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Detective Johnny Mann #3
Death Trip
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But it became a journey into hell...
Paradise has become a nightmare. Five young voluntary workers on a once in a lifetime gap year in Thailand have vanished into thin air. Entire villages lie ransacked, their people brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, troubled detective Johnny Mann is haunted by personal demons, including the unsolved murder of his father. Trying to pick up the pieces of his life, he receives a desperate plea for help from a woman in Amsterdam - a woman who claims to have known his father years before.
Hoping to unravel the mystery shrouding his father's death, Mann agrees to go undercover and search for the five missing teenagers, one of whom is the woman's 18 year old son, Jake. And Mann's secret brother....
From the carefree beaches of Thailand to the labyrinthine streets of Amsterdam, nothing is as it seems as Mann is plunged into conspiracy and peril and pitted against pure evil.
Take a journey into the dark and dangerous world of Lee Weeks - if you dare....
Paradise has become a nightmare. Five young voluntary workers on a once in a lifetime gap year in Thailand have vanished into thin air. Entire villages lie ransacked, their people brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, troubled detective Johnny Mann is haunted by personal demons, including the unsolved murder of his father. Trying to pick up the pieces of his life, he receives a desperate plea for help from a woman in Amsterdam - a woman who claims to have known his father years before.
Hoping to unravel the mystery shrouding his father's death, Mann agrees to go undercover and search for the five missing teenagers, one of whom is the woman's 18 year old son, Jake. And Mann's secret brother....
From the carefree beaches of Thailand to the labyrinthine streets of Amsterdam, nothing is as it seems as Mann is plunged into conspiracy and peril and pitted against pure evil.
Take a journey into the dark and dangerous world of Lee Weeks - if you dare....
454 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
14 people are currently reading
228 people want to read
About the author
Lee Weeks
15 books90 followersI was born in Devon of Welsh parents. My father was a detective, my mother a nurse. I left school with just one O level in Art and by seventeen I was living in Sweden.
I loved reading Henry Miller whilst listening to Neil Young. I travelled in France and settled in Germany at twenty-one, where I worked in a bar. I came back to the UK to study for a year or two and then went to live in Hong Kong. There I fell into the hands of triads.
A detective once told me to go home and I really should have listened him, I would have saved myself a near-death experience, but then I would never have had the material for my books.
Years later, one marriage down and two children fledged, I am writing my stories. Some are based on my life, all carry a part of me and my experiences.
Taken from Author's Amazon page
I loved reading Henry Miller whilst listening to Neil Young. I travelled in France and settled in Germany at twenty-one, where I worked in a bar. I came back to the UK to study for a year or two and then went to live in Hong Kong. There I fell into the hands of triads.
A detective once told me to go home and I really should have listened him, I would have saved myself a near-death experience, but then I would never have had the material for my books.
Years later, one marriage down and two children fledged, I am writing my stories. Some are based on my life, all carry a part of me and my experiences.
Taken from Author's Amazon page
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 13, 2019
It's been a few years since I read the last book and overall I enjoyed this though it is quite long and the story is graphic at times very very dark. Death, destruction, rape, torture, murder, kidnap it all goes on. Quite a fast paced thriller from roughly the half way point but it's quite grim towards the end, but I kept on reading to find out what happened, you have been warned lol
February 7, 2013
In a word: appalling. The sentence structure, use of grammar and literacy in general is akin to that of a low-level primary school student; the characters are two-dimensional caricatures; none of the dialogue is believable; and the narrative requires no thought or imagination whatsoever, i.e. everything is spoon-fed to the reader (and with far too many superfluous and misplaced words). I found this book in a $6 bargain bin - I want my $6 back.
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July 28, 2011Utter ... bilge.
I rarely give up on a book, but by page 70-odd I wanted to hurt myself. This book SO badly written I am amazed it got published .. then I read the blurb about the author.
I rarely give up on a book, but by page 70-odd I wanted to hurt myself. This book SO badly written I am amazed it got published .. then I read the blurb about the author.
February 23, 2018
This is the third book in this series, but the first I've read. Johnny Mann, a detective in Hong Kong, is asked to visit a woman in Amsterdam, where he learns he has a half brother. This brother, Jake, is one of five volunteer aid workers who have been kidnapped in Thailand and taken to Burma. So he agrees, without any jungle warfare training, to attempt a rescue.
