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Released: 28/01/2019

ISBN: 9781789016512
eISBN: 9781789019292

Format: Paperback/eBook

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Driving Dead

by Stephen G Collier

'With horror, she felt all the muscles in her body cramp, as her body went into an uncontrollable spasm. Her right foot hit the accelerator pedal and lay there like a brick.'

A woman dies and her family are injured in a road accident. Jake Jordan, called in to investigate the crash, discovers that her body is laced with a new drug. He enlists the help of forensic pathologist Dr Kirsty Kingsfield and her long time friend Dr Tanya Nicholls to find as to who might be designing a drug that affects drivers.

Jake and Kirsty, still affected by the Tyler incident twelve months before, become concerned when more drivers die. They go to the new Detective Inspector, Fletcher Randall to assist in the investigation of the deaths. Although initially reluctant, Randall teams up with Jordan, but he has his eye on more than just the enquiry.

Suspicions that the perpetrator is closer to home become apparent when one of their own is abducted. Will they all be able to save their own officer and discover the murderer before it’s too late?

Book Reviews

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

by Darren

One of this year's best! A great read interesting throughout with good character development. Recommend!!!

by Janice Lombardo

Driving Dead is a gritty, realistic thriller about a series of interconnected crime and the Northamptonshire Police’s investigation into it all.

I was gripped from the start. To be honest, throughout the whole of the book i was quite confused about the histories of the characters, not realising this is the sequel to another book. You can tell the author tries to make sure everyone knows what’s going on but due to the rapidly changing POVs and multiple storylines I was left a bit lost a lot of the time. However the writing and main plot kept me reading and I really did want to know what happened next.

I especially liked the approach to modern UK policing and showing the true nature of ‘the job’, cutbacks and red tape. It’s a true insight into the realities of what the average copper has to go through in the call of duty.

by Sarah

Very fast paced, dramatic suspense/thriller with likeable characters and a lot of twists. I definitely would read more by this author, I think this was a really well written book!

by Abby

Really intriguing topic and great read!

by Sita

This book drew me in and held me delightfully-captive from beginning to end. The plot keeps you guessing, the characters are realistic, likable and identifiable and the scenery is described in such a way as to make you feel that you are an actual bystander in every scene. Once I started reading this story, the desperate need for sleep is the only thing that made me put my Kindle down.

by Tammy

The prose snaps and pops with a fresh, nearly breathless energy , Collier weaves gripping drama in a thought provoking and suspenseful thriller.

by Kelly

Jake Jordan and his team are called in to investigate a series of traffic collisions leaving many drivers dead.

Discovering a water bottle laced with a substance which causes drivers to have seizures and die while driving, Jordan enlists the help of Kirsty Kingsfield, Forensic Pathologist.

The murderer always seems to be one step ahead ..... and the danger to them all may be closer than they realize.

This is a sequel to BLIND MURDER. The author has dropped enough information so that the reader is not lost of the backstory of these characters, but I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first book prior to DRIVING DEAD.

There's a bit of everything here .... a vicious murderer killing in a particularly brutal way, likeable characters, a budding romance, and twists and turns leading to a satisfactory ending. The author has used his experience as a police officer for 30 years to bring credibility to not only the story, but to the characters as well.

by Linda

About the Author

Stephen G Collier

Stephen came to serious writing late in life, although he can say that he's had an interest in writing and the English language since he was a teenager.

Of course, back in those days in deepest and darkest, Northamptonshire, there was no social media, no mobile phones and even the TV started off in black and white. So teenagers needed to find other ways to entertain themselves. And for Stephen, writing was one way. He continued to write on and off (more dabbling really,) until he became a police officer.

Nothing of what he had written back in those early days has survived and if it has, he wouldn't want it to see the light of day anyway. Spending thirty years as a police officer taught him to write about FACTS and not FICTION (although he knows some would probably disagree!)

Leaving school with little in the way of academic qualifications, it is a surprise to him now that he has managed to gain both a Bachelor's and Master's degree and would concede that his ability in academia probably only started after he left school. A late starter, as his mother was fond of saying. Writing grammatically correct police reports kept pace with his desire to write and a short period where he wrote policy for senior officers enhanced that ability to write something that occasionally went higher than the Chief Constable.

Service with Northamptonshire Police continued for thirty years. During that time the 'life skills' came thick and fast. As a young man he'd always felt that writing a fictional tome was not something he could do without them. It was only towards the end of his service that he began to wonder whether, as is commonly stated, that 'there is a book in everyone,' came more and more to the front of his mind. The idea of a book that commenced in his early career came back to him. Although it probably never went away and fermented in the back of his mind, until a rekindling of a desire to write fictional stories based up those earlier life skills in 'the job,' made his mind up for him. The book had to come out and Blind Murder was the result.

So here we are, moving further and further away from a job that literally gave him everything, to a point where he can sink closer into obscurity, unless of course, you by his books.