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Damen Brook #1
The Reaper
A damaged detective.
A case he’s trying to forget.
A killer who won’t let him… Detective Inspector Damen Brook thinks he's left his past behind him in London. But it seems a serial killer has followed him north… Brook's seeking sanctuary. Years in the MET have left their mark - so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before - The Reaper - a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace. To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he's started killing again and what, if anything, connects the butchered families. As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life… A heart-stopping thriller from a stunning new crime talent, for fans of Stuart MacBrie and Thomas Harris.
A case he’s trying to forget.
A killer who won’t let him… Detective Inspector Damen Brook thinks he's left his past behind him in London. But it seems a serial killer has followed him north… Brook's seeking sanctuary. Years in the MET have left their mark - so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before - The Reaper - a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace. To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he's started killing again and what, if anything, connects the butchered families. As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life… A heart-stopping thriller from a stunning new crime talent, for fans of Stuart MacBrie and Thomas Harris.
544 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2007
45 people are currently reading
1102 people want to read
About the author
Steven Dunne
21 books123 followers Steven left Rhodesway School in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1976 after taking A-levels. He graduated from Kent University in 1979 and, after taking a year’s Post Graduate Certificate in Education at St Mary’s College in Twickenham, he undertook a variety of jobs in London, including Public Relations Consultant, freelance Journalist and supply teacher.
He wrote occasional articles for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent while working on various writing projects including his own brief career in stand-up comedy. During this time he co-wrote a comedy pilot for Channel 4 entitled Not Enough Poodles but, unfortunately it fell at the final commissioning hurdle. He wrote the Book for the award-winning Latchmere Theatre Christmas pantomime of Hansel and Gretel in 1989.
In 1988, he began teaching English in Croydon before moving to Derby in 1996, where he began to think about writing a novel.
After being turned onto thrillers by Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs, he realised that most thrillers failed to deliver their promised exitement, so in 2007, after spending two fruitless years marketing the novel to the publishing industry, Steven self-published Reaper, a thriller about a serial killer who strikes in Derby. It sold over 1500 copies in the East Midlands and in 2008, and received very encouraging reviews. Harper Collins bought the rights and The Reaper was released internationally in 2009. A sequel, The Disciple, was released in August 2010. Both books were critically acclaimed. He signed a publishing deal at Headline to release the next DI Brook thriller Deity, which will be released in June 2012.
You can also contact him on Facebook.
He wrote occasional articles for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent while working on various writing projects including his own brief career in stand-up comedy. During this time he co-wrote a comedy pilot for Channel 4 entitled Not Enough Poodles but, unfortunately it fell at the final commissioning hurdle. He wrote the Book for the award-winning Latchmere Theatre Christmas pantomime of Hansel and Gretel in 1989.
In 1988, he began teaching English in Croydon before moving to Derby in 1996, where he began to think about writing a novel.
After being turned onto thrillers by Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs, he realised that most thrillers failed to deliver their promised exitement, so in 2007, after spending two fruitless years marketing the novel to the publishing industry, Steven self-published Reaper, a thriller about a serial killer who strikes in Derby. It sold over 1500 copies in the East Midlands and in 2008, and received very encouraging reviews. Harper Collins bought the rights and The Reaper was released internationally in 2009. A sequel, The Disciple, was released in August 2010. Both books were critically acclaimed. He signed a publishing deal at Headline to release the next DI Brook thriller Deity, which will be released in June 2012.
You can also contact him on Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
February 15, 2016
The Reaper (and the rest of the series) was recommended to me by a number of my friends. Due to these recommendations I bought the first book in the series. If I’m completely honest, I did put off reading this for quite a while, as I often struggle to get excited about crime novels, especially police procedural ones, which can often have too many characters to keep track of and don’t always delve deep enough into my psyche to satisfy me. However, The Reaper was surprisingly good. I found myself getting emotionally involved and it was very hard to put down, hence me reading it in only a couple of days.
I really liked the character of Detective Inspector Damen Brook. He wasn’t perfect, had family issues, and shared my experience of insomnia. He had depth to his character and just the right balance of imperfections and issues to make him feel real and believable. I rarely grow attached to the main characters in crime novels, and I think this may be why I fail to get excited about the next book in a series, but already I’m wondering what Damen will be involved in throughout book two and beyond.
The way Damen conversed with a particular bad character in this book, definitely made me think of Hannibal Lecter. The character was intelligent, and as a huge fan of Silence of the Lambs, I enjoyed the slight resemblance to how I believe Hannibal Lecter would have behaved in the same situation. I was glued to my Kindle screen with my heart beating a little faster than normal, eager to discover what would happen.
The Reaper gets a very good 4 stars from me and I highly recommend it to fans of crime and police procedural novels. You don’t want to miss out on this series!
I really liked the character of Detective Inspector Damen Brook. He wasn’t perfect, had family issues, and shared my experience of insomnia. He had depth to his character and just the right balance of imperfections and issues to make him feel real and believable. I rarely grow attached to the main characters in crime novels, and I think this may be why I fail to get excited about the next book in a series, but already I’m wondering what Damen will be involved in throughout book two and beyond.
The way Damen conversed with a particular bad character in this book, definitely made me think of Hannibal Lecter. The character was intelligent, and as a huge fan of Silence of the Lambs, I enjoyed the slight resemblance to how I believe Hannibal Lecter would have behaved in the same situation. I was glued to my Kindle screen with my heart beating a little faster than normal, eager to discover what would happen.
The Reaper gets a very good 4 stars from me and I highly recommend it to fans of crime and police procedural novels. You don’t want to miss out on this series!
August 8, 2025
You know when you've found a new author when your 10% in and you hop over to Amazon to get the next in the series.
The only thing I've achieved this weekend is reading the book.
Fabulous. Gripped in every chapter.
Five stars.
The only thing I've achieved this weekend is reading the book.
Fabulous. Gripped in every chapter.
Five stars.
April 15, 2016
You can tell this is the author's early work. It's clunky, both in style and plot. There were moments that brought it up a notch, but they were few and far between. I'm not convinced by the main character and his endless whining, but the ending does give hope for the future of the series.
Not sure I'll continue on. Especially as Dunne killed a cat. Sometimes writers go too far.
Not sure I'll continue on. Especially as Dunne killed a cat. Sometimes writers go too far.
September 25, 2016
Detective Inspector Damen Brook thinks he's left his past behind him in London. But it seems a serial killer has followed him north…
Brook's seeking sanctuary. Years in the MET have left their mark - so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District.
But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before - The Reaper - a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace.
To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he's started killing again and what, if anything, connects the butchered families.
As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life…
Blimey. This is a brilliant read. The writing is very special and the story is very unique. The depth of the story makes this book. A serious troubled copper, who is facing an old demon - and the instigator is very sinister, very clever.
100% one of my best reads. Steven writes with no inhibitions and portraits a story that grabs you from page one.
I'd give it 10 stars - genius, clever and so absorbing!
Brook's seeking sanctuary. Years in the MET have left their mark - so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District.
But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before - The Reaper - a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace.
To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he's started killing again and what, if anything, connects the butchered families.