It's incredibly far-fetched how many people rush to assist him, some more loyal than others. Along the way he and two of his police buddies uncover rampart corruption within the aid agencies.
The torture scenes are overly well described, gruesome in places, but it's an interesting enough read.
It's incredibly far-fetched how many people rush to assist him, some more loyal than others. Along the way he and two of his police buddies uncover rampart corruption within the aid agencies.
The torture scenes are overly well described, gruesome in places, but it's an interesting enough read.
January 23, 2024
Had no damn warnings going in this book and was absolutely fucking appalled at the sudden kinky-ness JUST from chapter 1 or 2 (i think idk i forgor) but it's fine. It's defo not for the faint of heart. Anyway, if u wanna read it, go and list down them characters' fkin names cause holy shit the whole I was low-key like, who tf is this mf again???? Too many characters to keep track of and no character list!!! Which ig makes sense since it would spoil the twist but whatev.
Also, it low-key really really fucking pissed me off how some of the chapters are 1500 words long, while some chapters is barely a paragraph long. Idk if it's the inconsistency that I don't like??? But like yaur
Also, it low-key really really fucking pissed me off how some of the chapters are 1500 words long, while some chapters is barely a paragraph long. Idk if it's the inconsistency that I don't like??? But like yaur
November 23, 2025
This is the first time I have read a Weeks novel, and it won't be the last.
The story focuses on Jonny Mann who heads to Thailand to find five volunteer workers who have been kidnaped. Mann finds out that one of them is his half-brother, something he did not know, and he goes in hunt of the five kids, but also to try and find out the truth behind his father.
Mann meets the "other woman" and soon finds out things he didn't know.
Weeks does not pad her stories which makes reading this a delight.
The story focuses on Jonny Mann who heads to Thailand to find five volunteer workers who have been kidnaped. Mann finds out that one of them is his half-brother, something he did not know, and he goes in hunt of the five kids, but also to try and find out the truth behind his father.
Mann meets the "other woman" and soon finds out things he didn't know.
Weeks does not pad her stories which makes reading this a delight.
December 7, 2017
A fast moving thriller by an author billed as "The Female James Patterson".Hmmmm...
Well, I was expecting to be wholly engrossed on this "journey into hell".....but it was not to be. While it was passable, being entertaining enough in parts, for me something was lacking - though I'm hard pushed to say exactly what! I wasn't overly impressed & have nothing else to say.
Well, I was expecting to be wholly engrossed on this "journey into hell".....but it was not to be. While it was passable, being entertaining enough in parts, for me something was lacking - though I'm hard pushed to say exactly what! I wasn't overly impressed & have nothing else to say.
May 30, 2019
Death Trip is a gripping thriller by Lee Weeks. This is book 3 in the Detective Inspector Johnny Mann series.
Johnny Mann is called to Amsterdam to help an investigation of five missing young volunteers in Thailand. Johnny Mann is still troubled over the death of his father and his connection.
From Hong Kong to Amsterdam to Thailand this mystery keeps going until the end..
Johnny Mann is called to Amsterdam to help an investigation of five missing young volunteers in Thailand. Johnny Mann is still troubled over the death of his father and his connection.
From Hong Kong to Amsterdam to Thailand this mystery keeps going until the end..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2018
This was a pretty good read. Gruesome at places and certainly not for the faint-hearted. At places the story line was a little confusing and maybe there was a bit too much crammed into it. But overall I enjoyed it
March 29, 2025
Tough and gritty
Very well written, yet hard to read. So much destruction. He wove simple words to write a believable saga. I don't know if I could read another of his books, but I'm glad I read this one!
Very well written, yet hard to read. So much destruction. He wove simple words to write a believable saga. I don't know if I could read another of his books, but I'm glad I read this one!
July 15, 2019
A real twisting tale, not quite the Johnny Mann story that I have been used to, but nonetheless gripping.
August 28, 2019
Gruesome and graphic.
July 7, 2020
Brilliant!
March 16, 2012
Time taken to read - 2 days
Blurb From Amazon
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But it became a journey into hell…
Paradise has become a nightmare. Five young voluntary workers on a once in a lifetime gap year in Thailand have vanished into thin air. Entire villages lay ransacked, their people brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, troubled detective Johnny Mann is haunted by personal demons, including the unsolved murder of his father. Trying to pick up the pieces of his life, he receives a desperate plea for help from a woman in Amsterdam - a woman who claims to have known his father intimately years before.
