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DI Steve Madden
Dead Sight
As far as Detective Inspector Steve Madden is concerned, the dead don’t speak to anyone. But old childhood memories are stirred when psychic Lavinia Roberts tells him that one of her clients is about to become a killer. When Roberts herself is struck down, Madden is forced to ask the question: did she foresee her own horrific death? Then the body of a child is found, and everything points towards a ritual murder by the same man. Suddenly, Brighton is immersed in a hunt for a serial killer who has no boundaries in who, or how, he slays.
416 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 2004
23 people want to read
About the author
Glenn Chandler
20 books6 followersGlenn Chandler is a Scottish playwright and novelist. He has written plays for theatre and radio, original screenplays for television and films, television series, non-fiction and novels. His best known work is the Scottish television detective series Taggart, which is broadcast around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2019
I initially abandoned this, because I wasn't in the mood for a police procedural. But yesterday I returned to it, and discovered it was above average for the genre. I finished it in one go, staying up all night!
The set-up is interesting, in that Steve Madden, a detective, goes to speak to a psychic, Lavinia, who claims that somebody is about to become a serial killer, but she has no real information to offer. Madden is about to dismiss it, until Lavinia turns up dead! When a four year old boy is found with his heart removed in a ritualistic killing, Madden tries to link the crimes.
While better than most in the genre, it was still about 150 pages too long, with too much repetition and too much unnecessary information. I began to skim whenever Madden returned to interview the gangster and his family, or the daughter of the psychic, yet again, while never actually getting any further in his investigation. I began to skim whenever Madden went off on an unnecessary tangent about his memories of a particular place. For example, when he goes off on a rant about how he doesn't like Essex. In a slow-paced 400-odd pages book with small font, I often just wanted the story to get on with it.
I got sick of Madden's back-and-forth with his ex-wife Clara, who has remarried. She doesn't seem to know what she wants out of life, and they both manipulate each other emotionally, and by the end, I simply wasn't interested. Emotionally and mentally, they both acted like they were five years old, and they both deserved a smack around the back of the head. They both came off as vile and selfish.
I guess because this was published in 2004, it avoids the tropes that persist in today's police procedural environment. Big winner - no vindictive journalists in sight! Madden does have a haunted past involving his murdered son, but this is handled in a less gratuitous fashion than, say, MJ Arlidge, and it informs Madden's decision-making. There is a vindictive colleague, but this trope is averted in a surprising way when Similarly, although Madden has an uneasy relationship with his boss, his boss isn't constantly trying to undermine him.
The last 100 pages were quite exciting as it all came together, with some genuine suspense. But the motives weren't fully believable, and Lavinia's psychic visions that set all this into motion are annoyingly left up in the air. Although this exasperatingly included the usual British police procedural bullsit of gangland figures, that element didn't overtake the plot.
If you enjoy British police procedurals, this is better than the norm, lacking many of the cliches associated with the sub-genre. The writer was the creator of Taggart, a long-running Scottish police TV drama, which demonstrates why this book was so confidently written. It doesn't look as if there are any further Steve Madden books after this one.
The set-up is interesting, in that Steve Madden, a detective, goes to speak to a psychic, Lavinia, who claims that somebody is about to become a serial killer, but she has no real information to offer. Madden is about to dismiss it, until Lavinia turns up dead! When a four year old boy is found with his heart removed in a ritualistic killing, Madden tries to link the crimes.
While better than most in the genre, it was still about 150 pages too long, with too much repetition and too much unnecessary information. I began to skim whenever Madden returned to interview the gangster and his family, or the daughter of the psychic, yet again, while never actually getting any further in his investigation. I began to skim whenever Madden went off on an unnecessary tangent about his memories of a particular place. For example, when he goes off on a rant about how he doesn't like Essex. In a slow-paced 400-odd pages book with small font, I often just wanted the story to get on with it.
I got sick of Madden's back-and-forth with his ex-wife Clara, who has remarried. She doesn't seem to know what she wants out of life, and they both manipulate each other emotionally, and by the end, I simply wasn't interested. Emotionally and mentally, they both acted like they were five years old, and they both deserved a smack around the back of the head. They both came off as vile and selfish.
I guess because this was published in 2004, it avoids the tropes that persist in today's police procedural environment. Big winner - no vindictive journalists in sight! Madden does have a haunted past involving his murdered son, but this is handled in a less gratuitous fashion than, say, MJ Arlidge, and it informs Madden's decision-making. There is a vindictive colleague, but this trope is averted in a surprising way when Similarly, although Madden has an uneasy relationship with his boss, his boss isn't constantly trying to undermine him.
The last 100 pages were quite exciting as it all came together, with some genuine suspense. But the motives weren't fully believable, and Lavinia's psychic visions that set all this into motion are annoyingly left up in the air. Although this exasperatingly included the usual British police procedural bullsit of gangland figures, that element didn't overtake the plot.
If you enjoy British police procedurals, this is better than the norm, lacking many of the cliches associated with the sub-genre. The writer was the creator of Taggart, a long-running Scottish police TV drama, which demonstrates why this book was so confidently written. It doesn't look as if there are any further Steve Madden books after this one.
March 14, 2021
Continued from "Savage Tide"
August 3, 2025
This was basically a long winded soap opera all about people's love affairs and infidelities with a few murders thrown in. Boring.
