The Death List

Matt Wells #1

by Paul Johnston

Crime novelist Matt Wells has more fantasies of revenge than most. Dumped by his agent, his publisher and his wife, he is crippled by writer's block. Then a fan e-mails him. Calling himself the White Devil, he is a serial killer who has chosen Matt to tell his story. Then the killing begins.

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

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Paul Johnston was born in Edinburgh, studied Greek at Oxford, and now divides his time between the UK and a small Greek island. His highly-acclaimed Quintilian Dalrymple series won the John Creasey Memorial Dagger for best first crime novel.

Series:
* Quint Dalrymple
* Alex Mavros
* Matt Wells

Reviews

[Majo's Library. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tal vez hasta parecería que por tener semejante título, tendría un argumento predecible hasta el hastío, pero muy por el contrario, este libro me gustó y mucho. Rescato (dando gracias por su existencia) que va directo a los hechos. “Ocurrió el segundo asesinato, el cuerpo se encontraba a las afueras de la ciudad, en un bote. El Diablo Blanco le había cortado…”
Presentó muchas situaciones verdaderamente emocionantes en las que nuestro personaje, el escritor londinense Matt Wells se encontró en encrucijadas difíciles, con el ritmo propio de un thriller al trabajar a contra reloj para detener las muertes inminentes.
Me gustó leer a Paul Johnston y ya espero seguir la saga.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. In this publication from 2017 set in London, the book begins with a grisly murder reminiscent of a Jack the Ripper scene.

Author Matt Wells has had writers block for way too long and bills are piling up. He receives emails from "WD" who he thought was a fan. WD seems to know more about Matt than even Matt does. WD sends him a package with a large amount of money and threatens his loved ones.

Who is this WD person and how is he able to take pictures and know every move Matt makes? Well, WD is a serial killer, that's who, and he wants Matt to tell his story.

I love my serial killer books. At first, I decided Matt was a twit but I liked him by the end. If you like books where a sadistic murderer kills because he likes to inflict pain and horror, here's your book. I need to note that dogs and cats are killed in this book. The murders of humans were gruesome enough, and being a dog lover, I didn't care for animal killings. Otherwise, the book is good.

[Darcia Helle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I realize that this is fiction but fiction still needs to make sense. And this book often did not. What was supposed to be heroic (I assume), I found to be ridiculous. Many characters' behavior was questionable at best. The writing kept me at a distance. I was never able to latch onto the characters and experience their emotions. For instance, if a character whose viewpoint I'm reading from is being tortured prior to being murdered, I expect to feel something. But this read more like a newspaper account. I figured out the "twist" at the end about halfway through the book. And way things came together at the end, I thought, was just plain silly. This story had promise, though it never delivered.

[Jodi Berkebile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am one of those people who are always looking for cheap books at stores like Dollar Tree, usually you end up with a flop but sometimes you find a real gem! The Death List by Paul Johnston is one of those gems.
The book is a mystery/Thriller and a real page turner (I couldn't put it down!) its about a mystery writer named Matt Wells who is having a hard time selling his newest series. He starts getting fan mail from a man going by the name of "The white devil" who has a death list of people who had done him wrong (and also Matt's friends and family if Matt turns the While Devil into the police), and he wants Matt to write a book of his murders. I don't want to give anything away, but its definitely worth a read!

[Erica Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of feels a bit like seven in over the top suspense, gore, and everything being connected.

It’s not a book I would typically reach for but I found it really enjoyable. Parts felt a bit hard to believe, but sometimes I like that.

[Felice Wolf · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bara oklart och går för långsamt händer lite intressant sen flera sider där det bara berättas om saker som inte hör till historien som när huvudkaraktären va liten och namn man inte vet vilka dem är😀 kom bara till sida 50 kanske bättre sen men pallar inte läsa mer

[Lilybez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty nice gruesome murder book I like it

[Katherine Baetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit slow to get off the ground, but it became harder to put down as the story progressed. It seemed like some characters were conveniently dropped in the story, but fun characters non-the-less. Overall a good read.

