What do you think?
Rate this book
Brighton #3
The Thing Itself
The gripping new thriller in Peter Guttridge's highly acclaimed Brighton series. The truth will out. Thriller writer Victor Tempest is dead and his son, the disgraced ex-Chief Constable Bob Watts, is discovering what really happened in the unsolved Brighton Trunk Murder of 1934. At the same time, Detective Sergeant Sarah Gilchrist has a lead that may establish the truth about the Milldean Massacre. If she can stay alive long enough to follow it... Jimmy Tingley, once Special Air Service, now avenging angel, is in Europe on the trail of the Balkan gangsters who wreaked bloody havoc in Brighton. He's armed for World War III, but is that enough when he's his own most dangerous enemy?
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
5 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Peter Guttridge
43 books16 followersPeter Guttridge is the Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at Southampton University and teaches creative writing. Between 1998 and 2002, he was the director of the Brighton Literature Festival. Since 1998, he has been the mystery reviewer for The Observer, one of Britain's most prestigious Sunday newspapers. He lives in Sussex on the edge of the South Downs National Park.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 26, 2013
Some really terrific writing, great period voices and a fascinating look into the lives of soldiers in both world wars. Too many characters and even though they all play a part in the larger story, which is labyrinthine to say the least, it is just too much. The historical perspective is more interesting to me than the modern day activities of amoral thugs - I'd really like to know more about Eric Knowles (who is as interesting and finely drawn a character as Tom Ripely in The Talented Mr. Ripley) and have zero interest in the Tingley character or the Balkan baddies.
Because this is third in a trilogy, there is also a lot of expository writing; extended background stories, necessary to the plot are told with a breathless voice and unrelenting amounts of information. The reader is left plowing through pages of incredible stories just getting caught up with the current action; the book has been padded with so much of this to the extent that any actual real-time events seem few and far between. Something happens to a character, there is a long description of that character's past, jump to another character in a completely different part of the world, his/her story, and on to yet another character and so on and so on. By the time the story got back around to the first character, I was no longer invested. I think there are a lot of good stories in here, but rather than being a trilogy, they should have all been treated as one-off mysteries that are connected. For example, deal with the Trunk Murders (and one or two other sub-plots) in one book and don't make the poor reader slog through three books to find out how it all turns out.
There is no doubt that Peter Guttridge is an amazing storyteller and writer, but he's just a bit to clever for his own good (or perhaps just my own good). Too much.
ADDENDUM: I've just re-read/skipped-over the book and have adjusted my rating from 2 to 3.5 points because the author really is an exceptional 5 star writer (the best action scenes I've ever read) and even though I still think there is too much going on, it really is all connected and kind of fascinating in the way it was done. He must have had to use a spread sheet to keep all his characters and their activities straight.
Because this is third in a trilogy, there is also a lot of expository writing; extended background stories, necessary to the plot are told with a breathless voice and unrelenting amounts of information. The reader is left plowing through pages of incredible stories just getting caught up with the current action; the book has been padded with so much of this to the extent that any actual real-time events seem few and far between. Something happens to a character, there is a long description of that character's past, jump to another character in a completely different part of the world, his/her story, and on to yet another character and so on and so on. By the time the story got back around to the first character, I was no longer invested. I think there are a lot of good stories in here, but rather than being a trilogy, they should have all been treated as one-off mysteries that are connected. For example, deal with the Trunk Murders (and one or two other sub-plots) in one book and don't make the poor reader slog through three books to find out how it all turns out.
There is no doubt that Peter Guttridge is an amazing storyteller and writer, but he's just a bit to clever for his own good (or perhaps just my own good). Too much.
ADDENDUM: I've just re-read/skipped-over the book and have adjusted my rating from 2 to 3.5 points because the author really is an exceptional 5 star writer (the best action scenes I've ever read) and even though I still think there is too much going on, it really is all connected and kind of fascinating in the way it was done. He must have had to use a spread sheet to keep all his characters and their activities straight.
March 8, 2022
It's a shame there's so so much going on. It overwhelms the 200 pages afforded to it. Any one, or maybe two, of these threads would be sufficient for a full novel, and remembering an overload of characters, and all of their connections to each other, becomes confusing. We're constantly pausing to shuffle and double-check the information before ploughing on. Towards the end, the action hops around continously, pogoing manically between different perspectives.
The narrative itself is excellently constructed, well-paced, exciting. It comes together well at the conclusion, tying off all the interwoven storylines. The most effective parts are when the surfeit of plot fades into the background, and we tear through wartorn Europe or present-day Italy, spending some quality time with the characters rather than dropping in to see them briefly.
The narrative itself is excellently constructed, well-paced, exciting. It comes together well at the conclusion, tying off all the interwoven storylines. The most effective parts are when the surfeit of plot fades into the background, and we tear through wartorn Europe or present-day Italy, spending some quality time with the characters rather than dropping in to see them briefly.
September 17, 2020
Brighton
Having lived a few years not far from Brighton the trilogy awakened strong memories of the town I have not seen for 20 years. The Trilogy itself is full of interesting characters, all very real. The description of the was experiences are also very close to my own memory of them.
Having lived a few years not far from Brighton the trilogy awakened strong memories of the town I have not seen for 20 years. The Trilogy itself is full of interesting characters, all very real. The description of the was experiences are also very close to my own memory of them.
May 27, 2025
Best ever read.
This is the most gripping crime book and the two previous that I've ever read, and at 69, that's a few. Read the trilogy in several days, coudnt put out it down. A must read. You won't be disappointed.
This is the most gripping crime book and the two previous that I've ever read, and at 69, that's a few. Read the trilogy in several days, coudnt put out it down. A must read. You won't be disappointed.
April 21, 2013
Complex mystery with many characters and covering many decades. This is the third in the series, it might be better to start with number one and get the background.
July 10, 2013
Brighton England at its worst. Fascinating and well written.
November 9, 2014
Abandon.
November 21, 2015
don't bother
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews