I always enjoy a crime book that makes you feel like you’re reading something fresh and interesting, rather than a retread of everything that’s gone before, even when there are familiar elements. That was certainly the case for me in One of Us Is Dead.
It begins with an intriguing premise. Viewpoint character James Taylor attends a funeral of an old school friend, only to see the third member of their former trio in the crowd. The twist? James had already attended that man’s funeral years earlier. Okay you’ve probably seen the ‘back from the dead’ trope before if you read a lot of crime fic, but it’s fairly swiftly revealed (so not a spoiler) that this particular dead/not-dead person is a criminal, setting up an intriguing plot. The details come out over the course of the book, so I won’t go into them, but suffice it to say that his activities soon gain the attention of the police and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.
Grace serves as a key viewpoint character, along with the girlfriend of the not-so-dead man, creating three interconnected storylines that race to meet in the middle. Along the way we learn a lot about interesting concepts such as 3D printing and the dark web.
So yes, I’ve probably read books with all these elements in them, but author Peter James really made this one work for me. The pacing is brisk, and the characters, for the most part, feel grounded and realistic, making it an enjoyable and satisfying read from start to finish.
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