Shortlisted for the Galaxy Popular Fiction Book of the Year 2010.
This is the 6th Roy Grace thriller. Grace finds himself investigating crimes that bear similar characteristics to some unsolved crime over ten years earlier. With the opening up of these old cases we also go back in time to Grace’s life back then, before his wife mysteriously disappeared. Another gripping read.
Don't imagine for one moment that I'm not watching you...The Metropole Hotel, Brighton. After a heady New Year's Eve ball, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her room. A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims' shoes are taken by the offender...Detective Superintendent Roy Grace soon realises that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. The perpetrator had been dubbed 'Shoe Man' and was believed to have raped five women before murdering his sixth victim and vanishing. Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced? When more women are assaulted, Grace becomes increasingly certain that they are dealing with the same man. And that by delving back into the past - a time in which we see Grace and his missing wife Sandy still apparently happy together - he may find the key to unlocking the current mystery. Soon Grace and his team will find themselves in a desperate race against the clock to identify and save the life of the new sixth victim...
Peter James is one of the UK’s most popular crime and thriller novelists. His Roy Grace detective novels have sold more than one and a half million in the UK alone and six million worldwide in total. The series is now translated into 34 languages and his latest novel, ‘Dead Like You’, went straight into the Sunday Times bestseller lists at no 1 in both hardback and paperback. His novella, ‘The Perfect Murder,’ went to No 1 on iBooks and has spent 40 consecutive weeks in the iBooks Top 10. Peter has developed a close working relationship with the Sussex Police over many years, spending an average of one day a week with them, and his writing reveals a unique insight into the reality of modern day police work. He has carried out extensive research with police in Moscow, Munich, Paris, Melbourne, Sweden, New York and Romania, and regularly attends international police conferences to ensure he is at the cutting-edge of investigative police work.
Born and brought up in Brighton, Peter divides his time between his homes in Notting Hill, London and on the South Downs near Lewes in Sussex. An established film producer and script writer, he has produced numerous films, including The Merchant Of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. A TV adaptation of the Roy Grace series is currently in development, with Peter overseeing all aspects, including the scriptwriting. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Brighton in recognition of his services to literature and the community.
In 2016 Peter James was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger - the Crime Writers' Association's highest honour - awarded each year to a writer who has a career "marked by sustained excellence" and has made "a significant contribution" to English-language crime writing.
Peter James was the winner of the ITV3 People’s Bestseller Dagger 2011.