As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life…
Blimey. This is a brilliant read. The writing is very special and the story is very unique. The depth of the story makes this book. A serious troubled copper, who is facing an old demon - and the instigator is very sinister, very clever.
100% one of my best reads. Steven writes with no inhibitions and portraits a story that grabs you from page one.
I'd give it 10 stars - genius, clever and so absorbing!
July 6, 2016
When I first started reading The Reaper I had absolutely no idea what to expect. All I knew was what I had read from the blurb, and the rave reviews fellow bloggers and friends had written also got a look in as well. I’d had The Reaper on my kindle for AAAAAAGES, and seeing as how it was recommended to me again recently, I decided it was about time I met DI Damen Brook.
Brook is undeniably flawed, but it is borne from previous experiences and it really adds to the melancholic air of his character. I love a good protagonist, and I really enjoy finding out their backstory and what made them the way they are when the reader is introduced to them. That’s another reason I like to start at the beginning with series.
Brook is in Derby, working on the murders of a family which he finds bears many similarities to a couple of cases of is from way back before he relocated from London, which the aforementioned Reaper was the perpetrator.
The Reaper reads like a cat and mouse game at times, with both sides having the upper had at various different points in the story. It adds a sense of tension and menace to the already fraught narrative.
Though this is the first in the series, the author has done a very good job with the history and backstory of the characters. With the story jumping between the past and present, we get glimpses into Brook’s breakdown, and the events surrounding the investigation of The Reaper which lead up to it.
I’m not going to lie, The Reaper made my brain work overtime while I was reading it. At times, I found it quite difficult to separate the past and preset investigations, but it didn’t deter my enjoyment of the book. It’s safe to say I’ll be reading the following 5 books in the DI Damen Brook series.
Brook is undeniably flawed, but it is borne from previous experiences and it really adds to the melancholic air of his character. I love a good protagonist, and I really enjoy finding out their backstory and what made them the way they are when the reader is introduced to them. That’s another reason I like to start at the beginning with series.
Brook is in Derby, working on the murders of a family which he finds bears many similarities to a couple of cases of is from way back before he relocated from London, which the aforementioned Reaper was the perpetrator.
The Reaper reads like a cat and mouse game at times, with both sides having the upper had at various different points in the story. It adds a sense of tension and menace to the already fraught narrative.
Though this is the first in the series, the author has done a very good job with the history and backstory of the characters. With the story jumping between the past and present, we get glimpses into Brook’s breakdown, and the events surrounding the investigation of The Reaper which lead up to it.
I’m not going to lie, The Reaper made my brain work overtime while I was reading it. At times, I found it quite difficult to separate the past and preset investigations, but it didn’t deter my enjoyment of the book. It’s safe to say I’ll be reading the following 5 books in the DI Damen Brook series.
April 7, 2018
This is a series that I was always going to get round to, as I bought this book way back in August 2015 along with other books that just kept getting added to my ever-growing TBR pile of kindle titles. Now although I should be one book down on my TBR pile I am actually 5 more up because if this is Steven Dunne’s debut novel then the rest of the series are high priority must reads!
I have always been intrigued by a man who has a hidden past and there was something more than just a new start to D.I. Damen Brook when he moved from London to Derby. Well it wasn’t too long before the dark shadow that followed him began to make its mark in the town. The Reaper, a terrible serial killer had laid dormant for a number of years after a horrific killing spree in London, was at his heels and killing again on his new patch!
Oh my, Oh my, this killer really likes to play catch me if you can, taunting Brook and keeping one step a head of the game that he is clearly controlling. The killings themselves were works of art, macabre master pieces that told a story by their staging. My mind was in overdrive of how someone could not only murder children but also cause such unbearable mental torture for the parents.
This is by no means a quick read story as it is longer than your average book but I read it in one session totally mesmerised by visions of ecstasy and horror and the fine line where one crosses the other in the killers mind. Steven Dunne had created a killer that held me on every page like the head lamps of a car does a rabbit, I just couldn’t take my eyes from these pages.
The story took turns that I just was not expecting, just totally sensational. Full on real feel characters with the good guys have flaws and the bad guys principles making it an unpredictable and totally addictive read . And I know that I have only just begun to scratch the surface of D.I. Damen Brook. Bring it on! Just perfection!
I have always been intrigued by a man who has a hidden past and there was something more than just a new start to D.I. Damen Brook when he moved from London to Derby. Well it wasn’t too long before the dark shadow that followed him began to make its mark in the town. The Reaper, a terrible serial killer had laid dormant for a number of years after a horrific killing spree in London, was at his heels and killing again on his new patch!
Oh my, Oh my, this killer really likes to play catch me if you can, taunting Brook and keeping one step a head of the game that he is clearly controlling. The killings themselves were works of art, macabre master pieces that told a story by their staging. My mind was in overdrive of how someone could not only murder children but also cause such unbearable mental torture for the parents.
This is by no means a quick read story as it is longer than your average book but I read it in one session totally mesmerised by visions of ecstasy and horror and the fine line where one crosses the other in the killers mind. Steven Dunne had created a killer that held me on every page like the head lamps of a car does a rabbit, I just couldn’t take my eyes from these pages.
The story took turns that I just was not expecting, just totally sensational. Full on real feel characters with the good guys have flaws and the bad guys principles making it an unpredictable and totally addictive read . And I know that I have only just begun to scratch the surface of D.I. Damen Brook. Bring it on! Just perfection!
June 24, 2017
Starts of as a tour de force crime story centred around DI Damen Brook newly moved to Derby from the Met. It would appear that Brook is not the only person to have settled in Derby for when a family is murdered the case bears all the hallmarks of The Reaper a killer that Brook previously failed to apprehend in London and is now terrorizing him anew in the beautiful Derbyshire peak district.
The first half of the story is very readable a cat and mouse game with Brook relying for advice from his old colleague, and former boss, retired policeman, now sadly alcoholic, Charlie Rowlands...."His back was no longer straight as a ramrod but curved and compressed. He'd lost weight as well as the last of his hair, and he was painfully thin. His face was bright and robust, however, as the faces of drunks often are. The red tinge around the high cheekbones and nose mimicked a rosy sheen of health. But the eyes had it, as always. That look of sunken pain, which repelled slumber....." There are the usual trade marks for a copper unable to divide his home and work time resulting in marriage breakup with Amy and a fragmented association with his daughter Terri. There is also some wonderful dialogue, exchanges and observations, a richness in the descriptive language that somewhat complements the ongoing and procedural side of the story......."Unattainable pleasures were to be avoided at all cost. The emotional epidermis of this male was pocked with enough wounds.".........."She was what the politer elements in the division referred to as a handsome woman. To the less polite elements, this meant that while her looks wouldn't make you vomit neither were they likely to induce an erection."...."The sewer he'd been trying to flee for nearly twenty years had taken root inside him."......."An old man in a hovel, clinging to the illusion of life and companionship, only a cat to care whether he lived or died. Mac was The Ghost of Christmas Future. Book had dropped in on his own barren existence, twenty years on."........"Death with dignity sat in their corner, waiting listening and appreciating."......
