Take No More

James Blake #1

by Seb Kirby

An artistic voyage in crime - thrilling and original

When James Blake discovers his wife has been murdered in their London home, he is determined to find her killer. Julia, a conservator - a protector and preserver of fine art - has left him with but two curious clues: the words help me on her mobile phone and a strange attachment of Michelangelo's Leda and the Swan.

As the prime suspect of his wife's murder, James flees England and sets out on a trail of deception and danger across the sweeping landscapes of Venice and Florence into a dark underworld of corruption, a trail that will lead him to the killer - and the shocking truth behind the mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Amazon, Crime

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2013

About the author

I'm the author of the James Blake Thriller series (TAKE NO MORE, REGRET NO MORE and FORGIVE NO MORE) and the psychological thrillers EACH DAY I WAKE and SUGAR FOR SUGAR. A third psychological thriller HERE THE TRUTH LIES is now available. I'm also the author of the the sci fi thrillers DOUBLE BIND and, my latest, JESSICA 8.

An avid reader from an early age - my grandfather ran a mobile lending library in Birmingham - I was hooked from the first moment I discovered the treasure trove of books left to my parents. I was a university academic for many years, latterly at University of Liverpool. Now, as a full-time writer, my goal is to add to the magic of the wonderful words and stories I discovered back then. I live in the Wirral, UK.

Interests: Writing. Music. Jazz. Science. Travel.

Reviews

[Linda Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Blake is a man on a mission. He found his wife brutally murdered in their home and he vows to find the person responsible. She wasn't even supposed to be home .. she was in Italy. So who knew she was in London? Why was she targeted?

The London police are eyeballing James as a suspect, and he flees the country, going to Italy to find a killer.

This is a tangled tale of stolen art, a crime family, police corruption, and filled with lies and secrets and a truth that will set James on his heels.

It's action packed and a real page turner. The mystery and suspense starts on the very first page and it's well paced throughout. The characters are finely drawn and I'm eager to see where James goes from here.

Many thanks to the author / TBC Reviewer Request Group (FB) for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Sibel Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is action-packed from page one, and the reader is instantly thurst into murder, suspense, and intrigue.

James is just a normal guy who thinks he has a normal life. Until the murder of his wife. He's forced on a journey from the UK to Italy to find her killers, and finds himself in the midst of a powerful Italian family, the hunt for precious works of art, and danger at every turn.

The writing gives you the feel of actually being in Italy - you can taste and smell it. The plot is action-packed and a real page-turner.

I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great crime thriller! And fans of Harlan Coben and Simon Kernick will love it!

[Diana Hockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seb Kirby's Take No More is what I like to think of as the "traditional" thriller which, as he himself has said, pits the ordinary man against great odds and thereby proves that person is certainly not ordinary.

The plot works around stolen art works and the possibility of many being hidden under layers of other works – either by the original artists or by people hoping to hide them. Collectors would pay millions for well known ones but of course if they can get away with murdering instead, that is faster and cheaper.

The story starts dramatically with James coming home after a day’s work to find Julia, an art restorer, dying inside the front door. Horrified, he calls the police and of course finds himself the chief suspect. Except for a copy of Julia’s downloaded files, he had no clue as to what she had done or with whom she’d associated in order to be murdered.

His brother, Miles, an investigative journalist and his partner Sergio, have unwittingly poked a crocodile with a stick – Alfieri and Alessa’s corrupt business dealings may well get them all killed.

The main character of James Blake, a likable man, is straightforward although the reader is not privvy to many of his innermost thoughts. He, understandably, only concerned with solving the job in hand, that of solving the mystery into which he has been plunged by the death of his wife. Obtaining information, keeping alive and in the meantime, revenge, are his only goals.

As in all good traditional thrillers, there are myriad twist and turns, some of them delightful, others heartbreaking. The dialogue is natural and flowing, the plot well laid out and easy to follow. Some authors – in my opinion – make their plot so intricate that the average reader, especially me, is lost in a maze of over-cleverness. The pacing in this novel is fast, but slows enough for the reader to catch her breath and then soldier on.

One of the surprises in this novel, is that the author has actually managed to make me sorry for one of the murderers. That is a feat worth mentioning!

Highly recommended.