[Laurie Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

A grisly read!

A psychopath forces a struggling writer to fictionalize his killing spree, framing the writer to take the fall.

Under threat of death of people he loves, the novelist, sent the killer’s notes, crafts them into a slasher tale. Then the killer’s hit-list starts to expand. The author’s acquaintances start to die, and—enlisting a band of feisty pals—the writer rallies a team to fight back.

As page-turners go, the story is great. With every death explicitly drawn, fans of torture-murder scenes probably claim it merits a five. But one candle-stick sodomized gruesome corpse would have been more than enough for me.

[juice · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty basic book - overblown emotions, often stated way too obviously, dumb assumptions, horrendously ham-fisted romantic allusions, way too much "mates would do anything for each other" stuff.

Reads like it was written by a 15yo, TBH.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining with a good plot twist at the end.

[Millie Wisbeach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on my bookshelf for years and I reallly wish I'd picked it up sooner! Lots of suspense throughout, highly recommended.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

*REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*

The Death List, written by Paul Johnston, oh boy, where to start.
This book was such a slow boring read, I couldn't believe it took me nearly 2 weeks to get through it. The main character Matt just does the most illogical things given every situation he's put in.
As another review on here has mentioned, Matt's friends that he formerly played rugby with all happen to be beyond believable. One is a super hacker, one is a multimillionaire and the other is a former SAS member. The millionaire in particular greets the door mentioning how much he hates Matt and his friends, but sure he can come in and stay as long as he wants, use his cars, put his life in danger, no problem.

Matt very quickly becomes a suspect to the killings that are taking place, and not only does he give the police the run around and do nothing to help. But he actively incriminates himself and his friends.

No one acted like real people would, which I found was an issue the entire way through the book. Least of all the police officer Karen Oaten. Her first brilliant policing was when a list of suspects was brought to her, two of the suspects on the list had past histories with the law and she immediately rules them out because they drink. So naturally they shall not be investigated. Then she is dead set that Matt can't be guilty of these murders because she thinks he's attractive, even though he was by far the most likely one to be doing all the crimes.

The kills couldn't hold my interest, no matter how shocking the author tried to make them. Even when the author basically went so far as to say "Look how shocking and gruesome these murders are, no normal author could come up with anything like this."

It was just a horrible mess to get through, I found nothing enjoyable except occasionally noting down all the worst parts I found in the book. The twist ending if you can even really call it that seemed forced. The explanation for why the accomplice was working with the guy was just nonsensical.

Overall, thoroughly did not enjoy this book. I couldn't in good conscience recommend it to anyone.
My personal rating for this book:

Plot: 2 / 5
Characters: 1 / 5

Overall: 1.5 / 5

[Katie Kenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books about writers. While I've never read anything by this Scottish author before, I grabbed the book while working at the Canmore library because it was about a mystery writer who gets caught up in the antics of a fan-turned-serial-killer. As a writer myself (okay, mostly a journalist and a wannabe author) I feel a connection with books about writers, and find them particularly fun.

The story takes place in London, and is full of fun (for me at least) slang and colloquialisms and bits of British culture. They don't detract from the story as happens sometimes, when you're trying to figure out what x means, but give it a nice richness that modern who-dun-its sometimes lack. I find it charming when oh my god - a character produces a gun!!! So shocking in England, the land of few handguns. We have very few here in Canada either, but growing up in the US gave me a jadedness about guns in crime novels that did make me laugh at this point, particularly at the shock of another character in seeing it.

I'll admit that I had the mystery accomplice figured out by a quarter of the way through the book, but that's not uncommon for me and didn't detract from the plotline either. It's rare for an author to put one over on me for very long, and I don't hold it against them. I did find the twists and turns in this book exciting and interesting, and it kept me up reading late into the night a couple of times, because I just had to know what happened next. While this book isn't anything intellecutally engaging, it's very, very entertaining.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Death List” by Paul Johnston, published by Mira.