But the use and flow of language, no matter how good and entertaining, cannot conceal for me the cracks that appear in this long protracted and frankly boring crime procedural. I do not agree with reviews that declare The Reaper was "dreadful" and "extremely poor" but in the final analysis it had little to offer that was new in this crowded genre. Too much dialogue in the second part of the book made me feel that a good editing would greatly have added to the reading experience. I do however close this review with a certain amount of jealousy as a burned out DI still retains the ability to attract the attention of the voluptuous WPC Wendy Jones or perhaps it was the action of a dirty old man taking advantage of a junior and much younger police officer in his place of work, for in Brooks own words......"Wendy Jones was still an innocent abroad, a provincial girl with an endearing ignorance of the world as a dung heap."....
The first half of the story is very readable a cat and mouse game with Brook relying for advice from his old colleague, and former boss, retired policeman, now sadly alcoholic, Charlie Rowlands...."His back was no longer straight as a ramrod but curved and compressed. He'd lost weight as well as the last of his hair, and he was painfully thin. His face was bright and robust, however, as the faces of drunks often are. The red tinge around the high cheekbones and nose mimicked a rosy sheen of health. But the eyes had it, as always. That look of sunken pain, which repelled slumber....." There are the usual trade marks for a copper unable to divide his home and work time resulting in marriage breakup with Amy and a fragmented association with his daughter Terri. There is also some wonderful dialogue, exchanges and observations, a richness in the descriptive language that somewhat complements the ongoing and procedural side of the story......."Unattainable pleasures were to be avoided at all cost. The emotional epidermis of this male was pocked with enough wounds.".........."She was what the politer elements in the division referred to as a handsome woman. To the less polite elements, this meant that while her looks wouldn't make you vomit neither were they likely to induce an erection."...."The sewer he'd been trying to flee for nearly twenty years had taken root inside him."......."An old man in a hovel, clinging to the illusion of life and companionship, only a cat to care whether he lived or died. Mac was The Ghost of Christmas Future. Book had dropped in on his own barren existence, twenty years on."........"Death with dignity sat in their corner, waiting listening and appreciating."......
But the use and flow of language, no matter how good and entertaining, cannot conceal for me the cracks that appear in this long protracted and frankly boring crime procedural. I do not agree with reviews that declare The Reaper was "dreadful" and "extremely poor" but in the final analysis it had little to offer that was new in this crowded genre. Too much dialogue in the second part of the book made me feel that a good editing would greatly have added to the reading experience. I do however close this review with a certain amount of jealousy as a burned out DI still retains the ability to attract the attention of the voluptuous WPC Wendy Jones or perhaps it was the action of a dirty old man taking advantage of a junior and much younger police officer in his place of work, for in Brooks own words......"Wendy Jones was still an innocent abroad, a provincial girl with an endearing ignorance of the world as a dung heap."....
July 7, 2018
The Reaper by Steven Dunne is the first in the Inspector Brook series. It’s awful. I’m shocked and disappointed by this discovery because I read the fifth book in the series, A Killing Moon and enjoyed it immensely. Either Steven Dunne improved massively as a writer over time or his publisher employed a much better editor; whichever it is this first book is such a boring mess of a novel that I couldn’t finish it, even with less than 100 pages to go.
Detective Inspector Damen Brook served as a Met police officer in the city of London until a case came along that was so horrifying that it damaged his marriage and shook him to his core. Unable to continue his life in London, Brook left his wife and daughter and moved to Derby, a smaller city in the Peak District of England. One night, he is called to a crime scene; a family has been murdered and arranged in a way that is horrifyingly familiar to Brook. It’s the work of the Reaper, the serial murderer Brook obsessed over until his life fell apart. Although Brook tries to point out the similarities of this case to the Reaper cases, his colleagues are skeptical. Brook decides to pursue the case on his own, knowing that he risks reviving the demons of his past.
This story is very promising. Damen Brook is emotionally scarred and messed up and hasn’t connected with his coworkers. They think he’s a big city cop and an emotional wreck. He doesn’t help himself by being standoffish and unfriendly, along with being a fucked up mess of a guy. The murder investigation promises to be interesting and watching Brook have to reengage with his past demons and deal with a family crisis looks to be juicy and fast-paced.
Oh, if only.
Dunne doesn’t seem to have a clue about who his main character is. Brook’s personality is all over the place. He’s standoffish, socially insecure to the point of displaying social anxiety, but then he’s jovial and talkative and “beaming” (oh, the beaming. So much fucking beaming.) Even though he’s attempting to fit in with his fellow detectives, he goes out of his way to humiliate them in ways that I don’t quite get, even after reading the scene a few times. I put it down to maybe it being a British cultural thing I can’t perceive because Brook thinks to himself, ha, yeah, I made her feel bad. Good. I didn’t get it, but whatever. As long as Dunne is pleased that he has his character pleased about being a dick to a fellow officer.
The theme of incest, of the sexual tension between fathers and daughters, runs throughout the book. Not just in the Reaper cases but also in Brook’s life. As disgusted as Brook professes to be by the older man/young girl dynamic, there’s a very weird scene on page 221 of Brook talking with a group of his teenage daughter’s friends. They saw him on the news because of a press conference he held regarding the murder investigation. First—teenage girls watching a news conference on tv? Um, no. Don’t see that happening. Second—the investigation is in Derby. His daughter and ex-wife live in Brighton. Would the local BBC news station broadcast a (probably) live police conference about a murder in Derby? Somehow I doubt it. Anyway, these teenage girls treat Brook as if he were Harry Styles of One Direction and ask him for an autograph. Brook responds in a creepy pedo way by teasing the girls and asking if he can sign a “body part,” “a piece of underwear,” or “would you like some of my DNA? I’ve got a sample in my pocket.” The girls run off, sensibly freaked out, and Brook is pleased. He tells his daughter her friends are shallow and only care that he was on the “telly,” but don’t care about why he was on the telly. It’s a weird scene, but the book is full of weird scenes. Later, the daughter tells him . In response to this, Brook mentally shuts down, collapses right there, and goes into some kind of weird self-induced trance. The detective he’s with, Wendy Jones, sticks him in a bed & breakfast and (on the advice of Brook’s former Met supervisor), feeds him sweet tea and sugared rum for about three days—this when they are supposed to be tracking down Reaper leads. But that’s okay because he needed the sleep:
The pacing of this book is so. Damn. Slow. There’s no investigation at all. Nothing. The plot is basically huge passages of italicized flashbacks to Brook’s previous Reaper investigation in London, the one that caused him to lose his mind. Interspersed with those passages are long, boring conversations with his former Met supervisor and long, boring conversations with the primary suspect. This man, the primary suspect, has developed an odd sort of friendship with both men and they chat like chums, particularly towards the end of the book. I abandoned this novel during a long, tedious conversation between Brook and Mr. X because I just didn’t give a fuck. I was skimming anyway, and realized that I was merely seeing the words and had long given up trying to comprehend whatever the hell the point of all this polite chitchat was. The initial investigation (the murdered family) never had an urgency and became lost among all the confusing details of other Reaper murders.