[H.M. Holten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Shady Part of The Art World
The intrigue in this thriller orbits around the search for famous artworks, hidden in the layers of old paintings. Kirby presents vivid characters and plot-driven suspense.
James Blake finds himself holding his wife in his arms as she dies, a murder victim. No wonder, that he must face being the main suspect. His reaction to that is to work on unravelling the mystery himself. That takes him to Florence and into contact with the mafioso underworld. It is hit or miss if he’ll survive. He gets help from his brother, an investigating journalist, and his partner, an Italian photographer.
The plot abounds with twists and turns. The only downside to this engaging thriller is that Kirby wraps up the narrative in a cursory manner in the last chapter. Personally, I’d have loved it, had the ending been presented in greater detail. All the same, this novel is well worth reading.

[Skyesmum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book , the first in a trilogy was action packed. Italian families at war with innocent victims' lives destroyed along the way. Which in turn makes people plot revenge, and we all know revenge can be all consuming and cause untold damage.
Looking forward to reading the next in the series to see where it takes James Blake .

I enjoyed reading about Florence and the surrounding areas, Sen Kirby obviously knows the area well and it shows in his writing which carries you there.

[Faith Mortimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Seb, I really enjoyed my read of ‘Take no More’.
I enjoyed the setting in Italy and I liked the way you linked your story around the murder mystery and the main topic, which was the hunt for missing paintings, and the main protagonist looking for his lost love.

‘Take no More’ is a very good read, well plotted and together with the twists and turns, and some horrible ruthless criminals me enthralled from beginning to end.

Well done and good luck with this.
Faith

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terribly impressed. The topics, murder, Europe, Michelangelo are right up my alley but the story wasn't presented well. Didn't really care much for the characters except for the twin relationship.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fast paced novel that's set in the art world & one that seemed to me to be the weird love-child of Simon Kernick & Sidney Sheldon. I had a few issues with this tale, the first being that I just couldn't believe in the lead character James & secondly, there seemed to be quite a few errors about, both grammar * (see below) & in the storyline. In the opening chapter... so it's not a spoiler!....James says, of his murdered wife, "I felt for a pulse - at her wrist, at her neck - but there was none.......Someone had killed her. Her body was still warm. It must have happened not many minutes before", yet a number of times later James says he held her as she was dying! I know it doesn't affect the story as such but it niggled me!

The storyline relies on a lot of coincidental goings on, too many for my liking, & with the Italian criminals, especially Lando, being portrayed as the archetypal bad guys there was little to improve the credibility of things.

This is the first in the "James Blake" series (there are currently two more) but for me the character has no appeal or potential so I won't be reading more.


*Whoever had this book before me "kindly" annotated all the errors in grammar, punctuation etc. I doubt I would've noticed the majority of them - & can't say I agreed with a couple!

[Joanne Cartwright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an intriguing read, with a body being discovered pretty early on in the book and things getting progressively more confused from there on in!
When James discovers his wife dead in their home, a week or so before she was due back from a work trip to Italy he quickly becomes the prime suspect and dashes off to Florence to try and find out what happened, avoiding the police and getting himself into all kinds of trouble along the way.
There are some lovely descriptions of art restoration within the story of his wife's job, enough so that I wanted to be right there watching the restorers painstakingly removing millimetres of paint and varnish to restore glorious works of art.
However James is quickly dragged into the affairs of a notorious family in Italy, that his wife was tied up with via her restoration works, and find himself slap bang in the middle of a vendetta playing out between families.
There are plenty of twists to the tale, revelations that come totally unexpectedly and eventually justice of sorts for some of the main protagonists.
A very cleverly written novel that allows you to follow the investigative thriller side of the story whilst also wishing yourself to Florence and to the gentle world of art restoration. I look forward to more of James Blake in the future.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent thriller set in London and Florence, involving art conservation and organised crime. I think it worth 4 stars which is higher than the average score of other readers but I enjoyed the plot

[Erika Zini]

Quando si tratta il Self Publishing nei media tradizionali si respira un’aria di cospirazione, quasi si stesse discutendo di qualcosa tanto aleatorio quanto indefinito. In realtà le possibilità che dà la rete sono ancora in buona parte sottostimate (e sottovalutate) nel nostro paese. In una nazione come la Gran Bretagna, invece, succede che si possa diventare autori best seller grazie a internet – e al proprio talento, naturalmente – e decidere in completa autonomia di vendere il proprio libro in un paese straniero.

E’ questo il caso di Seb Kirby che è sbarcato ora in Italia (grazie all’opera di traduzione di Monica Rigoletto Pelà), con “La verità celata”, primo thriller della serie di James Blake. Già docente presso l’Università di Liverpool e figura di spicco nel campo della ricerca, con l’utilizzo innovativo del laser nel restauro dei dipinti e delle opere d’arte, ha esordito qualche tempo fa in patria proprio con questo libro vendendone oltre 100.000 copie.


