The Third Person

by Steve Mosby

“This isn’t some kind of ‘Dear John’ letter. I’m coming back again.” But Amy didn’t come back. The note on the kitchen table was the last her boyfriend, Jason, heard from her. At first, he let Amy have her space, but when weeks turned to months, Jason went after her. What he found appalled him. It seemed that Amy led a secret life on the Internet. There she met people who could put her in touch with a horrible experience from her past. Now Jason sits at home and cruises those same horrific websites to find her kidnapper. And one day, in a place called “The Melanie Room,” he finds him.

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery

420 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Helen Pridham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute crap.
There aren't many books I really don't enjoy, but this is one, in fact I can't remember ever liking a book less.
Shite.
Blughr.
I'm now making a sort of retching sound in my throat but you obviously can't hear me. I'm still doing it though
...ccccchhhhhhrrrrrrrrspt....
that's what it sounds like.

[Mellisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I liked how it had a lot of dark web parts to it, how it was actually quite unsettling in parts (and it takes quite a lot to unsettle me). I didn't really like the ending of the book, but I think that's probably because I was so intrigued and unsettled (in a I kinda don't want to read on but I need to way) by the dark web parts that when the story went off the subject it kinda lost my attention. Honestly though it's worth the read.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up about two-thirds in--too many competing ideas--lose track of the overarching plot--a bit of a mess.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abgebrochen, nicht mein Fall

[Games And Brushes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, this book was disappointing from start to end. Incredibly graphic, sickeningly and unnecessarily so. I am familiar with wanting to grip an audience with a shock factor, but surely not to the point where the reader is ready to throw the book down and never touch it again?
The book could have easily ended 50 or so pages before the end.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth it. Not well worked out ... fluent writing but no ability to set up a good story.

[HattieB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a favourite.

[Jay Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is 2015, so how on earth have I only just discovered an author called 'Steve Mosby'? His first book, titled 'The Third Person' is an incredible, thought provoking tome of genius! Well written thrills abound in this chilling page turner, seemingly released way back in 2003! Quietly, you think you can predict the outcome but, nothing, nothing prepares you for the gripping finale. How wrong could I have got it? Superbly penned from start to finish, I literally couldn't put it down (and I rarely say that)! For fans of Paul Finch this is a definite must. Without hesitation, I am now delving into his second book 'The Cutting Crew' and I hope that it enthrals me as much...It couldn't..Could it?

[Randy Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read four other books by Steve Mosby and given each one five stars. This book "The Third Person" was his debut novel and if I've read it first I've wouldn't have taken the time to read any more so I guess he got better or I just didn't get this book.

[Timothy M. Gorman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually read an author's work in chronological order. Contrary to this, I read my first two Steve Mosby books out of order. (I ran across a copy of "You Can Run" (2016) and liked it. Travelling and out of books I was able to borrow a kindle copy of "Still Bleeding" (2009) from the library. I soon discovered he was currently writing under the name Alex North. I'd already read all of these books so I was hooked. I decided to read all the Mosby books, starting with "The Third Person". (2003)
I did not like this book. Such a merky story, such an ill defined story line.
So confusing, such an unsatisfying ending. Mosby will flash back and forth without warning one paragraph to the next. I think some dialog is the main character's fantasy or supposition rather than thoughts and/or actions that are, in service to the storyline, factual. Hard to follow.

If you too plan to read all of Steve Mosby's books, I would suggest you save this one for last.

[Mohak · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent piece of writing!
I loved this book from the page one, it somehow felt so different that I actually read the first page a couple of times, same goes for the last few chapters. It had so many twists and turns but Steve presented them so tactfully, they all fell into place almost immediately and so smoothly that they never went out of place.

I read some of the reviews on Goodreads(I am thankful I did not when I picked this one up) and I am still unsure why it has so many 1 star ratings. I understand people have different styles and no two people read the same book but somehow I still feel that it deserves a higher rating than it already has.

My overall impression of this book
I enjoyed the story and story telling (which was more brilliant than the plot). His writing style reminded me of Harlan Coben in places partly because of the unsuspecting twists, partly because he's my recent favorite author. I am definitely gonna hunt the library for more books by Steve!

