Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver – Book Review

Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver - Book Cover

Maybe you’re already drooling in anticipation because this seems like one of those dark and gloomy crime novels, similar to what Dennis Lehane usually writes. And indeed, it starts off well; you immediately empathize with David Raker after his great tragedy, and you might even grow fond of this innocent good-hearted soul. The investigation is okay, with a few minor bumps in the dialogues (- Yes? – Yes. – Really? – Really. – But are you sure, really sure?)

Especially because you get a downright deranged opponent who scares the crap out of you. So much so that you don’t even notice that many of the characters seem rather odd. For example, amid some grumbling, they readily betray their well-paying clients for a measly 200 pounds or – and this is even more interesting – UNEXPECTEDLY end their own lives.

Then the investigation turns into action, and you think, well, it’s still okay, around 7/10. And exactly at this point, when Raker should call the cops because he understands this case has grown beyond him, you realize that Tim Weaver, the author, probably took a little break while writing. Not too much, just enough to travel to an illegal clinic in Thailand and have his left brain hemisphere responsible for rationality removed. But the whole thing.

From this point on, Raker uncovers THE DUMBEST CONSPIRACY IN THE WORLD (see The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu as the second dumbest), where participants, out of pure good intentions, want to help others by subjecting them to brainwashing. If someone doesn’t like that they want to help him, they kill him. If anyone gets close to them who is not a prospective patient, they also kill him – all the while littering half of England with corpses to ERASE their own tracks. Meanwhile, their terrified, brainwashed, religious fanatic ex-abuse victims (drug addicts and criminals) infiltrate the HIGHEST levels of the English administration and police. To spy. I must say, they really don’t lack confidence!

The diabolical evil turns out to be a Garden-variety psychopath (Tedious, very tedious.) – And about Raker, that he’s an pathetic idiot who shoots his opponent in the leg, then starts running away from his limping pursuer. Yes, yes, you guessed it right: THE MAN SHOT IN THE LEG eventually sets a trap for Raker and CAPTURES him.

And then there are still fifty pages left, who knows why, because pretty much everything has been figured out. Well, because the author, Tim Weaver, let’s remember THIS NAME!!!, probably came to the realization that this half a brain is still too much for him. So, he made another visit to that specific clinic in Thailand and had the remaining creativity removed from his right brain hemisphere. One can only imagine what this poor guy came up with with just a quarter of a brain…

4/10

Chasing the Dead (David Raker #1) by Tim Weaver
304 pages, Paperback
Published July 19, 2016 by Penguin Publishing Group

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