Book ~ "Dead Man's Grip" (2011) Peter James

From Amazon ~ Carly Chase is still traumatized ten days after being in a fatal traffic accident that kills a teenage American student from Brighton University. Then she receives news that turns her entire world into a living nightmare. The drivers of the other two vehicles involved have been found tortured and murdered. Now Detective Superintendent Roy Grace of the Sussex Police force issues a stark and urgent warning to Carly: She could be next.

The student had deadly connections. Connections that stretch across the Atlantic to America and an organized crime group. Someone has sworn revenge and won’t rest until the final person involved in that fateful accident is dead. The police advise Carly her only option is to go into hiding and change her identity. The terrified woman disagrees. She knows these people have ways of hunting you down anywhere. If the police are unable to stop them, she has to find a way to do it herself. But already the killer is one step ahead of her, watching, waiting, and ready.

The story sounded interesting and had possibilities. I tried to like it but couldn't.

I found it long and draggy. A quarter of the book could have been cut out to make it more enjoyable.

I didn't find any of the characters likeable. Well, the only one I liked was Tony, the cyclist who got killed in the beginning of the book.

There seemed to be a lot of characters, especially cops or cop-related, so I gave up trying to keep them straight.

SPOILERS/POSSIBLE SPOILERS

This is the latest is a series featuring Roy Grace. His wife, Sandy, has apparently been missing for ten years and she pops up in this book in Germany. Why is she there? I dunno. And I'm not really sure why she disappeared in the first place. She seemed to be angry because she felt he was more dedicated to his job than to her. Just a guess.

And Carly was an idiot. She knows that the American-based mob are suspected of torturing and killing the other two people involved in the accident for revenge and she'll be next. Yet she turns down getting relocated along with her son by the police and flies to the U.S. to reason with the pissed off parents of the dead cyclist. Really?!