Willing Flesh

D.I. Staffe #2

by Adam Creed

Christmas is coming and D. I. Staffe is trying to make a go of it with his on-off girlfriend, Sylvie, when a murdered woman is discovered in a swanky City hotel room - she is Elena Danya, a blonde and beguiling high-end prostitute.

As Staffe becomes obsessed with Danya, a friend of hers, an altogether more down-at-heel working girl, is found dead and their mutual aristocratic friend and bad-girl, Arabella, goes missing.

The evidence begins to point to a voyeuristic predator, Graham Blears, but Staffe is not convinced and is increasingly drawn away from the city and towards the roots of a tangled ménage involving a City banker, a Russian oligarch and a Turkish playboy, forcing himself down into the higher echelons of the British establishment, whose barricades begin to stonewall the investigation.

When his Chief, Pennington, cuts him loose, Staffe becomes the hunted instead of the hunter, with grave consequences for the women who are close to him.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Thriller

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2010

About the author

Adam Creed was born in Salford and read PPE at Balliol College Oxford before working for Flemings in the City. He abandoned his career to study writing at Sheffield Hallam University, following which he wrote in Andalucia then returned to England to work with writers in prison. He is now Head of Writing at Liverpool John Moores University and Project Leader of Free To Write. He has a wife and two beautiful daughters.

Reviews

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the previous Adam Creed novel I read, the previous in the DI Staffe series, this was a well-written, often witty and clever, generally better than average police procedural set in London and the South East. Alas though this felt less impressive and less enjoyable than 'Suffer the Children' (#1 in the series) and I'd hence grudgingly give it three and a half out of five.

The main reasons why I was left slightly disappointed were associated with the complicatedness of the plot - starting with the killing of a high-class prostitute, continuing with the disappearance of two other girls she knew, then taking in various posh families, dodgy development deals, switched identities, Eastern European plots. It was all too complicated, imho, and lost me somewhere in the middle. I just didn't quite believe that as complex a network of intersecting plots would actually happen, and the central character solving it all was a bit too inconceivable and superhuman/foolhardy for me. It was still a good read, and many would enjoy it, but I was just slightly put off by some of this.

I was also, slightly oddly, irritated by bad kerning - one of the main characters was called 'Tchancov', but this was printed every time as 'T chancov'. An odd think to irk me, but it irked me every time.

[Ahmad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a departure from my usual tastes. The genre of crime fiction I think is a bit bland and homogeneous with other titles. You have a murdered body, a suspect, the evidence, then the chase begins.

The plot in "Willing Flesh" I think would be an amazing storyline for avid fans of the genre but for me it was too much to keep track off. The shifting loyalties, the deception, the uncovered truths plus 6 unique characters who intermingle with the others. Call me lazy but ehh. It was a bit overwhelming.

Yeah that's pretty much it a quickie for this entry. Ultimately, I regret going outside my comfort zone but not to fear next on the list we return to our regularly consumed genre. DYSTOPIA !!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining as this was - and it was - it was hard to entirely believe in any of the characters. Even Staffe at times seemed too chaotic to be credible. As usual, I wasn't trying too hard to work out what was happening, or who had done what to who, and am also aware that the rich Russians described might be familiar sights in parts of London but are not usually seen around my neck of the woods, which maybe added exotic but increased distance.
But definitely entertaining. Which is why I read.

[Rose Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant read of Murder and Mystery, once started. couldn't put it down, Willing flesh ( Di Staffe book 2 ) is a great story, now onto the Authors Pain of Death ( Di Staffe book 3 ) thankyou Adam Creed, I would recommend anyone to read these books.

[Moirad · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many common tropes - Russian gangsters, dodgy businessmen, dead young women, prostitute with a heart of gold, conflicted police character - and yet the author manages to create a page turning read.

[Astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Etwas arg konstruiert und für meinen Geschmack zu chaotisch und zu viele Charaktere.Außerdem scheine ich ein eindeutiges Motiv zu überlesen haben 😏.

War ok, muss aber weitere Bände nicht unbedingt lesen.

[Hasret G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kitap çok karışık ilerledi. Hızlı ve karışık. Bir şeyler oluyor ama ne oluyor anlamadım bile. Kitaptan aklımda hiçbir şey kalmadı. Halbuki konusu da ilgi çekiciydi. Çok fazla karakter koydukları ve odak noktasında sadece bir şüpheli olmadığı için de olabilir.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad but I won't be reading the rest of the series:-(

[Not Willing To Be Governed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring writing style and plot. Felt sophomoric. No more Staffe books for me.

[Miki Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this series.

[mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waste of time

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complicated story of murder and revenge. So many plot lines I found it difficult to follow.

[Bryngel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried. I really tried. It was quite slow and messy. Disappointing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good for me as the first one. The action seemed to wander and either I missed something or some things were assumed without previous reference.

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable thriller set in London as was the last one 'Suffer the Children'. I read this book not long ago and did find the past characters hard to follow and a bit baffling.

Back Cover Blurb:
A murdered woman is discovered in a City hotel room: Elena Danya, high-end prostitue. Another working girl, her friend, is found dead. Then aristocratic bad-girl Arabella, another friend of Elena's, goes missing.
The evidence points to a voyeuristic predator, but D.I. Wagstaffe is not convinced. Instead his investigation leads towards three ruthless and dangerous men: a City banker, a Russian oligarch and a Turkish playboy. But are even more powerful figures lurking in the shadows?
As Staffe's inquiry takes him deeper into deadly territory suddenly the women in his own life are under threat.....

[Terese · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good:
It's a quick read
It's decently entertaining.... At first

The bad:
The story is far too contrived
The writing is below mediocre (also every 'cum' instead of 'come' drives me up a wall. Also "it's a long chalk" ... Chalk? Really, CHALK?)
I didn't care for D. I Staffe and the choices he made (e.g. witholding evidence, putting a civilian in danger)

[Phil James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable thriller set in London. The first I have read by Creed and the second on the series with D.I. Staffe.

[Chris Longmuir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traditional crime mystery which starts with the death of a prostitute, quickly followed by more deaths. It was a good, satisfying read.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this murder mystery although maybe a bit too mystery as I'm still a bit baffled as to who & why...