Tuesday 23 December 2014

SHEER FEAR by Geoff West

4 out of 5 stars

Crime thriller

Originally posted on Amazon UK HERE on 17 November 2014
On Amazon.com HERE



I'd like to start by saying that the opening chapter is one of the best I've read for this sort of book - in fact it ought to be used in creative writing classes as an example of how to write the first chapter of a thriller. Suspense, danger, a guy wrongly accused of murder, it's got the lot!

This is one of those fantasy crime thrillers, more of a cross between 24 and Jonathan Creek (if you can imagine such a thing) than a realistic crime story like, for instance, George Gently. Its hero is fazed by nothing and no-one, flits across Europe to uncover mysteries in the way one might pop down to the shops, yet retains a rather naive (occasionally bumbling, even) attitude, especially towards relationships with the opposite sex, which might be part of his charm. He's your typical crime solving maverick, the guy whose methods are not orthodox but no-one can deny that he gets results. It's a good story of its type, well written and intelligent - you won't find any grammatical imperfections, errors or 'clunky' sentences! There are some well illustrated minor characters, too, namely Stephen Romsey and Veronica Dashwood.

I was interested in this book because of its theme of an historic child abuse cover up at the highest levels - very current, and I wanted to see how it would be handled. For me, there was not quite enough resolution about the conspiracy, but I'd still say that if you like this sort of crime fiction, Sheer Fear is well worth a click-buy! And Jack Lockwood lives to fight another day - just!

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