Not only is the plot mired in endless and tedious flashbacks and extraneous details from former cases, but Dunne has no feel for language. He overuses the word “beaming.” Everyone is beaming and usually in circumstances when you would think they would not be “beaming.” Stop. Not every damn facial expression needs to be described as “beaming.” Get a thesaurus. Another problem is the use of “sauntering.” I see this a lot with authors. They don’t want to use “walk,” so they describe their characters as “strolling,” “sauntering,” “ambling,” etc. The problem with substituting those words for a simple verb, “walking,” is that those are walks with a certain attitude. If a character is tense, anxious, or angry he’s probably not going to “stroll” into a meeting or “amble” down the hall. Dunne used “saunter” to describe Brook and if there is one person who probably never “sauntered” anywhere, it’s this fucked-up weirdo Brook.
This sentences has me scratching my head. Brook is being accosted at a New Year’s party at a mental health sanatorium (more weird shit) by a drunk woman. She wants to get it on with Brook. He’s not so thrilled with the prospect and Dunne describes the scene: “She locked a flabby arm onto his and gripped him with her profiterole fingers” (252). I didn’t know what “profiterole” meant. My pocket Oxford American Dictionary & Thesaurus, 3rd edition, defines it as a noun: “a small ball of choux pastry filled with cream and covered with chocolate.” I’m guessing Dunne is trying to be creative and describe her fingers as fat and puffy (and maybe covered with chocolate and cream?) but this fails. More fun with badly chosen words: “If Brook closed his eyes he could almost smell the perfume of her hair as she chewed urgently at his chest. He could feel the smoothness of her pale skin and the violence of her passion, all her sinews girding themselves to the rhythms of his lust” (256). Oh, my. Is that sexy or what? There’s nothing like a woman chewing on a man’s chest and girding her sinews to get my libido hopping. Maybe she should have chewed on a hamburger instead and left his chest unscathed.
I cannot finish this book. The plot has gone off the tracks and crashed into an embankment. The prose is subpar and the author didn’t create characters that mattered to me in any way. Brook’s personality is poorly defined. Just because he is supposed to be emotionally damaged doesn’t mean there isn’t some consistency to his character. Brook is all over the place. I don’t like him. I don’t think he’s interesting. Mostly he’s an assholish bore. The fun of reading police procedurals is to investigate the crime along with the detectives, to be a part of the intellectual journey of piecing clues together to discover the killer’s motive and identity. This investigatory aspect is missing from the book. Brook already knows the identity of the Reaper and motive is revealed through long, incredibly boring conversations with the killer himself. There’s no guesswork and no chance for the reader to be thrilled by the hunt for a murderer because Dunne took all of that away. Maybe I’ll eventually read the second book because I have proof that he improves as an author. Unless A Killing Moon was good by pure chance. But don’t read The Reaper. Ugh.
Detective Inspector Damen Brook served as a Met police officer in the city of London until a case came along that was so horrifying that it damaged his marriage and shook him to his core. Unable to continue his life in London, Brook left his wife and daughter and moved to Derby, a smaller city in the Peak District of England. One night, he is called to a crime scene; a family has been murdered and arranged in a way that is horrifyingly familiar to Brook. It’s the work of the Reaper, the serial murderer Brook obsessed over until his life fell apart. Although Brook tries to point out the similarities of this case to the Reaper cases, his colleagues are skeptical. Brook decides to pursue the case on his own, knowing that he risks reviving the demons of his past.
This story is very promising. Damen Brook is emotionally scarred and messed up and hasn’t connected with his coworkers. They think he’s a big city cop and an emotional wreck. He doesn’t help himself by being standoffish and unfriendly, along with being a fucked up mess of a guy. The murder investigation promises to be interesting and watching Brook have to reengage with his past demons and deal with a family crisis looks to be juicy and fast-paced.
Oh, if only.
Dunne doesn’t seem to have a clue about who his main character is. Brook’s personality is all over the place. He’s standoffish, socially insecure to the point of displaying social anxiety, but then he’s jovial and talkative and “beaming” (oh, the beaming. So much fucking beaming.) Even though he’s attempting to fit in with his fellow detectives, he goes out of his way to humiliate them in ways that I don’t quite get, even after reading the scene a few times. I put it down to maybe it being a British cultural thing I can’t perceive because Brook thinks to himself, ha, yeah, I made her feel bad. Good. I didn’t get it, but whatever. As long as Dunne is pleased that he has his character pleased about being a dick to a fellow officer.
The theme of incest, of the sexual tension between fathers and daughters, runs throughout the book. Not just in the Reaper cases but also in Brook’s life. As disgusted as Brook professes to be by the older man/young girl dynamic, there’s a very weird scene on page 221 of Brook talking with a group of his teenage daughter’s friends. They saw him on the news because of a press conference he held regarding the murder investigation. First—teenage girls watching a news conference on tv? Um, no. Don’t see that happening. Second—the investigation is in Derby. His daughter and ex-wife live in Brighton. Would the local BBC news station broadcast a (probably) live police conference about a murder in Derby? Somehow I doubt it. Anyway, these teenage girls treat Brook as if he were Harry Styles of One Direction and ask him for an autograph. Brook responds in a creepy pedo way by teasing the girls and asking if he can sign a “body part,” “a piece of underwear,” or “would you like some of my DNA? I’ve got a sample in my pocket.” The girls run off, sensibly freaked out, and Brook is pleased. He tells his daughter her friends are shallow and only care that he was on the “telly,” but don’t care about why he was on the telly. It’s a weird scene, but the book is full of weird scenes. Later, the daughter tells him . In response to this, Brook mentally shuts down, collapses right there, and goes into some kind of weird self-induced trance. The detective he’s with, Wendy Jones, sticks him in a bed & breakfast and (on the advice of Brook’s former Met supervisor), feeds him sweet tea and sugared rum for about three days—this when they are supposed to be tracking down Reaper leads. But that’s okay because he needed the sleep:
And so the evening passed into night and night into early morning and still he slept. It was the sleep of the dead. His life, everything he’d worked for was gone, spoiled forever, and there was nothing left for Brook to do but concede and start from scratch, from the womb. Clear of all thoughts, all worries, all preconceptions and all conventions. Now he could sleep. Now he was nothing. Nobody. No job, no career, no family, no future, and, for once, no past. None of it mattered anymore. To worry about any of it, never mind try to influence it, was futile (228).After this bit of nonsense, Brook awakens like Jesus, rested and restored and full of purpose. Vindictive purpose, it seems, because he So, yeah. Brook is a prick. What’s worse is he’s not even an interesting prick. He’s boring, annoying and prone to long sentimental philosophical musings.
The pacing of this book is so. Damn. Slow. There’s no investigation at all. Nothing. The plot is basically huge passages of italicized flashbacks to Brook’s previous Reaper investigation in London, the one that caused him to lose his mind. Interspersed with those passages are long, boring conversations with his former Met supervisor and long, boring conversations with the primary suspect. This man, the primary suspect, has developed an odd sort of friendship with both men and they chat like chums, particularly towards the end of the book. I abandoned this novel during a long, tedious conversation between Brook and Mr. X because I just didn’t give a fuck. I was skimming anyway, and realized that I was merely seeing the words and had long given up trying to comprehend whatever the hell the point of all this polite chitchat was. The initial investigation (the murdered family) never had an urgency and became lost among all the confusing details of other Reaper murders.
