About the author: Simon Beckett is the international bestselling author of three thrillers featuring forensics expert Dr David Hunter:
The Chemistry of Death (2006)
Written in Bone (2007)
Whispers of the Dead (2009 - the Sunday Times bestseller)
The Calling Of The Grave is the fourth and latest of the David Hunter thriller published on 3 February 2011.
In 2002, he went on an assignment for the Daily Telegraph Magazine to Tennessee's world-famous Anthropological Research Facility, The Body Farm. As well as providing the inspiration for David Hunter, what he saw and learned there, together with his meticulous approach to research, helps make his novels so frighteningly authentic. He lives in Sheffield. To find out more about him and his books, visit www.simonbeckett.com
Blurb: It was eight years ago that they found the body buried on the moor.
They were certain that this was one of psychotic rapist and multiple murderer Jerome Monk's teenage victims. Which left just two more bodies to find.
But the ill-conceived search ended badly. And with Monk safely behind bars, the momentum faltered. For forensics expert David Hunter, and those others who were part of the recovery team, life moved on. And the dead were left undisturbed.
Now, though, a nightmare scenario unfurls. Monk has escaped and seems to be targeting anyone involved in that original ill-fated operation.
Lured back to the moors by a desperate call for help, Hunter begins to realize that neither the events unfolding now, nor those of eight years ago, are quite what they seem. And as the maniac's violent trail edges ever closer, the past is suddenly anything but dead and buried...
My take: I love this book! An above average British crime thriller by any standards. It has a distinct feel of Britishness to it which reminds me of the British crime dramas shown on television and I won't be surprised if the book series turn out to be a television series at some point in the future. First of all, using Black Tor in Devon as an atmospheric backdrop for a psychotic murderer's burial ground very much sets the tone for the plot. It prompts me to google the place and I have come up with some amazing pictures here (www.holidayindartmoor.com) and here (www.richkni.co.uk) Compare the wintry pictures with the spring weather ones - starkingly gorgeous!
That aside, Beckett has written convincingly about the tensions and personality clashes that one usually encounters when working as a team and how each member deals with it (or not), helped along by great dialogue; and how people often judge others by how they look and how easily rash actions can cause a series of unavoidable calamaties. The writing is well thought out, fluid and solid. I find myself finishing this book in one sitting because it is, simply put, excellent. Having achieved that, I shall now have to back paddle very hard to catch up with David Hunter's past and also keep my eyes looking ahead for possibly a fifth book? Highly recommended. An author to watch out for.
Simon Beckett on The Calling Of The Grave.
Rating: 6/5
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