Category – Mystery/Thriller Publication Date – July 2007

I am often asked to recommend a British mystery. This is a British mystery, but quite unlike Agatha Christie’s “Miss Marple”.

Matt Stone (Wells) is a mystery writer of some fame, until he set his mysteries in Albania and no one seems to care for the setting or his characters.

He starts to receive fan mail that sets him on a dangerous course of murder. The course is so devious that Matt cannot take his problems to the police for fear of endangering those he loves.

The “White Devil” has a “Death List” and not only includes people he would like to murder, but also friends and enemies of Matt. The murders start to resemble some of the scenes from Matt’s books. In fact, they are almost copycat murders that are easy to spot due to the
horrific manner in which the murders take place, again not your usual mild British murder mystery. There is no shortage of torture or blood.

Matt must call on his buddies to help him get to the “White Devil” before his friends become victims. This includes his mother, his estranged wife, his daughter, and his girl friend.

It becomes a race against time as the “White Devil” has ingeniously found a way to bring all these people together in one place.

In a harrowing race against time, Matt must find the fiend before it is too late. The end holds plenty of suspense and some unexpected surprises.

A good British mystery, not in the British tradition.

[Lois Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good mystery novel, but too gory for my particular taste. That says nothing about the author's rendition of the story, but about my sensitivities as a reader. I found myself skipping entire paragraphs that contained detailed descriptions of the injuries inflicted upon the tortured victims. But I did keep reading because I wanted to see how the book ended.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an edge of your seat thrill ride. It was gory and gruesome and kept you guessing on what was going to happen next. Would love to read Paul's next book.

My only complaint would be the other killers roaming around, I didn't understand how they fit into the story. Still enjoyed the book though.

[SoulSurvivor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books where I thought I might have to do a coin flip between 3&4-star ratings.
I was saved that drama by a very unsatisfactory ending , which almost pushed it to two-stars . I had thought I would pursue other volumes by this author , but there are so many books out there.....
It's a shame to finish a book on a sour note , especially on your birthday .

[Skyesix]

This book is pretty action packed and keeps you on the edge of your seat but it is also very gory and gruesome in some parts.

[Robert Lambregts · Rating 2 out of 5]

A while ago I started a lot of books that ended up on my DNF pile. Part of me thought I wasn't into them, but I also found out that I wasn't really in the right mindset to read them, with my thoughts drifting away constantly and that made me realize it wasn't right to give them low ratings or take them off of my book list. So now I'm having that same pile sitting next to my favorite spot to read in my home, and this is the first of them that I finished.
Now, this book though, was one I bought at a very low price at some bargain store, and I can see why it ended up there. I never heard of the author or the book and think it wouldn't have gotten great reviews in the first place when it was published and released. The writing feels a bit amateuristic. The idea was there, though clearly taken from a number of well known and better written thrillers out there. The main concept reminded me of Angels & Demons by Dan Brown, without the religious context and even though that was a flaw, it also was the backbone to a story that had a large kill count, which it needed to keep the speed up, and with that a large number of characters. But the first person storytelling kinda saves that. In the end, the very last part of the book, there is one or maybe two twists that were surprising and that elevated it as a whole, but the fact that in that same part Matt and Dave were joking while they were in extreme situations, also kinda brought it back down. The author clearly wanted to aim at a sequel in the end. Not sure if that ever was written. Haven't checked for it, but wouldn't read it either. One was enough and I'm glad I finished it, but still can't give it more than two stars, which is probably even more than it actually deserves.

[Amy (Gabs) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had this on my shelf since probably 2008. It has been staring at me whispering “read me” and has dodged the many thinnings of my collection. I finally broke down and read it. I could not put this book down! It has been such a long time since I have wanted to read everywhere. I’ve been listening to audiobooks more than reading physical books. I was actually getting up at 5am to soak in the tub for 1-1/2 hours before work just so I could read this book!

