Stop Them Dead by Peter James

 

In the dead of night, a gang of thieves steal a litter of puppies. The owner is killed as they drive off. Roy Grace and his team investigate the murder and discover that criminals have realised that there is a lucrative trade in dogs. As the team dig deeper into the illegal trade, things hit close to home for Grace.

Book number 19 in the Roy Grace series is a cracker. For me, nothing will ever compare to the first book, Dead Simple, but with Stop Them Dead, author Peter James has come pretty close.

The COVID lock-down saw a boom in people getting dogs and the author has used this as the basis for his current novel. I would never describe theft or murder as simple crimes, but what Peter James has shown in Stop Them Dead is that the crimes committed carry far lower penalties than those involving drugs if convicted and can pay higher dividends, hence the growing number of illegal crimes involving dogs.

Stealing puppies is the opening crime, which leads to devastating consequences. Since this crime alone wouldn't be sufficient to carry a novel, the author has fleshed the story out with other animal-related crimes and tied them all together seamlessly. Alongside the theft of puppies, we have the illegal import of dogs, dogs being snatched to order for breeding, unethical breeders conning the public and dogs being stolen and ransomed back to their owners.

The range of different crimes covered are nothing new, but the way in which they are all brought together is done well and is a timely reminder to people about some of the dubious practises criminals are involved in. We see the myriad of ways in which the unsuspecting and trusting public can be conned.

One of the big story-lines is heartbreaking. Emotions are put through the wringer when a child contracts rabies through contact with a puppy that has been imported illegally. The author does an excellent job showing the impact of a trivial encounter. We hear very little about rabies since it has been eradicated in the UK. This story-line reminds us of how dreadful the disease is and the extremely low survival rate.

A key character throughout the novel is Gecko, who is one of the most repulsive characters I've come across. My skin crawls just thinking about him. Gecko, along with the people he works for, show very clearly that they are not animal lovers; to them, dogs are simply a commodity.

Careful investigation and planning lead to a nail-biting conclusion and I was on the edge of my seat, seriously worried about more than one of the police team. I know that Peter James does meticulous research for all of his novels but he has excelled himself this time.

Stop Them Dead by Peter James will be published on 28th September 2023 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a review copy.