Consider Yourself Dead

Tom Lepski #9

by James Hadley Chase

Kidnapping has become a national pastime in Italy - but is there another reason why billionaire Carlo Grandi has put his beautiful daughter behind an electric fence, guarded by killer dogs and two fast-shooting guards?Mike Frost, always on the look-out for big money and beautiful women, gets the job as second gun - and soon realises he is guarding a hell cat. When kidnappers sold him the idea of being the inside man, Frost hadn't known which he wanted most - that beautiful body or the $5,000,000 it could bring him.

Genres: Novels, Fiction, Thriller

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 1977

About the author

René Lodge Brabazon Raymond was born on 24th December 1906 in London, England, the son of Colonel Francis Raymond of the colonial Indian Army, a veterinary surgeon. His father intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent. He left home at the age of 18 and became at different times a children's encyclopedia salesman, a salesman in a bookshop, and executive for a book wholesaler before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books. His interests included photography (he was up to professional standard), reading and listening to classical music, being a particularly enthusiastic opera lover. Also as a form of relaxation between novels, he put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models.

In 1932, Raymond married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. They were together until his death fifty three years later. Prohibition and the ensuing US Great Depression (1929–1939), had given rise to the Chicago gangster culture just prior to World War II. This, combined with her book trade experience, made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. He wrote as R. Raymond, James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Ambrose Grant and Raymond Marshall.

During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. Chase edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology.

Raymond moved to France in 1956 and then to Switzerland in 1969, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva, from 1974. He eventually died there peacefully on 6 February 1985.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "hippy colony" where they listen all night to swing music. Mobsters and "finks" running around trying to score big money. A billionaire's daughter who becomes a "reefer addict" and has her brain scrambled "going on a trip" with LSD. This is the semi-mythical world of Paradise City, James Hadley Chase's setting for most of his American crime thrillers. It's a place where the denizens speak "Chasenese," an odd combination of outdated American slang from the 1940s and 50s, malapropisms, and mangled flower power expressions in a British accent. It's marvelous! The hero, if we can call him that, is Mike Frost, one time New York City cop, FBI man, and Vietnam jungle fighter now turned kidnapper and blackmailer. Alas, he meets up with a not so bright but still very lethal mafia hit man and his two goof ball associates. As will happen in nearly every Chase novel, plans go awry, things dissolve into chaos, and the last man standing is the billionaire's own private Bruce Lee. Couldn't be better.

[Richa · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing about this book that I did not like was that all the female characters were shown immoral. Extensively so. This could be a popular male fantasy, but I found it offensive.
The thriller was good. A good book otherwise.

[Akinola Akinyemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice one!

The drive to get the fast buck is just the start of a perilous journey towards failur. James Hadley Chase always had a clear message in all his books. Crime doesn't pay. Another nice one!

[Dhiraj Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart tough guy after quick buck, molls ready to drop in bed at the drop of a hat, a get rick quick kidnapping plan, tougher gangsters vying for their share of the booty and the villain who outwits them all. Typical JHS's work!!!

[Imran Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what you expect from a James Hadley Chase novel. Fully entertaining!!

[Sen Savithri · Rating 3 out of 5]

reasonably good jk chase noting special

[B. BALA CHANDER · Rating 4 out of 5]

No 3 of JHC. 👍

[Joydeep · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst....

[Grefa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buena novela policial, con mucho suspenso, los hechos se suceden uno tras otro, con vueltas inesperadas. Muy bueno, muy entretenido.

[Soumya Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like other James Hadley chase's books this book was also filled with thrill till the last page. A book worthy of giving a try.

[Kakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the later works of the magnificent James Hadley Chase. I clearly remember all the books of this, my favorite author, and of course, I remember this novel well. Its main character, Mike Frost, in search of work came to Paradise City (a magnificent fictional city, on the Florida coast, near Miami) and was hired to guard the villa of an Italian billionaire. In the villa, the Italian hides from prying eyes his daughter Gina, whom not long before that someone had tried to kidnap.
This is how the magnificent, most interesting reading matter is brewed!

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's really captivating and shoking, what i really learned from this book is to be satisfied with what ever you have.

[Priodarshi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had nothing productive to do, so picked this one up. It was just about OK.. Not totally a waste of time. If you haven't read it already, then you are not missing much.

[Mark Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

What another great book from the maestro, a kidnapping of a powerful man's daughter that has all the twists and turns of a typical JHC thriller, the ending is very well thought out.....

[Satyajeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fast paced story with the right balance of thrill and chutzpah. Loved it. 4 stars