Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker
This year’s Christmas reading was supplemented by a freebie book I won from Sleuths’ Ink blog and I’d like to say a big thank you to them for both the book and the interesting interview with its author Richard Jay Parker.
I’m not the quickest of readers but I flew through this book. So if you’re looking for an originally plotted crime thriller with bags of pace and an impetus that makes you resent any interruption to your reading, then you could do a lot worse than turn to Richard Jay Parker’s debut novel Stop Me.



Leo Sharpe is as contented as it’s possible for a man living in noughties Britain to be: a good job, a wife he loves and the prospect of spending Christmas together in their new home. A pebble of unease drops into this untroubled pool of a life when Leo receives the ultimate in chain emails: claiming to be from the notorious Vacation Killer.


VK claims to be holding another woman and unless Leo passes the email on she will become the serial killer’s next victim. On the advice of the IT department that this is just one amidst a torrent of “hoax emails” he deletes it from his inbox. The disturbance caused to Leo’s conscience that occurs when the description of the Vacation Killer’s latest victim matches that in the email is nothing compared to the mental maelstrom that ensues when his own wife disappears from right under his nose.


Parker’s portrayal of his protagonist’s Temazepam fuelled descent into depression, guilt, and obsession convinces from first to last, but it would be wrong to give the impression that he concentrates on character development at the cost of pace. Leo’s journey in pursuit of the truth about his wife’s fate is a roller coaster ride that zigzags across Britain, continental Europe and the USA – the reader is compelled towards the conclusion of the satisfyingly complex plot at break-neck speed.



And the acid test? When it’s published I’ll be putting Richard Jay Parker’s next book on my “To Read” list and I’ll even pay for a copy!


Having traversed the dark underbelly of the globe with Stop Me I’m now visiting the cosy uplands of rural Sussex in the shape of Simon Brett’s Death on the Downs. To read my review check back here soon, or watch out for my tweets on Twitter, to find out if Brett’s other Fethering Mysteries will make it onto my “To Read” list.



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