L’autore poco tempo fa ha dichiarato che... http://www.wmbookblog.com/la-verita-c...

[Vic Heaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like Seb Kirby's book, but I found it completely unbelievable.

An ordinary man, swept up in a crime. He has information which he keeps to himself despite the fact that he hopes it could help to find his wife's killer. He doesn't give the information to the police but sets off on his own trail.

He ends up by instructing the police in Italy in how to find the culprit. And they obey him! It is not the first book in which I have found the hero character leading the police around, but I can never suspend my disbelief enough to swallow it.

Having said that, I am sure it would make a good film, as this sort of stuff frequently does.

Sorry, Seb, but there is no point in doing these reviews if one is not to be honest.

[Cheryl M-M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice afternoon read but I found it predictable.I would have loved to have seen the lost art and stolen masterpieces idea developed more. How and where did the villain get the paintings for instance, what happened to them during the missing years. Some of the ideas were more tv cliffhanger revelations and a little hard to swallow in this scenario of crime/thriller story. There were quite a few underdeveloped subplots that would have added more to the sense of depth if they had been focused on more. Overall I thought it was a pleasant read, but hope to see a more risque side of the authors writing in the next book. By that I don't mean graphic just willing to take the plunge and risk being more emotional and gritty instead of just barely sinking his teeth in.

[Erika Zini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qualche tempo fa vi ho parlato de La verità celata di Seb Kirby, romanzo autopubblicato dall’autore prima nel Regno Unito, sua patria, ed ora anche in Italia.

Un esempio dell’intraprendenza e della forza dell’arte che, fortunatamente, trova sempre meno barriere.

E’ stato per me, quindi, un piacere non solo leggere il romanzo (sotto trovate la recensione) ma anche poter parlare con l’autore del suo libro e dell’editoria di oggi, del self publishing e di arte. https://wonderfulmonsterbook.wordpres...

[Anna Casamento Arrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging read that spans over continents. on a hunt for killer. How far would you go to find a loved one's murderer?What he discovers,however,is not what he had bargained for at the onset. MURDER, CORRUPTION, THEFT, AND AN UNWELCOMED AND FRIGHTETENING LOOK AT THE UNDERWORLD!Sirby masterfully executes a true crime novel that will have you traveling along with his characters. The only question I am pondering is, where has the art gone? Well done! (Thank you for the journey,most especially back to Italy)!

[Loriana Lucciarini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo romanzo dell’autore britannico Seb Kirby fa parte della triolgia di James Blake ed è tra le pubblicazioni self ad aver avuto maggior riscontro di vendite e lettori.

In Italia è stato pubblicato grazie al lavoro di una traduttrice, Monica R. Pelà.

Trattasi di un thriller ben articolato e strutturato con un ritmo serrato e coinvolgente, che grazie a flashback temporali, lentamente va a comporre l’intero puzzle della storia.

Una storia in cui tanti elementi si intrecciano: arte, ambizione, traffici illegali di rifiuti tossici, boss della malavita toscana, prostituzione, droga, lussuria, depistaggi, indagini polizesche, scoop giornalistici, amore, gloria, amicizia e tradimento vanno a dare corpo a una storia ben congeniata.

Seb Kirby, esperto di tecniche di restauro in quanto docente presso l’Università di Liverpool, ha ambientato le vicende nel mondo dell’arte per poi inserire ulteriori elementi a intricare il caso. Interessanti le informazioni che dà al lettore relativamente al restauro delle opere d’arte e alle nozioni sul mondo delle gallerie e dei musei internazionali. Il punto di partenza è quindi questo, in cui l’autore ha estrema competenza e che riesce a descrivere in modo da interessare, mantenendo una leggerezza nella trattazione e senza pause nel ritmo narrativo. Abile nel descrivere situazioni e ambientazioni, riesce a dare un buon tratteggio ai personaggi della vicenda, senza approfondire eccessivamente la loro psicologia ma dando al lettore elementi utili per avere una propria idea su di essi. Anche perché qui niente è come si pensa, spesso luci e ombre rendono confuso lo scenario e l’indagine porterà a scoprire ulteriori gravi sviluppi rispetto a un semplice caso di omicidio.

Ma veniamo alla storia…
James rientra a casa e trova l’appartamento a soqquadro. Sua moglie Julia è stata uccisa e lui si ritrova con il suo corpo tra le braccia senza riuscire a dare un senso a tutto questo. Perché è stata uccisa?

Julia non aveva nemici.

Perché era a Londra?

Julia doveva essere in Italia, a Firenze per lavoro.