Not only is the plot mired in endless and tedious flashbacks and extraneous details from former cases, but Dunne has no feel for language. He overuses the word “beaming.” Everyone is beaming and usually in circumstances when you would think they would not be “beaming.” Stop. Not every damn facial expression needs to be described as “beaming.” Get a thesaurus. Another problem is the use of “sauntering.” I see this a lot with authors. They don’t want to use “walk,” so they describe their characters as “strolling,” “sauntering,” “ambling,” etc. The problem with substituting those words for a simple verb, “walking,” is that those are walks with a certain attitude. If a character is tense, anxious, or angry he’s probably not going to “stroll” into a meeting or “amble” down the hall. Dunne used “saunter” to describe Brook and if there is one person who probably never “sauntered” anywhere, it’s this fucked-up weirdo Brook.
This sentences has me scratching my head. Brook is being accosted at a New Year’s party at a mental health sanatorium (more weird shit) by a drunk woman. She wants to get it on with Brook. He’s not so thrilled with the prospect and Dunne describes the scene: “She locked a flabby arm onto his and gripped him with her profiterole fingers” (252). I didn’t know what “profiterole” meant. My pocket Oxford American Dictionary & Thesaurus, 3rd edition, defines it as a noun: “a small ball of choux pastry filled with cream and covered with chocolate.” I’m guessing Dunne is trying to be creative and describe her fingers as fat and puffy (and maybe covered with chocolate and cream?) but this fails. More fun with badly chosen words: “If Brook closed his eyes he could almost smell the perfume of her hair as she chewed urgently at his chest. He could feel the smoothness of her pale skin and the violence of her passion, all her sinews girding themselves to the rhythms of his lust” (256). Oh, my. Is that sexy or what? There’s nothing like a woman chewing on a man’s chest and girding her sinews to get my libido hopping. Maybe she should have chewed on a hamburger instead and left his chest unscathed.
I cannot finish this book. The plot has gone off the tracks and crashed into an embankment. The prose is subpar and the author didn’t create characters that mattered to me in any way. Brook’s personality is poorly defined. Just because he is supposed to be emotionally damaged doesn’t mean there isn’t some consistency to his character. Brook is all over the place. I don’t like him. I don’t think he’s interesting. Mostly he’s an assholish bore. The fun of reading police procedurals is to investigate the crime along with the detectives, to be a part of the intellectual journey of piecing clues together to discover the killer’s motive and identity. This investigatory aspect is missing from the book. Brook already knows the identity of the Reaper and motive is revealed through long, incredibly boring conversations with the killer himself. There’s no guesswork and no chance for the reader to be thrilled by the hunt for a murderer because Dunne took all of that away. Maybe I’ll eventually read the second book because I have proof that he improves as an author. Unless A Killing Moon was good by pure chance. But don’t read The Reaper. Ugh.
February 13, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. Dark, chilling and well-written. Since reading it I have gone on to read the others in the series - The Disciple, Deity, The Unquiet Grave and Under A Killing Moon and loved them all. In fact they get better and better as they go along.
Damon Brook is an interesting character, flawed enough to make him really interesting.
I cannot recommend this series of books highly enough and The Reaper is a brilliant opening book.
Damon Brook is an interesting character, flawed enough to make him really interesting.
I cannot recommend this series of books highly enough and The Reaper is a brilliant opening book.
February 13, 2016
Fantastic start to a good series.
Couldn't out this book down.
Loved the plotlines and characters. Even the unlikeable ones.
Shall move straight on to the next in the series...hope the greatness carries on
Couldn't out this book down.
Loved the plotlines and characters. Even the unlikeable ones.
Shall move straight on to the next in the series...hope the greatness carries on
December 23, 2014
Really enjoyed this first book and look forward to reading more in the series
November 26, 2019
Ok read but a little confusing at times as kept skipping to the past so you were unsure whether you were in the past or present
March 28, 2014
I was pretty impressed with this debut by Steven Dunne. I started reading it and found myself pretty immersed with the first few chapters which seemed to pull me in. I only had one issue and it’s not really even a valid one as I can’t explain my reasoning. The lead character is a Detective name Damen Brook. For some reason his name just didn’t sit right with me, don’t ask me why as I have no clue. I just know that it didn’t feel right (I’m hoping that by the time I get to read the others in the series I may change my mind on that).
The story itself is a good one and I particularly liked the fact that there were threads involving not only the new murders, but also following Damen’s life before he moved to Derby. Considering this was a debut novel, I thought it was bloody awesome. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying it was perfect, but it was an amazing first book and I found myself thoroughly engrossed. There are plenty of plot layers and threads to keep the story moving along. The murder scenes were described with certain ‘flair’, giving you a feel for the killer. It may have been a wee bit creepy, but it certainly made it feel all the more realistic.
There were parts in the book which I felt were a little bit too descriptive, leaning towards a little bit of padding. However, it certainly wasn’t too much, and this will no doubt improve with each book that Dunne writes. There are threads to the story which take you back in the past, and unless you are paying careful attention, you may not always see the switch. I think this is a lot harder to follow on Kindle, as opposed to a paperback book. I really liked the end and it certainly left me wanting to read more about Damen (damn why is that name such an issue for me?!?!?!?), and I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to reading the follow up to this The Disciple.
The story itself is a good one and I particularly liked the fact that there were threads involving not only the new murders, but also following Damen’s life before he moved to Derby. Considering this was a debut novel, I thought it was bloody awesome. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying it was perfect, but it was an amazing first book and I found myself thoroughly engrossed. There are plenty of plot layers and threads to keep the story moving along. The murder scenes were described with certain ‘flair’, giving you a feel for the killer. It may have been a wee bit creepy, but it certainly made it feel all the more realistic.
There were parts in the book which I felt were a little bit too descriptive, leaning towards a little bit of padding. However, it certainly wasn’t too much, and this will no doubt improve with each book that Dunne writes. There are threads to the story which take you back in the past, and unless you are paying careful attention, you may not always see the switch. I think this is a lot harder to follow on Kindle, as opposed to a paperback book. I really liked the end and it certainly left me wanting to read more about Damen (damn why is that name such an issue for me?!?!?!?), and I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to reading the follow up to this The Disciple.
October 12, 2014
Detective Inspector Damen Brook is seeking sanctuary. Years on the London police force have left their mark—so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter, and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before, The Reaper, a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace. To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he has started killing again, and what, if anything, connects the butchered families. As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, well written, great characters. Dark with mordant humour, unremittingly bleak, think the word I am looking for is gritty.
A extremely well-executed (no pun intended) thriller.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, well written, great characters. Dark with mordant humour, unremittingly bleak, think the word I am looking for is gritty.
A extremely well-executed (no pun intended) thriller.
September 1, 2014
This I loved. What a thoughtful book. An intense exploration of good, bad and the nature of evil. DI Damen Brook is a marvellous character (although he is a little troubled which sometimes really annoys me). The reaper is fascinating and very complex. I think we are not finished with him yet.The relationship between Brook and the reaper is sensitively drawn. The narrative is very atmospheric. For example, I loved a line about a standing lamp vomiting light onto...it suited the gloomy nature of the scene perfectly. I can't wait to read the next instalment.
