Chasing the Dead: 1 (David Raker Mystery)

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David used to be a journalist but stopped when his wife was diagnosed with cancer so that he could spend time with her. Instead, she nudged him towards solving missing person cases, and he was pretty good at it. After his wife dies, David grieves but still does missing persons. Enter Mary, an old friend whose son was killed in a car accident 5 years ago...or did he? Tim: Definitely, ever since I was in my early teens. I was the weird kid who asked for a typewriter for his birthday and not Optimus Prime. Although, to save face, I asked for Optimus Prime too! As the story progresses the emotional tension ramps up not only as he draws closer to solving the case but as David, haunted by the loss of his wife is faced with his growing attraction to neighbour and solicitor Liz who feels his job as a missing persons investigator stems from trying to “plug up the holes in the world”, to stop others suffering the pain, grief and helplessness he’s undergone with his wife Derryn’s death. Facing the truth of her words, David begins to put aside his loneliness and to live again, looking to the one woman who has comforted, encouraged and supported him. This is a relationship that will be interesting to follow in the other books in the series to see if it survives. Ayo: What makes a character real for you? Must you work everything out about them before hand or do you just let it flow? But despite the hundreds of people who went missing every day of every year, I'm not sure that I ever expected to make a living out of trying to find them. It never felt like a job; not in the way that journalism had. And yet, after a while, when the money really started coming in, Derryn persuaded me to rent some office space down the road from our home, in an effort to get me out, but also - more than that, I think - to convince me I could make a career out of what I was doing.

David Raker isn't entirely convinced, but Mary has enough evidence to intrigue him. And then he meets a woman who is legally dead. The rising star of British crime * Sunday Times Number One bestselling author of the DC Max Wolfe series * It was my first book by the author and, considering the fact that it was also his debut novel, he got already my full attention- even if I didn't rate it with a full five stars - and I am sure that he will be getting better in the following installments about David Raker, a missing persons investigator.

Tim Weaver (8 May 2010). "Trying hard to have a baby | Life and style". The Guardian . Retrieved 1 September 2013.

Weaver attended Norton Hill School [16] in Midsomer Norton, Somerset. He also describes himself as a "massive, massive football fan", [17] and supports Arsenal and Bath City F.C. Bibliography [ edit ] David Raker novels [ edit ] As before looking forward to seeing where Weaver takes this next. Learning more about the main character's life and how he's moving forward after a tragic loss is the obvious highlight but thankfully the cases he's working on aren't just sub-par filler and do keep me intrigued. This is the third Tim Weaver novel I have read and I must say it was somewhat of a disappointment. In September 2015 I read and really enjoyed What Remains the sixth David Raker novel and in particular the London setting with the use of old wooden piers and the thrills and sounds of Victorian amusement arcades. Tim: I’m still trying to finish it, so it’s in a very rough state but basically the premise is this: Raker is approached by a woman whose husband got onto the Tube one morning – and never got off again.I thought about this quote also while reading this book, though here less figuratively but literally. Tim: I’ve just always grown up reading series characters, so the idea felt very natural to me. Authors like Michael Connelly were the reason I wanted to become a thriller writer in the first place, and I loved how Bosch changed from novel to novel. Each time he was slightly different. I also like the scope a series character gives you: you can build a world, and you can progress it, rather than having to build it all over again, every time. That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to have a bash at writing a standalone because I very definitely would, but I like the dynamics of a series. To me it’s like different seasons of a TV show: the events of one season impacts on those that follow, changing the character you get to know so well, in subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways. Tim: I need total silence, and need to be nowhere near a TV, as I’m easily distracted. We’ve got a spare room/office, which I use in the summer, but it’s like a refrigerator in the winter, so I tend to come downstairs where the warmth is between about October and February.