Ma soprattutto, cosa significa quel suo messaggio, ricevuto da James ormai troppo tardi, contenente un accorato appello: “Aiutami” oltre a un’immagine: Leda e il Cigno di Michelangelo? Perché negli ultimi istanti della sua vita Julia ha deciso di inviare proprio questo sms? Che messaggio contiene l’immagine allegata? Perché James dovrebbe essere in grado di comprendere il messaggio racchiuso in essa?

Ecco il primo dilemma della storia.

James non comprende, non sa che risposta dare né a sé né alla polizia che sta indagando sull’omicidio e che sospetta immediatamente di lui. Eppure James sa che deve cercarla, una risposta. Quindi si allontana, anche se non dovrebbe, dall’Inghilterra e si reca a Firenze, per indagare.

Qui scoprirà che sua moglie, pur di andare alla ricerca del capolavoro perduto, aveva fatto accordi con una pericolosa famiglia fiorentina, i Lando, implicata in molte attività criminali. Ma cosa può essere successo durante il suo soggiorno in Italia, per spingere i Lando a firmare la condanna a morte di Julia?

James inizia a decriptare l’hard disk della moglie nel tentativo di trovare indizi. Alle sue indagini parteciperanno suo fratello Miles, giornalista, e il suo amico fotografo. I due sembra conoscano molto più di quanto dicono…

La determinazione di James, che pur nella confusione generata dal dolore della perdita dell’amata moglie riesce a mantenere lucidità e arguzia nel districare l’intricata matassa, lo porterà a scoprire verità sconvolgenti e a trovarsi nel centro del mirino, in un susseguirsi di azioni che metteranno a repentaglio la sua stessa esistenza. Anche alcuni degli altri attori di questa storia giungeranno all’appuntamento con il loro destino in agguati inaspettati e violenti.

I personaggi dell’intera vicenda si alternano durante la narrazione, portando il lettore ad avere man mano il quadro della situazione, anche se – da buon thriller – spesso alcune cose non sono quelle che sembrano. Il romanzo è scritto con in terza persona con pov interno (quello di James) e i continui flash-back a volte creano confusione nel lettore e non facilitano la linearità narrativa; eppure il tutto funziona bene anzi, offre completezza di informazioni e chiarimenti rispetto alle precedenti intuizioni errate del protagonista.

Un romanzo che posso consigliare perché incessante e pieno di colpi di scena; anche se su alcuni aspetti può essere debole – le fin troppe le situazioni che si intrecciano risultano nel finale poco approfondite, quasi affrettate – ma tutto questo a un esordiente si può perdonare. Soprattutto perché il romanzo è di gradevole lettura e tiene con il fiato sospeso il lettore fino alla sequenze finali.

Trovo infatti che l’Autore abbia davvero tutte le capacità per emergere e il successo che ha ottenuto in tutto il mondo è la prova che gli autori self sono ottime penne di qualità.

Seb Kirby ha inoltre pubblicato altri due volumi, sempre legati alle vicende di James Blake.

[Alan Marston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was somewhat baffled, and a little put off, as shortly after starting to read the book I decided to listen to the audio version. At this stage the story was being developed by James Blake, written in the first person, but the audio version was being narrated by a lady. I found this somewhat disconcerting until the story moved back in time and the narrative, mainly involving Blake's wife, Julia, was in the third person.
The story centres on the lost painting of "Leda and the Swan" by Michelangelo, a copy of which I found illustrated on the internet. For it's time it was certainly of an erotic nature. Julia is trying to find it, believing that it is hidden beneath another work of art. In doing so she becomes involved with the Lando and Rossellini families, dire enemies, and it is this that forms the substance of the book. It is an intriguing story, involving a number of murders and violent scenes, and was well worth the effort of listening (bearing in mind the context above) to a delightful reader whom, I discover, now lives in Hawaii!

[Andy Thorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An action-packed crime thriller with excellent pace and engaging characters. The hero is an everyman kind of character, not an elite highly trained super spy and the book is stronger for it. The author does a great job of portraying the helplessness and desperation of the character as he seeks to take on a larger-than-life crime family in Italy. I very much enjoyed the depictions of the locations and insight into the art world that form part of the story. The events in the book take place over the course of only a week or two but the story is not told in a strictly linear fashion, with some jumping back and forth by a few days to reveal what happens to different characters. I know that non-linear storytelling isn’t everyone’s favourite way of going about things but it is used to good effect here when revealing some twists and turns in the plot and I don’t think it will cause much confusion. A fast enjoyable crime thriller.