September 9, 2016
I honestly don't know whether I'm coming to going with this one. I really liked Brook, then I didn't and then I did again. I think the only thing to do would be to read the next one in the series and that of course is the measure of success for an opener in making you want to read more. The Reaper has a complex plot and some parts which were uncomfortable to read but fit perfectly in the genre. Overall it's a four star read for me.
February 13, 2015
A dark and gripping book, can't wait to read the next one.
September 10, 2019
3 and a half stars
Although i quite enjoyed this book I have to say the author seems to prattle on a little at times when describing. It's not as bad as some and it didn't put me off too much, I did push through and finish reading and was glad I did. I have now purchased the second book in the series
Although i quite enjoyed this book I have to say the author seems to prattle on a little at times when describing. It's not as bad as some and it didn't put me off too much, I did push through and finish reading and was glad I did. I have now purchased the second book in the series
May 20, 2015
Having read "A Killing Moon" by Steven Dunne, which is the fifth book in the Damen Brook series I thought that it was about time that I started the series from the beginning and read the series in order. "The Reaper" is the first book in the series and my reaction is "Wow what an introduction to a brilliant character".
As is often the case with lead characters DI Damen Brook is a damaged man who has undergone a traumatic experience in his past and he has suffered fractured relationships in his personal life as a result. When DI Brook was in the Metropolitan Police he suffered a nervous breakdown, which he doesn't hide. I found this refreshing as a lot of lead characters hide and don't admit to such a weakness. However DI Brook has made some enemies at work, who never fail to remind him of his breakdown in an attempt to provoke a reaction from him. Brook displays obsessional behaviour which is borderline harassment and stalking.
The story is told within two time frames: present day in Derbyshire and years ago when DI Brook was in the Met. Without giving too much away a series of murders happens years ago in London and Brook knows who has done them and why but he does not have the evidence to prove this. A grudging mutual respect develops between the two main characters. In fact the suspect eventually considers Brook to be a friend. In present day Derbyshire, a series of murders happens which similar hallmarks to the London murders and Brook is left wondering if the murderer (from the London murders) has followed him to Derbyshire. The story of the investigations into both series' of murders develops in both time frames and both come crashing together in a frightening and dramatic conclusion.
I really enjoyed this book and yet again I felt as though as I was an invisible member of the team. I really clicked with the characters and in particular with DI Damen Brook. I felt that an attack on him was an attack on me so I naturally felt defensive and protective of him.
As I wrote in my review for "A Killing Moon" I cannot understand why Steven Dunne is not more widely accepted, acknowledged, promoted and popular within the literary world and the same applies to this review too. This series would form the basis for a fantastic TV series. I find the DI Damen Brook series to be a lot better than some of the more popular series'.
As is often the case with lead characters DI Damen Brook is a damaged man who has undergone a traumatic experience in his past and he has suffered fractured relationships in his personal life as a result. When DI Brook was in the Metropolitan Police he suffered a nervous breakdown, which he doesn't hide. I found this refreshing as a lot of lead characters hide and don't admit to such a weakness. However DI Brook has made some enemies at work, who never fail to remind him of his breakdown in an attempt to provoke a reaction from him. Brook displays obsessional behaviour which is borderline harassment and stalking.
The story is told within two time frames: present day in Derbyshire and years ago when DI Brook was in the Met. Without giving too much away a series of murders happens years ago in London and Brook knows who has done them and why but he does not have the evidence to prove this. A grudging mutual respect develops between the two main characters. In fact the suspect eventually considers Brook to be a friend. In present day Derbyshire, a series of murders happens which similar hallmarks to the London murders and Brook is left wondering if the murderer (from the London murders) has followed him to Derbyshire. The story of the investigations into both series' of murders develops in both time frames and both come crashing together in a frightening and dramatic conclusion.
I really enjoyed this book and yet again I felt as though as I was an invisible member of the team. I really clicked with the characters and in particular with DI Damen Brook. I felt that an attack on him was an attack on me so I naturally felt defensive and protective of him.
As I wrote in my review for "A Killing Moon" I cannot understand why Steven Dunne is not more widely accepted, acknowledged, promoted and popular within the literary world and the same applies to this review too. This series would form the basis for a fantastic TV series. I find the DI Damen Brook series to be a lot better than some of the more popular series'.
May 21, 2015
Inhalt:
Derby ist eine Stadt, die durch ihre Ruhe und Idylle überzeugt, aber vor allem ist sie stolz auf ihre weit zurückreichende Geschichte. Daher bricht keinerlei Panik aus, als vier Studenten als vermisst gemeldet werden. Doch das ändert sich je als ein Video auftaucht, welches den Selbstmord der Vier beweisen soll. Mord oder Selbstmord?
Die Indizien sprechen eine deutliche Sprache, doch das Bauchgefühl von DI Dame Brook eine ganz Andere und so werden die Karten neu gemischt um die Wahrheit ans Licht zu bringen!
Meine Meinung:
" Abgott " von Steven Dunne hat mich begeistert und erschüttert zugleich!
Eine ultimative Hochspannung, die Nervenkitzel pur verspricht, Protagonisten mit denen man sich verbunden fühlt oder sie verabscheut und ein Handlungsverlauf, der durch unzählige Wendungen nicht nur den Ermittler im Dunkeln tappen lässt - dies Alles und noch viel mehr verstecken sich in den 592 Seiten von " Abgott" !
Das Aufgebot an ausgeklügelte Forensik, großartige Polizeiarbeit und ein unheimlicher Psychopath - Hochspannung um einen Serienmörder der schlimmsten Sorte, ist einfach phänomenal und lässt den Leser nicht nur einmal erschaudern.
Die Konfrontation mit einem enormen Gewaltpotential und der Lust am Morden durch den Psychopathen und der Vorgehensweise der Ermittler ist sehr viel versprechend, man wird zu einem Teil der Handlung und erleidet nicht nur einmal eine Gänsehaut, die das Blut in den Adern gefrieren lässt.
Ein absolutes Thriller-Highlight der besonderen Art mit dem der Autor sich im Nu an die Spitze meiner Liste der " Besten Thrillerautoren " geschrieben hat!
Steven Dunn hat einen Schreibstil, der unglaublich detaillierte, fesselnden und wie soll man sagen " beängstigend " ist und seinem Thriller das sogenannte Sahnehäuptchen aufsetzt und man ihn als Leser einfach verschlingen muss.
Fazit:
Nervenkitzel vom aller Feinsten und absolut nichts für schwache Nerven!
Ein Thriller der Extraklasse, welcher durch ausgeklügelte Forensik, großartige Polizeiarbeit und ein unheimlicher Psychopath - Hochspannung um einen Serienmörder der schlimmsten Sorte, mehr als nur überzeugen kann!
Derby ist eine Stadt, die durch ihre Ruhe und Idylle überzeugt, aber vor allem ist sie stolz auf ihre weit zurückreichende Geschichte. Daher bricht keinerlei Panik aus, als vier Studenten als vermisst gemeldet werden. Doch das ändert sich je als ein Video auftaucht, welches den Selbstmord der Vier beweisen soll. Mord oder Selbstmord?