[Luke Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a few of Mosby's books and generally enjoyed all of them. The Third Person is an oddity compared to the others in that it's more of a SF/thriller mashup than outright crime. There are a lot of ideas here and a fair bit of background to the setting. All well and good although I have to admit to getting a bit lost in those ideas (probably down to me as SF isn't really my area) as well as in the changes of POV and angle towards the end. Saying that, it's oddly enjoyable, never dull and it's interesting to see how Mosby has developed from this - his first book.

3.5 out of 5.

[Dee Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Mosby is an early pseudonym for Alex North (The Whisper Man) and I believe this was his first published novel under any name. At the start I felt he was trying too hard to shock, but that settled down fairly soon. The plot is unusual, to say the least, set in some unspecified place and time, and about cyber-crime as it was known in 2000 so it's a bit dated now. However, given all that, the quality of the writing, the way he uses words, shines through. I'll definitely read more Mosby while I'm waiting for the next North.

[Robin Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a stunning debut novel from one of England's best crime writers, Steve Mosby, written when he was only twenty-five.
Jason's girlfriend has been missing for sometime. To find her he must enter the world of the dark internet - those websites where sane on people wouldn't want to venture.
This is a thrilling book. Impossible to put down till later.

[Flo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. Never finished the book, didn’t even get past the second chapter. I found the subject matter about the dark web and people who get their jollies watching others getting raped, murdered beyond disgusting. Sick. Perverted. Not worth my time. Not even sure I would ever read another book from this author.

[Ian Willey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will be the last of his books I will read. All is good until the end. I find his way of finishing both books rather disappointing but this one was by far the worst end. Stretched beyond credibility and left feeling cheated

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bored me to death,enough said.

[Gemma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea what’s happened, who killed who and is she really dead? You know what I don’t care enough to find out.

[Juli Hale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too dark for me. Hard for me to follow the narrative, mainly because I was in such a hurry to be done with it.

[Friederike · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half was very interesting but in my opinion the second half wasn’t needed. Even though the book was written well I wouldn’t really recommend it.

[Soho_Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you read as much as I do, you keep catching up with your favourite authors and have to try something or someone new. Unfortunately, this leads to judging a book by its cover in an attempt to find something interesting to read quickly and this can cause disappointment. That's not exactly what happened in this case, as the book wasn't too bad, but it did cause no small amount of confusion and certainly wasn't what I expected on reading the back cover.

The basic idea is a sound one; Jason Klein has lost his girlfriend, Amy. Quite literally - she went out one day hunting her own past and never returned, despite promising that she would. Jason has been looking for her and has found the man he believes is responsible for her disappearance through an internet chat room specialising in strange sexual behaviours. At the same time, another girl Jason knew online has been killed. Could finding out more about the death of this second girl help him find more about Amy, who Jason can't be sure is even alive.

The basic idea behind the story is a good one, but from this point onwards it starts getting a lot more complicated as Mosby throws in more and more ideas and they get tangled up in each other. Suddenly you discover that the story is set in some kind of future where the Police have been privatised and adverts are projected onto the moon. Uptown and downtown are more literal, as the cities have grown upwards and the ground has moved upwards with them. There's also an idea of a written word so powerfully descriptive that it can put pictures in your head as effectively as any film.

These are all wonderful ideas on their own, but if you put them all together at once, they seem to get a little cramped and fall over each other for space. If these ideas were all expanded and there were three novels with one of these three ideas as the basis for each, you'd get three intriguing stories. Putting them all together just leaves you with a bit of a mess and the narrative becomes confused the longer it goes on. The ending in particular is such a mess it ends up as a huge disappointment, which takes quite some effort considering the whole book turns into a big disappointment once the ideas start crashing into each other.

The other part of the book that I found was a little disappointing was that Mosby has assumed that the reader won't have been in a chat room before. This means that when he first describes Jason's chatting, he explains what happens in terms of how text appears on the screen and how private messages open in new windows. This seems overly simplistic to someone like me who has visited chat rooms, even though I've not been in many and not for some time. Maybe this wouldn't grate on a chat room novice, but if you're someone with any kind of online experience, you may feel like you're being talked down to.

Putting these concerns aside, there isn't a bad little novel behind it all. The ideas are wonderfully imaginative, especially the one where writing comes alive. The futuristic world does seem vaguely familiar and I can't help but think I've heard the idea of projecting adverts onto the moon somewhere else before, but Mosby paints it well enough that it can feel real; not quite as effectively as the text he describes in his other big idea, but very well nonetheless.