[Alan Coll-Peacock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this little belter up in one of those book exchange boxes outside my local library, thought it looked interesting and not too long a read so wanted to give it a try.
To begin with, it was a very easy read, while the art history part of the story wasn't necessarily my thing it was easy to understand and fell seamlessly into the action surrounding the kind of 'everyman' protagonist James Blake who finds his wife murdered and longs to find who killed her. The locations of London and Italy are brought to life without going too technical, and it kept me interested from start to finish.
It's a book you don't have to think too much about, and with two more Blake thrillers in the series I'm looking forward to getting through them at some point too.

[Margarida · Rating 4 out of 5]

James comes home only to have his wife die in his arms. She´s not even supposed to be there. Right there, our hearts are broken. As to be expected, the husband is the first suspect. You just get that bad feeling in the gut and are pretty much hooked at this point. There are so many questions that you become invested in this hero and root for him to find out the truth. There are so many twists and turns to this story...joys, horrors, sorrows. I would say it´s an HEA, but I feel a lingering melancholy attachment to the characters long after the book was over. It is a very, very well written imaginative mystery. I look forward to more from this author.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in the James Blake trilogy. I was drawn into this fast paced thriller from the first page. James Blake returns home to find his wife Julia dead but Julia should still be in Florence where she is searching for lost works of art, so why is she back in England and more importantly who killed her? Unfortunately the police see James as the prime suspect. James travels to Florence to try to trace her steps and clear his name but he soon encounters its dangerous underworld. I particularly enjoyed the excellent location descriptions and the fascinating insights into the art world. A good start to the series.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

First in the James Blake series, see's Blake's perfect life shattered, as he returns home to find his wife dead, apparently from a home invasion. As Blake struggles to come to terms with her death, he becomes the prime suspect, so he sets out to find the truth. This is an okay book, that moves between the present for Blake, as he searches for answers and then fills in gaps from the previous days following his wife's story. It did seem to be wrapped up a bit to easily at the end, but will be interesting to see were book two takes the story.

[J Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tangled web of drama and danger.

The assassination of his wife leaves Joe determined to find answers. Why would an art restoration expert be targeted? Why did she return home from Florence ahead of schedule without telling him? The police consider him the prime suspect and Joe realizes that if he wants answers, he will have to find them himself. The story is intense and convoluted. The author has crafted a crime thriller that had me hooked from the first page. I couldn't put it down until it was finished.

[Moona · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Take No More" by Seb Kirby is the gripping first installment in the James Blake Thriller series. When James Blake finds his wife brutally murdered in their London home, he becomes the prime suspect and is forced to flee. His quest for justice leads him through the art-filled streets of Florence and Venice, delving into a dark world of corruption. As James uncovers clues, he gets closer to the killer and the shocking truth behind his wife's death. This mystery thriller is a thrilling and original journey filled with suspense and intrigue, perfect for fans of crime fiction.

[Beccy Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the book club reviewers thank you
This is the first book in a new thriller/crime series and WOW it’s a series that’s started with a bang!
Love the characters, love the way Seb has created a crime that spans different genres - there’s murder stolen art works. As a reader Seb transports us across the globe from London to Italy in the hunt for his wife’s murderer.
A well paced novel, I’ll be looking for more books from this author- thank you

[Chris Tunnicliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Blake arrives home to find his wife murdered. He then finds himself the main suspect. His wife Julia has been trying to discover hidden masterpieces painted over with another painting. Along the way someone decides she knows too much about a ruthless families shady dealings and has to go.
James and his brother Miles go about trying to find out what happened to Julia but all is not what it seems. A fast paced thriller with lots of action and lots of twists.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conventional detective thriller, mostly taking place in Florence and thereabouts.

James Blake find the body of his wife at home in London and traces her activities back to Florence to find her murderer and uncovers a whole web of intrigue. It's not particularly well-written - clichés abound. Not hugely impressed but still a reasonable read.

[Kathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great rollicking, roller coaster ride! This was a solid thriller with an intriguing mystery behind everything with regards to missing paintings. I was entertained the whole time and learned a bit about art restoration as well. I am looking forward to the next one in the series.

Many thanks to THE Book Club Reviewer Group for a copy of the book.

[Catherine Skyrm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page turner

This novel takes one deep into the to rich and powerful overlords in Florence Italy. It's also a real education into the new methods of detecting famous paintings that have been painted over to disguise them. There is a real stunning shocker the i did not see coming.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. A very big solid 4* rating for me. Exciting and well balanced with regard to intrigue and action....it keeps you on the edge. Great characters....love it when you hate some of them. This is the first book I have read by Seb Kirby, always good to find an author that hits the spot first time. Look forward to reading more.