Die Indizien sprechen eine deutliche Sprache, doch das Bauchgefühl von DI Dame Brook eine ganz Andere und so werden die Karten neu gemischt um die Wahrheit ans Licht zu bringen!
Meine Meinung:
" Abgott " von Steven Dunne hat mich begeistert und erschüttert zugleich!
Eine ultimative Hochspannung, die Nervenkitzel pur verspricht, Protagonisten mit denen man sich verbunden fühlt oder sie verabscheut und ein Handlungsverlauf, der durch unzählige Wendungen nicht nur den Ermittler im Dunkeln tappen lässt - dies Alles und noch viel mehr verstecken sich in den 592 Seiten von " Abgott" !
Das Aufgebot an ausgeklügelte Forensik, großartige Polizeiarbeit und ein unheimlicher Psychopath - Hochspannung um einen Serienmörder der schlimmsten Sorte, ist einfach phänomenal und lässt den Leser nicht nur einmal erschaudern.
Die Konfrontation mit einem enormen Gewaltpotential und der Lust am Morden durch den Psychopathen und der Vorgehensweise der Ermittler ist sehr viel versprechend, man wird zu einem Teil der Handlung und erleidet nicht nur einmal eine Gänsehaut, die das Blut in den Adern gefrieren lässt.
Ein absolutes Thriller-Highlight der besonderen Art mit dem der Autor sich im Nu an die Spitze meiner Liste der " Besten Thrillerautoren " geschrieben hat!
Steven Dunn hat einen Schreibstil, der unglaublich detaillierte, fesselnden und wie soll man sagen " beängstigend " ist und seinem Thriller das sogenannte Sahnehäuptchen aufsetzt und man ihn als Leser einfach verschlingen muss.
Fazit:
Nervenkitzel vom aller Feinsten und absolut nichts für schwache Nerven!
Ein Thriller der Extraklasse, welcher durch ausgeklügelte Forensik, großartige Polizeiarbeit und ein unheimlicher Psychopath - Hochspannung um einen Serienmörder der schlimmsten Sorte, mehr als nur überzeugen kann!
July 11, 2011
The blurb: “Things can’t go on the way they are. On every estate, law-abiding residents are thinking it. In every school, teachers are thinking it. On every street corner, policemen are thinking it. If we could just remove this family, this pupil, this yob from the face of the earth, the world would truly be a better place. Nobody would miss them. Nobody would mourn for them. If they could just cease to exist and the misery they cause die with them. No fuss, no mess. What a thing.”
Detective Inspector Damen Brook has seen it all before - so much that he has fled from London to the backwater of Derby leaving behind his marriage, his child and very nearly his sanity, to wind down his once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter’s night, Brook is confronted by a killer he hunted many years before - The Reaper - a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without trace. Now the search must begin again.
To find his killer Brook must discover why The Reaper has followed him to his new life in Derby, why he’s started killing again and what, if anything, connects the butchered families? In the process, Brook must face his own demons by revisiting the previous investigation and confronting a past that damaged him and destroyed his family.
This is a competent first novel. It starts a little slow, with a step-by-step walk through of police procedure around a crime scene and the investigations afterwards, but stick with it because this is far from a straightforward walk through of a crime plot. The relationship between DI Brook and The Reaper is a dynamic, intriguing one and nothing is quite as it seems. The hero is damaged, the villain of the piece well-rounded, and there's enough in here to keep the reader guessing.
Detective Inspector Damen Brook has seen it all before - so much that he has fled from London to the backwater of Derby leaving behind his marriage, his child and very nearly his sanity, to wind down his once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter’s night, Brook is confronted by a killer he hunted many years before - The Reaper - a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without trace. Now the search must begin again.
To find his killer Brook must discover why The Reaper has followed him to his new life in Derby, why he’s started killing again and what, if anything, connects the butchered families? In the process, Brook must face his own demons by revisiting the previous investigation and confronting a past that damaged him and destroyed his family.
This is a competent first novel. It starts a little slow, with a step-by-step walk through of police procedure around a crime scene and the investigations afterwards, but stick with it because this is far from a straightforward walk through of a crime plot. The relationship between DI Brook and The Reaper is a dynamic, intriguing one and nothing is quite as it seems. The hero is damaged, the villain of the piece well-rounded, and there's enough in here to keep the reader guessing.
May 21, 2012
Time Taken To Read - 6 days
Blurb From Goodreads
Detective Inspector Damen Brook is seeking sanctuary. Years on the London police force have left their mark—so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter, and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before, The Reaper, a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace. To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he has started killing again, and what, if anything, connects the butchered families. As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life.
My Review
Sadly I didn't get on to well with this book. Damen Brook is our main character and after being obsessed with finding a serial killer to the point of stalking his suspect and the expense of his family. Flip to present day he has moved to Derby to get over his past issues and before long it seems the killer has followed him.
I can't say I warmed to any of the characters and wasn't drawn into the story or plot line at all. The story goes between present day and DI Brooks past with his previous case and interactions with persons of interest (this reminded me a bit of red dragon with the police officer and unknown at the time hannibal lector which I did find interesting which is why the book gets another star).
I am sure I will try this author again as there was a lot of promise in the story but for whatever reason it just didn't hit the mark for me so 2/5. I would say give it a try though as some people seemed to have loved it so another marmite book I think.
Blurb From Goodreads
Detective Inspector Damen Brook is seeking sanctuary. Years on the London police force have left their mark—so much so that he's fled to Derby leaving behind his marriage, his teenage daughter, and very nearly his sanity to wind down a once promising career in the peace of the Peak District. But one winter's night, Brook is confronted by a serial killer he hunted many years before, The Reaper, a man who slaughters families in their homes then disappears without a trace. To find this killer Brook must discover what the Reaper is doing in Derby, why he has started killing again, and what, if anything, connects the butchered families. As Brook becomes entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, he is forced to face his own demons by confronting a past that destroyed his family and nearly cost him his life.
My Review
Sadly I didn't get on to well with this book. Damen Brook is our main character and after being obsessed with finding a serial killer to the point of stalking his suspect and the expense of his family. Flip to present day he has moved to Derby to get over his past issues and before long it seems the killer has followed him.
I can't say I warmed to any of the characters and wasn't drawn into the story or plot line at all. The story goes between present day and DI Brooks past with his previous case and interactions with persons of interest (this reminded me a bit of red dragon with the police officer and unknown at the time hannibal lector which I did find interesting which is why the book gets another star).
I am sure I will try this author again as there was a lot of promise in the story but for whatever reason it just didn't hit the mark for me so 2/5. I would say give it a try though as some people seemed to have loved it so another marmite book I think.
July 23, 2009
Feels very much like a journeyman novel rather than the work of a master. The prose is competent but there are none of those moments you get in, for example, an Ian Rankin novel where you have to pause for a second to admire the sheer artistry of the construction.
The promise of the initial chapters gives way to a rather pedestrian procedural that continues for almost 200 pages before things pick up again. The renewed pace isn't sustained, however, and it seems to tail off towards the end when it should be building to a climax.
There are many passages that feel too lengthy for the information they convey and several clunky sections that had me going back to re-read a couple of sentences to get the meaning. There's a smattering of silly errors - in grammar and fact - that should have been picked up by a decent copy editor too.
