Customer Reviews
Excellent - By: crime reader, 19 Feb 2008 
This is utterly enthralling, I loved it, although I did think the ending as far as Mr Sarotzini was concerned, was perhaps a bit of an anti climax. That said it is a really great book that keeps you gripped all the way through until the very last sentence, I would love to know what happened afterwards. I have never yet been disappointed by any of Peter James's books, all that I have read have been brilliant. Can't wait to read another one.
The Truth is You have to buy it. - By: , 07 Dec 2002 What is the truth of the baby being carried & of the mysterious man who paid to have the surrogate mother. Devil worshipping , & yet an almost believable story.
Yet again Peter James delivers the goods , The Alchemist still remains my favourite James book but every offering seems to differ & yet thrill. If you have never read a Peter James book give yourselve a treat
breathtaking supernatural thriller, Peter James at his best - By: , 02 Apr 2001 In my view Peter James' best book yet. Gripping from the very first page. A supernatural tale that is frighteningly believable. It has all the ingredients of a classic Peter James , well portrayed characters that take you around the globe & keep youin suspense till the very last paragraph. Very well researched as we have come to expect from James. Can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book so much!
Excellent, gripping, definitely unputdownable! - By: , 16 Dec 1998 You're into the gripping storyline within the first three pages. From then on it simply flows & hopefully no onein your family requires anything from you as you can't tear yourself away! At no pojnt do you lose track of the characters or the plot. The only bad thing I have to say is that it finally ends!
A cracking good read from a master storyteller - By: , 20 Oct 1998 Reviewed by Robert Parkinson
John & Susan Carter find their dream home, a large turreted housein an idyllic part of London. It needs work, but John's company are at the cutting edge of computer technology & on the way up; Susan is an editor at a City publishing house. They decide to take a risk & invest all they havein the new house.
Then the abyss beckons. John's bank Manager retires & is replaced by a new man with old values. The large overdraft that John's business have is not looked upon favourably. While John's company are heading toward a big break, they also have a court case hanging over them & the new Bank Manager doesn't think the bank's money is safe. He wants the overdraft downin a month, whatever it takes. Susan's job looks a bit unstable too when a takeover threatens to squeeze her out.
In step's Swiss Banker Emil Sarotzini. He offers to save John's business & consequently their home by paying off the business debts. In return he asks Susan to be a surrogate mother for his baby. Mr Sarotzini's wife is unable to have a child after a recent illness. He says.
Will they? Won't they? At first John & Susan are dead against, but the bank are breathing down John's neck, the business is definitely going to hit the skids unless they do something drastic, so they agree to Mr Sarotzini's offer.
By now however, the reader has become well aware that something more is going on here. Mr Sarotzini knows a lot more about the Carter's than they realise. He has a very special sidekick, Kundz, who is twistedin some very deep ways that I won't spoil for you. He is watching the Carters day & night. Especially at night, if you catch my drift.
After Susan is impregnated events begin to take a more macabre turn. The man at the centre of the court case with John's business suddenly dies. And then someone else close to the Carter's dies unexpectedly. And then another. Strange rumours begin to emerge about Mr Sarotzini himself. Is he really a Swiss banker? Can he be 110 years old, a man who was declared the Anti-Christin 1947 & was supposed to be dead, but clearly isn't? And is Susan's very prominent gynaecologist, hired by Mr S, actually involvedin Satanism & child sacrifice? Also, & here's the biggie, is the baby some kind of demonic beast, a special creation to wreak havoc on mankind?
So many questions, & Peter has your fingernails down to the quick by the time he has answered them. Like THE ALCHEMIST this book throws a lot of events together & then takes off on a wild ride into terror & chaos, pulling the reader by the seat of the pants, like it or not. And I for one liked it. A lot.
Peter James is one of those writers who tells a rollicking good story, & the pay off for the time invested is always generous. THE TRUTH is disturbing, all too plausible, & the denouement is very cleverly done.
Another winner. And that's the truth.