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but when Matt went to his ex’a house & found the dog. Oh man! Why do the writers always go for the dog? Daaaaammmmnnniiiittttt! And then to talk about the neighbor’s anguish over the dog throughout the story! I feel it, yo! I feel it! This fictional dog is getting all of my tears, man 😭😭😭

I loved how Johnston used the theme of revenge, a lifetime of plotting, one author’s life’s work, and a play to tie everything into a bow. The anticipation of finding out how the White Devil made his money was driving me batty. I kept shaking the book like the answer would fall out sooner than it did.

The ending was great! Fast-paced. I figured out some of the twists, but not all. This won’t be the last Paul Johnston book I read.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sort of competent thriller, as a washed-up crime novelist is menaced by an actual serial killer who wants his sympathy and help, sort of. It's one of those cat-and-mouse things where the bad guy has infinite resources and smarts but the protagonist has the friends he's made on his rugby team. I'll let you guess how it turns out.

There are moments here that affected me a little: the level of ultraviolence here is pretty high, gruesome and graphic and instead of feeling "creative," I just thought it was gross. On the side of interesting or maybe a missed opportunity, at one point in the novel, the novelist is writing the murders after the fact for the murderer, and I was like, oh, that's the chapter I just read, how clever and what's real and what's art.... But it turned out that's not what I was reading, there wasn't that level of fun in this book.

Oh well. I didn't actively hate read it.

[Naomi Severino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vale, este libro me ha decepcionado un poco.
Durante la lectura me ha parecido perturbador al extremo. Pasé de perturbada a cansada de lo mismo, y eso que no es un libro muy largo.
No me hizo sentir pena por aquellos que estaban siendo vilmente asesinados, siento que no pude conectar con el dolor de ninguno. Todo sucedía tan rápido y tan frío que no fui capaz de sentir lo más mínimo.

Me pasé la lectura haciendo caras por lo desagradable que era todo. Al final, el autor le dio un giro tremendo a la novela para poder seguirla en la secuela, pero por alguna razón siento que será más de lo mismo.
Ni siquiera me da curiosidad lo que pasará después.

Y sin embargo, le doy 3 estrellas porque al menos no fue un libro difícil de leer, me supo mantener atenta a los acontecimientos.

[Daria Drexl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story which is basically the only thing that kept me going throughout this book. If it wasn't so short I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it. Lazy writing, so many parts feeling rushed and thrown in just to push the plot along without having much meaning, as well as convoluted side plots that don't really get wrapped up in the end and could have been much shorter and less detailed with the same effect on the main story.
Some obvious twists you could see from a mile away, and others that seem to come out of nowhere and are almost laughable.
I'm feeling the irony of writing a bad review about a book that focuses on a writer who received bad reviews for his crime novels.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright book. I gotta say I defiantly didn’t expect Sara to be the sister of the Devil. Part of me kinda feels like that part doesn’t fit that well, there wasn’t that much of there relationship talked about with Sara and Matt. Like if his ex wife or one of his friends was the sibling to the Devil…..it’d be more plausible and more shocking. That’s just my opinion.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like this book a lot because it moved quickly and had lots of suspense, in addition to the ending having a twist that I didn't see coming until the very end. I would definitely read more by Paul Johnston.

[Leydis Mesa Rondon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro muy entretenido, te mantiene pendiente casi todo el rato. Le critico que tiene situaciones que son algo inverosímiles y que en muchas ocasiones en personaje principal es algo tonto. Tiene un giro que al último instante es algo sorprendente.

[Al1en · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK read. As others have stated it all just seemed pretty sloppy in the procedural aspects and convenient with the cadre of highly skilled friends willing to help out. Not bad but not great. The violence and details did not bother me at all but there are better books to spend your time with.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sometimes repetitive when describing the thoughts of the characters. Also, some aspects have not aged well, e.g. someone knowing a lot about movies so they must be a guy. Or quote 'she always felt uncomfortable around lesbions'.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Hell Maps from this author, and that was good, however had a hard time understanding the motive of the White Devil and the obsession with Matt Stone. The beginning started out well, but towards the end it felt like everyone was chasing their tails.