Killing the Beasts (Detective Jon Spicer Thrillers) - Softcover

Simms, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752877992 ISBN 13: 9780752877990

Publisher: Orion Publishing, 2008

Synopsis

The Commonwealth Games are coming to town and the city is alive with possibilities. Caught up in the commercial feeding frenzy is Tom Benwell, account manager at an advertising firm. The pressure is getting to Tom—too many deals to make and lies to tell, and his passion for the job is waning. Meanwhile, his friend, Detective Inspector Jon Spicer, is on the fast track, showing a commitment to his job that borders on obsession. In the aftermath of the Games, a series of brutal killings shatters the city's newfound spirit, and Jon Spicer gets the case. Each victim has been murdered in the same bizarre and grotesque manner, yet the lack of motive leaves the police utterly baffled. With the race on to catch the killer, both men find themselves caught up in a nightmare where the most innocent action can cost the highest price.

About this title

About the Author

Chris Simms works as a freelance writer. His previous books are Outside the White Lines, Pecking Order, and Shifting Skin.

Reviews

In this solid British police procedural from Simms (Pecking Order), Manchester Det. Insp. Jon Spicer looks into a bizarre series of murders, starting with the death of 22-year-old singer Polly Mather, whose throat is found clogged with a mysterious hard white substance. Simms shifts back and forth between the present—the autumn of 2002—and earlier the same year, when Spicer reconnected with an old friend, Tom Benwell, an advertising executive. Benwell has an unusual phobia, triggered by discarded used chewing gum, that's extreme enough to jeopardize his job. As Spicer investigates the murders, he finds a prime suspect in Benwell's company, a social misfit known by his colleagues as Creepy George. The author does a decent job of mixing the police investigation with Benwell's professional decline, though the resolution may strike some readers as too predictable. Spicer makes an appealing, if familiar, lead character. (Sept.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Orion Publishing
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0752877992
• ISBN 13: 9780752877990
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 274