All of which is a shame because the plot is detailed and intriguing. Unfortunately the execution lets it down with the result that the book feels about 100 pages too long. I suspect many readers may not make it past the halfway mark.
The promise of the initial chapters gives way to a rather pedestrian procedural that continues for almost 200 pages before things pick up again. The renewed pace isn't sustained, however, and it seems to tail off towards the end when it should be building to a climax.
There are many passages that feel too lengthy for the information they convey and several clunky sections that had me going back to re-read a couple of sentences to get the meaning. There's a smattering of silly errors - in grammar and fact - that should have been picked up by a decent copy editor too.
All of which is a shame because the plot is detailed and intriguing. Unfortunately the execution lets it down with the result that the book feels about 100 pages too long. I suspect many readers may not make it past the halfway mark.
August 29, 2020
An unwitting reread! I planned to read The Disciple again in advance of reading Resurrection, the third in the series. I first read Deity (by accident) and have ended up reading the first of the three again - book 2 next?
I think I probably enjoyed this book more the second time around. I stand by my earlier comments about length and will add that I had forgotten what a dark and depressing book this was on occasions. The lead character on second reading is not ‘damaged’ he is broken. Still, having now read all the others in the series (bar the latest, of course) I now know he Aries from the ashes of that broken spirit.
18/01/2015
A dark, complex, twisty tale that is NOT just another serial killer. The main character is one of those 'broken by the job' coppers who has lost all sense of what life is about. The storyline is unusual (astounding from one who has read this genre for decades) and spans different timeframes. Perhaps a little too long, perhaps a little too complex, this book is obviously the foundation for the many books that follow.... And I shall be reading them too.
I think I probably enjoyed this book more the second time around. I stand by my earlier comments about length and will add that I had forgotten what a dark and depressing book this was on occasions. The lead character on second reading is not ‘damaged’ he is broken. Still, having now read all the others in the series (bar the latest, of course) I now know he Aries from the ashes of that broken spirit.
18/01/2015
A dark, complex, twisty tale that is NOT just another serial killer. The main character is one of those 'broken by the job' coppers who has lost all sense of what life is about. The storyline is unusual (astounding from one who has read this genre for decades) and spans different timeframes. Perhaps a little too long, perhaps a little too complex, this book is obviously the foundation for the many books that follow.... And I shall be reading them too.
February 10, 2016
The Reaper gives a refreshing change from the usual thriller/serial killer genre, that we all know and love, but occasionally look for something different in. Yes, the main character, DI Brook, is a 'damaged cop' that we are all so familiar with, but the way the author portrays him in the book is what makes him unusual and intriguing.
Without giving too much away, the relationship between DI Brook and the killer is what makes the book shine in my opinion. The flashbacks are immensely important to the narrative, but there aren't so many that you can't keep track and it's very obvious where in time is being discussed at each stage.
There are a lot of characters, (some alive, some dead,) and it can be difficult to keep track of them all and their relationship with each other. But I think the author does a decent job of helping us along with that. Of course there are some strands of the story that aren't linked up, but I'm ok with that. Sometimes I prefer endings not to be wrapped up neatly with a little bow - especially if I know there is another book after!
Without giving too much away, the relationship between DI Brook and the killer is what makes the book shine in my opinion. The flashbacks are immensely important to the narrative, but there aren't so many that you can't keep track and it's very obvious where in time is being discussed at each stage.
There are a lot of characters, (some alive, some dead,) and it can be difficult to keep track of them all and their relationship with each other. But I think the author does a decent job of helping us along with that. Of course there are some strands of the story that aren't linked up, but I'm ok with that. Sometimes I prefer endings not to be wrapped up neatly with a little bow - especially if I know there is another book after!
January 27, 2012
I have recently been let down immensely by the books I have read, i.e. The Hypnotist,which was utterly dreadful, so I was drawn into this one from the first page. Up to half way through I couldn't put it down but it then became a little tedious for me. Also when Brook was talking to someone often the reply of the other person was in italics-why?:I couldn't get my head around that one. I do agree with another reviewer that this would have benefited greatly from editing and proof reading. Apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed it and am just beginning The Disciple.
Great achievement by Steven Dunne and I cannot understand why this story wasn't snapped up, as opposed to being self-published, as there is a lot worse around at the moment from well established writers.
Great achievement by Steven Dunne and I cannot understand why this story wasn't snapped up, as opposed to being self-published, as there is a lot worse around at the moment from well established writers.
January 1, 2016
The Reaper is the first Damen Brook book and what a start to the series. Blood and guts throughout and Brook trying to catch his nemesis the Reaper. Brook has been chasing the Reaper for a long time; he knows who it is but he can't prove it. It's his obsession to the extent he's lost his family to another man and has minimal friends within the force.
I read The Reaper after numerous rave reviews from others in THE Book Club and it hasn't disappointed. I loved the references to the various parts of Derby and the surrounding area, the county where I spent my formative years.
Steven Dunne you've got a new fan and I'll be coming back to DI Brook very soon!
I read The Reaper after numerous rave reviews from others in THE Book Club and it hasn't disappointed. I loved the references to the various parts of Derby and the surrounding area, the county where I spent my formative years.
Steven Dunne you've got a new fan and I'll be coming back to DI Brook very soon!
January 2, 2016
This was a very solid work of fiction which I really enjoyed. I liked the story and especially how the characters were around each other.
Damen Brook was not what I would call a nice person. Sometimes he almost had this attitude that I just wanted to smack him. You could see he cared but hid it behind indifference.
Wendy Jones was interesting as she is a strong female and has a lot of intelligence. I think she was the best character in the book.
This was well done and I will look forward to reading more by this author
Damen Brook was not what I would call a nice person. Sometimes he almost had this attitude that I just wanted to smack him. You could see he cared but hid it behind indifference.
Wendy Jones was interesting as she is a strong female and has a lot of intelligence. I think she was the best character in the book.
This was well done and I will look forward to reading more by this author
July 11, 2016
I would like to thank Steven Dunne for allowing me to read his book (1st in the series).
Just want to say sorry it took so long to read, but as previously discussed last week it's a marmite book and took me a while to get into. But whilst on holiday I zoomed through the storyline and boy was it worth carrying on with. I found the main character DI Brook quite antagonistic for the way he was with others, but on another note he is like a dog with a bone and WON'T let go.
Looking forward to reading the next in the series.
Just want to say sorry it took so long to read, but as previously discussed last week it's a marmite book and took me a while to get into. But whilst on holiday I zoomed through the storyline and boy was it worth carrying on with. I found the main character DI Brook quite antagonistic for the way he was with others, but on another note he is like a dog with a bone and WON'T let go.
Looking forward to reading the next in the series.
February 11, 2015
Having just finished reading The Reaper, I now feel emotionally drained and need some light relief before I read the next book in this series. This book is particularly dark, with its emotionally scarred deep-thinking protagonist and highly intelligent serial killer, who reminded me of Hannibal Lecter. There's a good mixture of terror, gory crime scenes and strong central characters. The narrative is descriptive and well written, although some chapters were a bit too wordy in some places.
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