La vida de Lynn Barrett se convierte en una pesadilla cuando a su hija Caitlin se le diagnostica un cáncer de hígado terminal. La escasez de órganos hace que incluso candidatos idóneos para un transplante fallezcan mientras esperan que se les pueda realizar la operación. Desesperada, Lynn recurre a un traficante de órganos que encuentra en Internet quien, curiosamente, enseguida le confirma que ha encontrado a una donante perfecta. Entretanto, Roy Grace está trabajando en un caso en que a los restos de tres jóvenes que han aparecido en las profundidades de la costa de Brighton les faltan los órganos vitales... La pista llevará Grace a Rumanía donde operan las mafias de traficantes de órganos de los que el detective sospecha.

This is the fifth book in the DS Roy Grace series and is a more of a standard police procedural that the first four. A dead teenager is found in the waters off of Brighton with his kidneys and liver removed. Soon two other bodies are discovered, both minus their heart, liver and kidneys. Meanwhile, in a parallel story line, we meet 15-year old Caitlin, who is very ill and desperately needs a liver transplant. In another narrative, set in Romania, we learn the terrible plight of abandoned young children who are living on the streets, addicted to drugs, glue or paint-sniffing. Criminals, masquerading as charity workers, trick them into traveling to England, where the intent is to use them in horrific ways. It doesn't take a genius for us to see the future.

DS Roy Grace is now moving on, romantically, after his wife’s disappearance nearly ten years ago. He's hoping to make his relationship with new love, Cleo, more permanent. Co-worker and friend, Glenn Branson, is in an unhappy marriage and is living at Roy's house. Other than that, Grace is a pretty mellow guy. He doesn't have most of the baggage that comes with your usual detective. He's stable, reliable, sensitive, thoughtful and hard-working.

I really enjoyed this book, even though it's quite a long and detailed story. The numerous subplots lend to the tension and even though I knew where the story was headed, I still couldn't have guessed how it would end. This is a series I plan to finish in 2016 and I'm looking forward to the rest.
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Somehow less gripping than its precedent book. Still, it's a decent story. And more development in the Sandy issue... ( )

Roy Grace book #5

The plot in this 5th installment is more of a conventional police-procedural than in the previous novel. Although, not particularly original in itself it is by far not your ordinary run of the mill bad cop/good cop story we find in most story of this genre. We may think that after so many books the vitality and freshness may have started to dwindle but I had no fear that Mr. James would deliver another blockbuster and he did.

In a few words:

When a dredger uncovers the body of a young man on the sea bed, Roy Grace is called in to investigate a crime that offers no clues other than an empty body cavity, leaving him totally baffled to find out what had happened. But when similar corpses are later uncovered it became clear to the investigators that they were dealing with murders of young people and the harvesting of their organs for sale.

“Dead Tomorrow”, ties the desperation of a mother with a daughter suffering acute liver disease to the vulnerable street kids and the burgeoning trade in human organs.

More thoughts:

In every good story we have a leading man, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, is not the stereotype characters we find in many novels. Roy has no alcoholism, misogyny and psychological disorders rather he is stable, reliable, sensitive and hard working. He is a hell of a cop. We will also find that all the supporting characters are so very human: from victims, to the pressured, to the investigators. In interweaving plot we learn of their personal lives, the nitty-gritty portrayal of teenagers and their emotions.

This is a most realistic portrayed plot I have read in a long time. It plays out more as a chase than an intricate layering of clues and red herrings. Its 500 or so pages move like the breeze even with the many details the tempo never bogs down. Mr. James created another world for us to temporarily become part of and for us to actually care what happens to his characters. What holds together this long novel is a strong narrative….

I certainly got my money’s worth ( )

Spännande om ett fruktansvärt ämne och människors ondska. Saknar dock djupet i karaktärerna och berättandet blir på ett sätt ytligt med schabloner på det goda och det onda. ( )