Book Review: The Calling of the Grave by Simon Beckett

The Calling of the Grave by Simon Beckett


Product Details

ISBN: 9780593063460

Format:Trade Paperback

Imprint:Bantam Press

Published:04/01/11

RRP $32.95



Forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter returns in a menacing new novel, perfect for fans of Kathy Reichs

DESCRIPTION OF BOOK

When DI Terry Connor turns up on David Hunter’s doorstep one morning, it’s an unwelcome reminder of the past in more ways than one. The two used to be friends before Connor’s behaviour caused a bitter rift. And the news the policeman brings is even less welcome: the psychotic rapist and murderer Jerome Monk has escaped from high security prison.



And he's a name all too familiar to Hunter. Ten years before he'd part of an ill-fated Body Recovery team assembled to try and locate the graves of Monk’s teenage victims on the bleak expanse of Dartmoor. Only one of the missing girls’ bodies was ever found, and Monk’s own controversial involvement in the search led only to more failure...as well as a violent denouement. And now Monk is loose again - and inexplicably intent on targeting anyone involved with the original search.



Responding to a mysterious appeal for help from Sophie Keller, a young woman who also worked on the operation, Hunter finds that the past is far from as dead and buried as he believed. Neither the events unfolding now, nor those from ten years ago, are quite as they seem. And as Monk’s bloody trail edges closer, Hunter is forced to question who he can really trust. Especially when his own life might depend on it.

Review

Simon Beckett is the thinking man’s James Patterson. His novels are written to a formula that sees more depth of character and descriptive narratives of the autopsies and horrific events leading to that point. The Calling of the Grave is the forth book with the well developed character, David Hunter. Hunter is a forensic anthropologist, who always seems to end up in an all out adventure trying to determine the killer in Beckett’s thriller/crime novels.

The book is very fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat until the final page, which i kind of saw coming but enjoyed nevertheless. I liked the intriguing plot with the escaped serial killer, Jerome Monk and his taunting of the team who worked on the case putting him behind bars a decade ago.