Hoping to unravel to mystery shrouding his father's death, Mann agrees to go undercover and search for the five missing teenagers, one of whom is the woman's 18-year-old son, Jake. And Mann's secret brother…
From the carefree beaches of Thailand to the labyrinthine streets of Amsterdam, nothing is as at seems as Mann is plunged into conspiracy and peril and pitted against pure evil.
My Review
Johnny Mann is back (this is the 3rd book in the series) and this time it is personal. 5 young volunteer workers have been kidnapped whilst on a gap year in Thailand. Men, women and children have been slaughtered and cast aside after the kidnappers have taken what they need. Now Johnny has been called in to help find them and discovers one of them is his brother.
As with any of Lee Weeks books you are taken on quite a journey filled with violence, murder, treachery and deceit. Some of the story is pretty graphic, people are murdered and used purely for pleasure then brutally discarded and the author paints quite a picture.
Johnny has his work going against him as usual but a few trusty friends to help him on his way to find and save the volunteers and find out more about his father than he may have bargained for. Yet another book that is hard to put down and a few other story lines along the way to keep the reader engaged. The only thing that annoyed me slightly was one chapter would end on something really gripping happening and switch to what was happening with other characters so you would have to wait a bit to find out what happens. Other than that I really liked it so it is a 4/5 for me this time.
Blurb From Amazon
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But it became a journey into hell…
Paradise has become a nightmare. Five young voluntary workers on a once in a lifetime gap year in Thailand have vanished into thin air. Entire villages lay ransacked, their people brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, troubled detective Johnny Mann is haunted by personal demons, including the unsolved murder of his father. Trying to pick up the pieces of his life, he receives a desperate plea for help from a woman in Amsterdam - a woman who claims to have known his father intimately years before.
Hoping to unravel to mystery shrouding his father's death, Mann agrees to go undercover and search for the five missing teenagers, one of whom is the woman's 18-year-old son, Jake. And Mann's secret brother…
From the carefree beaches of Thailand to the labyrinthine streets of Amsterdam, nothing is as at seems as Mann is plunged into conspiracy and peril and pitted against pure evil.
My Review
Johnny Mann is back (this is the 3rd book in the series) and this time it is personal. 5 young volunteer workers have been kidnapped whilst on a gap year in Thailand. Men, women and children have been slaughtered and cast aside after the kidnappers have taken what they need. Now Johnny has been called in to help find them and discovers one of them is his brother.
As with any of Lee Weeks books you are taken on quite a journey filled with violence, murder, treachery and deceit. Some of the story is pretty graphic, people are murdered and used purely for pleasure then brutally discarded and the author paints quite a picture.
Johnny has his work going against him as usual but a few trusty friends to help him on his way to find and save the volunteers and find out more about his father than he may have bargained for. Yet another book that is hard to put down and a few other story lines along the way to keep the reader engaged. The only thing that annoyed me slightly was one chapter would end on something really gripping happening and switch to what was happening with other characters so you would have to wait a bit to find out what happens. Other than that I really liked it so it is a 4/5 for me this time.
August 24, 2011
'Death Trip' is as dirty and gritty as it gets while maintaining a mainstream facade. Laced with vivid imagery and provocative prose, the third instalment in the Johnny Mann series delves deeper into Mann's history and quest rid the world of all its evils one case at a time.
As the title suggests, Death Trip is just that, as 5 unassuming youths travel to parts of Thailand ravaged by tsunami on a volunteer mission of goodwill. However, NAP, the agency responsible for placing them isn't as clean and well meaning as it seems. Before long the group is forced to endure horrific acts of cruelty at the hands of rebels in the jungle boarding Thailand and Burma. It is here, we learn of Saw Wah Say, a man bordering on beast with a blood lust seemingly never satisfied no matter the luridness by which it is spilled and consumed. A true sadist who sees the weak and innocent as nothing more than his playthings. Luckily, Mann and his fellow policemen in Ng and Shrimp pose enough good to combat the bad.