The characters seem quite realistic as well, with Jason Klein clearly a man on a mission and driven by love to find out what has happened to Amy. Admittedly, with the futuristic setting, some suspension of disbelief is useful, but even so some of the other characters don't seem to be quite so well drawn. However, part of that may be where they are dropping into a world I know very little about, being the seedier side of life.

I would have no hesitation in recommending this if I thought it was possible to see through the confusion of all these colliding ideas and simply enjoy the basic story. Sadly, it feels like all the ideas have been through a blender and everything is so mixed together there's no separating them and this is enough to replace most of the excitement that can be gained with bewilderment. This is definitely a book with potential, but when "The Third Person" adds in a third different and major idea, it all becomes a bit too much.

This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk

[Richard Kunzmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Mosby published his first book at about the same time as me, and at about the same age, around 26. When I read The Third Person, it left me gobsmacked and not a little jealous. If he can keep up the raw energy of his debut, he could develop into a dangerous writer. Very dangerous. I haven’t read anything this dark since Michael Marshal Smith’s Spares.

Jason’s fiancé disappeared four months ago. The police say she left of her own accord, but he knows differently. Perhaps it had something to do with the macabre sites she’d been visiting on the internet; or maybe with his spurious infidelity. When a woman he met on the internet delivers his first solid clue as to what might have happened to his girlfriend, Jason decides to take matters into his own hands and begins to hunt for the murderers, rapists and art collectors who came into contact with Amy. The truth that our protagonist unravels isn’t pleasant, not pleasant at all, mostly because Jason’s story is entirely plausible if you’ve looked into the darker corners of your own soul and the internet.

The maturity with which Mosby explores the demise of Jason and Amy’s relationship is exemplary. Maybe I think that because I was going through a real bad break up at the time I read it and I saw my relationship mirrored in the pages, but it was more than that. My copy of the book is full of highlights where sentences capture fresh metaphors, complex emotions, and unique insights into our dark halves. Mosby uses interesting conventions to build a tense novel, and at ever corner there’s a sense of impending personal doom for our protagonist. It reminded me a lot of 8mm with Nicholas Cage; you kinda know this is all going to end terribly, but like our detectives you must have the answer before you can rest.

Every now and again there is some confusion in the logical flow of the unravelling mystery, but this in no way should digress from a superb debut novel. Note to self: Buy more books by this twisted bastard. I mean that as a compliment.

[Joanne Parkington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erm... is this a glimpse into the scary mind of Mr Mosby already on the path & honing his crime writing skill's ?? I think so !! I'm currently backtracking through said Mosby's release's & this was his debut novel & although a little rough round the edges you can clearly see all the early indicators of the superb author he is today. Bladerunner came to mind for me in his discription of Downtown and Jason was a little like Rick Deckard realising it's not everything else that's the problem .. it's him. That's not giving anything away by a long shot as there are quite a few twist's & turn's and the end chapters that pull the whole story together are very good ... half way through i was fearful he wouldnt manage it, but i needn't have worried. However, i would have liked the ' Writer' to have developed more ( he just sorts of 'drops in' to his 'chosen' role ) and it's a first for me how any woman finds questions answered on rape sites ... but that's small potato's compared with the whole plot. A good debut on a tricky subject ... i wonder if his parent's were ever worried ........

[Sharanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Mosby’s ‘The Third Person’ gives you the chills right from page one. Dealing with dark themes of cyber-sex, violence, rape, and psychotic maniacs, this book was quite depressing. It was quite upsetting to read most of the descriptions of violent crimes and troubled situations. But the narrative and the racy storyline kept me hooked. Also the underlying relationship between the protagonists (Amy and Jason) and their eventual unraveling was described was very believable. Despite everything that happens, you’ll find yourself still rooting for Jason. This book is not recommended for the faint hearted!

[Pam]

rec 12/12 via bookmooch

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gritty, and not for the faint hearted.

[Odietamo · Rating 3 out of 5]

protagonist's thoughts display some (rather dark) humour at times, that's why I liked it.

[Trisha]

I thought this was a dead body book, but it is more like a blade runner book.