of this novel she has moved to a new police station and a new team this time in London. A man is found dead in a car, battered to death. Believing it at first to be a simple open and shut case, a second, unconnected man is also found dead, with identical injuries, and suddenly Geralidine has been thrust into a serial murder enquiry. Can she stop the killer before the bodies start piling up?
As with any book in a series, my main concern was whether I would have needed to have read the first four books first in order to enjoy this one. However I was relieved to find that I could follow the story and read it easily. There were references to people and events that were clearly based on earlier novels. And the reason for the move to London has probably been covered in more detail. But this would have only added padding to the story and wasn’t necessary to book number 5.
I did find the story a little frustrating, in that there were some screamingly obvious parts of the book. But it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the story.
Stop dead was an enjoyable and gripping detective story, which kept the tension going and wasn’t too gruesome to read. Without being anything special, it was a solid read and fitted into the genre well. I found I didn’t personally identify with Geraldine, nor with the other characters in the book but maybe this would be different if I had read the previous novels, and I certainly wouldn’t use this as a reason not to read the book.
If you enjoy the crime and detective genre, then this is a good book to read.
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