Lee Weeks deserves top billing as one of the most entertaining crime writers to emerge in recent times, each instalment of the Johnny Mann series gets better and more daring. Not staying true to a given formula each outing is as diverse as the next whilst maintaining a continuity to the Johnny Mann saga. 'Death Trip' was a blast from the drug fuelled streets of Amsterdam, the high rises of Hong Kong, to the dark and violent blood soaked grounds of the Thailand jungle. 4 stars.
As the title suggests, Death Trip is just that, as 5 unassuming youths travel to parts of Thailand ravaged by tsunami on a volunteer mission of goodwill. However, NAP, the agency responsible for placing them isn't as clean and well meaning as it seems. Before long the group is forced to endure horrific acts of cruelty at the hands of rebels in the jungle boarding Thailand and Burma. It is here, we learn of Saw Wah Say, a man bordering on beast with a blood lust seemingly never satisfied no matter the luridness by which it is spilled and consumed. A true sadist who sees the weak and innocent as nothing more than his playthings. Luckily, Mann and his fellow policemen in Ng and Shrimp pose enough good to combat the bad.
Lee Weeks deserves top billing as one of the most entertaining crime writers to emerge in recent times, each instalment of the Johnny Mann series gets better and more daring. Not staying true to a given formula each outing is as diverse as the next whilst maintaining a continuity to the Johnny Mann saga. 'Death Trip' was a blast from the drug fuelled streets of Amsterdam, the high rises of Hong Kong, to the dark and violent blood soaked grounds of the Thailand jungle. 4 stars.
December 10, 2023
Another very good all action read with Detective Mann at the centre of it all.
December 3, 2011
This was the first Johnny Mann book I've read and it won't be the last. A gripping take about 5 young overseas volunteers who are abducted by a psychopath and his men in Thailand, Deathy Trip follows Mann's desperate quest to find them.
A bit grisly at times and not for the faint hearted, this book had me hooked. Johnny Mann is a complex character with a lot of mileage in him.
The one criticism I do have is the continual use of phrase like 'was sat' and 'was stood.' I found them grating and they detracted from an otherwise well written book. One, is it even proper English? Two, as a writer myself I know that you shouldn't have words in sentences that are superfluous. Maybe the publisher's need to get a better proof reader?
A bit grisly at times and not for the faint hearted, this book had me hooked. Johnny Mann is a complex character with a lot of mileage in him.
The one criticism I do have is the continual use of phrase like 'was sat' and 'was stood.' I found them grating and they detracted from an otherwise well written book. One, is it even proper English? Two, as a writer myself I know that you shouldn't have words in sentences that are superfluous. Maybe the publisher's need to get a better proof reader?
August 12, 2016
Not sure about the writing where Lee introduces too many characters in a short period of time across several countries, which can be hard to keep track. Eventually the story picks up and it gets more violent and sexual (one of Lee's common darker themes, I believe). But I did enjoy the twist at the end.
October 2, 2014
At first I was bored with reading this, then I though about giving it a chance - glad I did. Though it was quite gory, it was a good story with a good twist. I was a bit disappointed in the end when we started to focus less on the characters (where as before it was too much details about the characters) - this needed to be addressed.
Good Read all round.
Good Read all round.
March 18, 2012
Sort of enjoyed it but its a little too sick for me. I downloaded several by Lee Weeks and not sure I want to read then all now. I think the plot went over the edge a little but did manage to read to the end.
February 13, 2016
Intriguing
I found this book remarkably intriguing. Unlike anything I have read before. It had twists and turns that kept
my mind gripped till the end. Lee Weeks is a very talented writer.
I found this book remarkably intriguing. Unlike anything I have read before. It had twists and turns that kept
my mind gripped till the end. Lee Weeks is a very talented writer.
July 29, 2013
Good read.Getting better as I get further into the series.
November 8, 2011
More scientific then creepy until you reach the end and then the ultimate test... Loved it
August 4, 2024
An entertaining enough read, especially after having read a few rather heavy books, a bit of escapism was just what I needed.
August 27, 2014
very graphic not for the faint hearted
December 6, 2014
Graphic. Violent. But compelling.
November 27, 2011
Looking forward to the next in this series.
June 14, 2015
Fantastic book full of twists and turns rather sad at the end though
April 3, 2016
Thought it would be a bit boring being in the jungle, but got very good with lots of twists in it.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews