Dead Man Walking: A country house murder mystery with a supernatural twist
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
A rogue agent has come in from the cold and wants to spill his secrets. The Organisation wants Ishmael to find out if Frank Parker is who he says he is, what he really knows, and why he has emerged from the shadows after all this time.
Ishmael heads to Ringstone Lodge in Yorkshire where Parker is being held to find that an atmosphere of fear and suspicion prevails. As he and his fellow residents are menaced by a series of alarming and inexplicable incidents, Ishmael sets out to prove that it’s human trickery rather than any supernatural being behind the seemingly ghostly goings-on. But matters take an unexpected turn when one of their number is brutally murdered, and once again Ishmael must turn detective in order to entrap a twisted killer before they strike again.
Simon R. Green
Simon R. Green was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England, where he still lives. He is the New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Nightside, Secret Histories and Ghost Finders series, the Ishmael Jones mysteries, the Gideon Sable series and the Holy Terrors mystery series. Simon has sold more than four million copies of his books worldwide.
Read more from Simon R. Green
Deathstalker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Holy Terrors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeathstalker Destiny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Dead Man Walking
Related ebooks
Night Train to Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House on Widows Hill, The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Still I Cheat the Gallows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTill Sudden Death Do Us Part Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buried Memories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadow Thieves: A Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder in the Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor Challenger Chronicles (A Collection of Works) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Vampire Tales (Vol. 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Repurposed Spy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Betty: An Easy Rawlins Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Danistan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Hell of a Victim: A Cult Thriller Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Highwayman’S Cave: The Fantastic and Romantic Adventures of a Shropshire Legend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrigen: A True Story Of Evil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeroes of an Other Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarmilla (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHell Holes: What Lurks Below Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsi'm a Contract Killer: Murderous, Explosive, Deviant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPath of the Wicked Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seducer: Alliance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmith & Jones Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hell Holes 3: To Hell and Back Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Worst Man in the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe wrong letter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Man's Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Path of Duty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ice House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ipcress File Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLamb Chops and Chainsaws: Nine Disturbing Short Stories About the Darker Side of Human Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Fantasy For You
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of the Vampire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Picture of Dorian Gray (The Original 1890 Uncensored Edition + The Expanded and Revised 1891 Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Unkindness of Magicians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mistborn: Secret History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Dead Man Walking
21 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'd read and enjoyed Ishmael Jones book four, Into the Thinnest of Air, so I thought I'd check out the earlier books. When I got home, I realized that Dead Man Walking was book two. I read it anyway. That I didn't enjoy it quite as much as book four is mostly because the killer was neon sign overhead or placard around the neck obvious.Ishmael Jones displays not a trace of false modesty in his introduction before we get to chapter one. (Personally, I can think of greater secrets...) This field agent from the ultra-secret The Organization meets his new go-between, called only 'The Colonel' (his predecessor was murdered). The Colonel wastes no time in letting Ishmael and the readers know that he is a haughty, first-class jerk. Ishmael's new assignment involves a rogue field agent who wants to come home and claims he has some really good information to offer.Ishmael and his love, the very enjoyable Penny Belcourt, go to remote Ringstone Lodge (...'about as far north as you can go before you bang your head on Hadrian's Wall'), where Frank Parker is being held. The lodge belongs to the Ministry of Defense, but is on loan to The Organization. Only two members of its usual staff remain: Head of Security Donald MacKay, a former Regimental Sergeant Major (equivalent to a U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major), and young Philip Martin, the technical surveillance wizard. The other four persons present are all from The Organization: security guards Alan Baxter and Karl Redd, and the interrogators, Doctors Alice Hayley and Robert Doyle. Baxter seems to go out of his way to be disagreeable to Ishmael. So does Dr. Haley, the only person of color in our limited cast. (She's an in-charge black woman -- will she suffer the usual fate of black characters in horror movies?). Ringside Lodge looks as if it should be haunted. There's even the grave of a woman hanged as a witch in its little cemetery. Unusual sounds have been heard both before and after Frank Parker's arrival. Penny is hoping for ghosts. Ishmael firmly disbelieves in spooks.There's a murder, of course -- a locked room mystery. Ishmael knows that he and Penny couldn't have committed it, but they have six suspects who suspect them. The body disappears. Ishmael and Penny hear the mysterious sounds they were told about. Has the Ringstone Witch come back from the grave? One of Ishmael's most notorious failures was the Belcourt Manor case. As he did then, he warns everyone not to split up. Penny points out her parents would still be alive if they'd taken Ishmael's advice. Remember when Fred used to say, Let's split up, gang, in 'Scooby-Doo'? The survivors seem to be channeling their inner Fred instead of listening to our hero. It doesn't help that the computer surveillance equipment is apparently not as reliable as it should be.Can Ishmael and Penny catch the killer before they're the only two left standing? Notes:Chapter 1:a. Ishmael meets the new Colonel.b. We learn about Frank Parker.c. Penny Belcourt is described.Mentions: Oxford Street, London; and the 'Time Warp' [song and dance from 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' film], Chapter 2:a. We learn where Ringstone Lodge is located. b. Ishmael mentions a case where he had to escape while wearing next to nothing.c. Ishmael explains his attitude toward clever spy devices. (He also makes a joke based on the name of one of the Bond women.)d. Ringstone Halt train station is described.e. Donald MacKay is described. He gives a run-down of the situation and current personnel.f. The lodge is named for an ancient standing circle of stones on Ringside Knoll.g. The gates and then the lodge are described.h. Ishmael mentions a recurring nightmare of his.i. The Ringstone Witch's headstone reminds me of 'God Grante That She Lye Still,' the title of an old 'Boris Karloff's Thriller' 1961 episode adapted from the story by Cynthia Asquith. (I definitely recommend reading that story.)j. We're introduced to the others.k. Ishmael interviews Parker.l. Two of the past two Colonels were Oliver Cranleigh and James Belcourt.Mentions: King's Cross Station, 'The Big Issue' newspaper, James Bond, 'Fortean Times', the Spanish Inquisition, the Medusa, orcs, and trollsChapter 3:a. Dr. Haley mentions three cases that Ishmael has heard about, the titles of which make Penny suspect they were made up.b. The possibility of a haunting is discussed.c. The security centre's location is given and it is described. A conversation between Baxter and Redd is overheard. Ditto the doctors and there conversation with Parker.d. Martin shows Ishmael and Penny some of his spooky footage.e. Baxter makes the mistake of stabbing his finger at Ishmael.f. Penny tells Ishmael something about the security men that he hadn't noticed.g. Something spooky happens.Mentions: 'Country Life' magazine and Doctor Freud.Chapter :Mentions:Chapter :Mentions:Chapter :Mentions:Chapter :Mentions:Chapter :Mentions:This short novel is good for in-jokes. The opening line of the prologue comes from Moby-Dick. The opening line of the first chapter has a sly reference to a 1963 John Le Carré novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. There are fun descriptions. I particularly liked the one for Ringstone Halt station.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this book very much. The story was very smart with just enough twists and turns to keep your attention. The addition of the trusty sidekick was a nice touch. The pacing of the book is good without going to fast or too slow at some parts. I look forward to the next book.
I read this book through NetGalley. I thank them and the publisher for this book. #NetGalley