As with the two previous Grace books, NOT DEAD ENOUGH is certainly a page-turner: a perfect holiday read. The author knows Brighton in great detail; the local colour as well as the sympathetic inside-view of the working lives of modern police officers lift the book well above the 'run of the mill' definition that the rather standard plot would otherwise demand. There are some nice touches about the state of the local hospital and the attitude of the social services: a constant smattering of vignettes like these throughout the book keeps the reader in touch with the characters and engrossed in the milieu in which they operate. I'm still hooked on this heady Peter Turnbull/Harlan Coben-like mix of police procedural, thrills and spills, and am looking forward to Grace's next outing, though I hope that next time there will be more of a challenge in the detection department.

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