The first part of the book was slow; possibly setting the scene and the character of Nick Belsey. After that the story picked up considerably and I enjoyed it. However, I found Nick Belsey to be a thoroughly unlikeable character.In fact there was no character in the book I could cheer for. ( )

Can't quite remember how I got to this, but it rattled along at a fair pace even as the convoluted plot became more and more absurd. The author tried to make London one of the characters in the story, but he may have been trying a little too hard. Still there were plenty of references to places I recognized - shout-outs to Edgware, Hampstead High Street and the Finchley Road. Pleasantly surprised to find this is the first of a series, so I might see if I can pick up the next one from one of London's cheapo charity shops. ( )

You've never met a crooked cop until you've met Detective Nick Belsey. He bends the rules into pretzels and beyond.

When we meet Belsey he is awakening in a park meadow, hungover, with a police cruiser crashed nearby. Nevertheless he goes into work, where his job is already in jeopardy anyway, not to mention that he has been evicted from his apartment for nonpayment of rent. Nick takes the first call of the day. Alex Devereux, a wealthy businessman, is missing, and later determined to be an apparent suicide. His mansion seems to be the perfect solution for Belsey's temporary homelessness. He moves into Devereux's mansion, begins driving his Porsche, and even wearing his clothes. He begins the process for trying to get access to Devereux's Swiss bank accounts.

However, taking on the identity of Devereux (even as he maintains his day job as a detective) turns out to be not as simple as Belsey thought it would be. Devereux was apparently involved in some shady deals, and he seems to have enemies everywhere who don't realize he may already be dead. Soon people with connections to Devereux start turning up dead.

This is a police procedural with a twist. The plot was fairly complicated, but it all tied together in the end. I liked it well enough to get the second book in the series.

3 1/2 stars ( )

This is the 1st book in the Nick Belsey series, set in London. Belsey might be called an anti-hero, at least in this volume, but at the very least he's unethical. He's in the area when a report of a missing person goes out. He responds without calling in and discovers the missing person is a very rich man indeed, and Belsey, who has the audacity to be trying on the man's clothing as he wanders through the mansion, sees this as an opportunity to solve all his personal problems and get far away, if only he could assume temporarily the identity of the missing man long enough to enrich himself. And here, very early in the book, is where the reader thinks: he cannot possibly get away with this.

What follows is an intricate and interesting mystery and the story of whether Belsey gets away with his plan or not. I cannot say with any surety that I liked the character of Nick Belsey but I certainly came admire his talents. And I have bought the second book, so that's a good sign. ( )

very, very strange and disturbing ( )