May 30, 2011
Kurzbeschreibung
Als eine Wahrsagerin Detective Inspector Steve Madden berichtet, sie habe in ihren Karten ein grausames Verbrechen gesehen und außerdem eine Botschaft von seinem toten Sohn empfangen, hält er das Ganze für Hokuspokus. Doch als kurz darauf die Hellseherin ermordet und eine Kinderleiche gefunden wird, deutet alles auf einen schwer gestörten Ritualmörder hin. DI Madden läuft die Zeit davon ...
»Michael Connelly und Lee Child, nehmt euch in acht vor diesem Schotten!« »The Daily Record«
Über den Autor
Glenn Chandler ist Drehbuchautor von Taggart, einer beliebten Krimiserie.
Kritik
Warum nur sollten sich Lee Child und Michael Connelly in acht nehmen? Weder schadet Chandler dem Ruf der schreibenden schottischen Zunft, noch stellt er eine große Bedrohung für die Bestseller-Autoren dar.
Aber nun zum Buch: Es ist kein Esoterikbuch! Auch werden Fälle nicht auf allzu abenteuerliche Art gelöst ;) Nein, Chandler spielt mit dem Thema, Zweifel, Irrglauben und auch vielleicht der wahre/edle Zweck der Weissagung, jemandem zu helfen und Perspektiven aufzuzeigen, kommt in dem Thriller nicht zu kurz. Wieviel besser ist ein christlicher, hinduistischer Glaube im Gegensatz zum Heidentum, zur Anbetung von Mutter Natur? Wo liegen die Gemeinsamkeiten, wo die Unterschiede? Solche Ideen hat der Autor im vorliegenden Buch mit Spannung, ja bestialischem Mord verwoben. Wie reagiert die Gesellschaft, wie schnell und hart verurteilt sie? Und wo liegen evtl. die echten Abgründe? Mir scheint es, als hätte der Autor mehr verpacken wollen, als dieses Buch bewältigen konnte. Zwar liest es sich gut und recht flüssig und auch das Menschliche lenkt nicht von der Geschichte ab, sondern ist Teil des ganzen. Aber der Schluss kommt etwas plötzlich, fast schien es, als hätten es eben nicht mehr als 550 Seiten werden dürfen und der Schreiber ist knapp darüber hinausgeschossen.
Ganz reizt Chandler seine Möglichkeiten wohl nicht aus, aber schließlich steht er auch erst am Anfang seiner (Buch-)Autorenkarriere ;)
Was auf alle Fälle bleibt, ist das Bedürfnis Brighton zu besuchen. Scheint ein sehr interessantes Fleckchen Erde zu sein :)
Als eine Wahrsagerin Detective Inspector Steve Madden berichtet, sie habe in ihren Karten ein grausames Verbrechen gesehen und außerdem eine Botschaft von seinem toten Sohn empfangen, hält er das Ganze für Hokuspokus. Doch als kurz darauf die Hellseherin ermordet und eine Kinderleiche gefunden wird, deutet alles auf einen schwer gestörten Ritualmörder hin. DI Madden läuft die Zeit davon ...
»Michael Connelly und Lee Child, nehmt euch in acht vor diesem Schotten!« »The Daily Record«
Über den Autor
Glenn Chandler ist Drehbuchautor von Taggart, einer beliebten Krimiserie.
Kritik
Warum nur sollten sich Lee Child und Michael Connelly in acht nehmen? Weder schadet Chandler dem Ruf der schreibenden schottischen Zunft, noch stellt er eine große Bedrohung für die Bestseller-Autoren dar.
Aber nun zum Buch: Es ist kein Esoterikbuch! Auch werden Fälle nicht auf allzu abenteuerliche Art gelöst ;) Nein, Chandler spielt mit dem Thema, Zweifel, Irrglauben und auch vielleicht der wahre/edle Zweck der Weissagung, jemandem zu helfen und Perspektiven aufzuzeigen, kommt in dem Thriller nicht zu kurz. Wieviel besser ist ein christlicher, hinduistischer Glaube im Gegensatz zum Heidentum, zur Anbetung von Mutter Natur? Wo liegen die Gemeinsamkeiten, wo die Unterschiede? Solche Ideen hat der Autor im vorliegenden Buch mit Spannung, ja bestialischem Mord verwoben. Wie reagiert die Gesellschaft, wie schnell und hart verurteilt sie? Und wo liegen evtl. die echten Abgründe? Mir scheint es, als hätte der Autor mehr verpacken wollen, als dieses Buch bewältigen konnte. Zwar liest es sich gut und recht flüssig und auch das Menschliche lenkt nicht von der Geschichte ab, sondern ist Teil des ganzen. Aber der Schluss kommt etwas plötzlich, fast schien es, als hätten es eben nicht mehr als 550 Seiten werden dürfen und der Schreiber ist knapp darüber hinausgeschossen.
Ganz reizt Chandler seine Möglichkeiten wohl nicht aus, aber schließlich steht er auch erst am Anfang seiner (Buch-)Autorenkarriere ;)
Was auf alle Fälle bleibt, ist das Bedürfnis Brighton zu besuchen. Scheint ein sehr interessantes Fleckchen Erde zu sein :)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews