Rating: 
Summary: It is a yorkshire ripper......
Review: .....of a story! James Elroy meets Geoffrey Boycott who meets Arthur Scargill in a titley written and traditionally flatcapped thriller! for more see John Milne and for more better stories see Edward Bunker.
Rating: 
Summary: a bloody good boook, i say
Review: ...1974, Yorkshire, and Ed Dunford's got the job he wanted. Crime correspondent for the Evening Post. He didn't know it was going to be the season of hell.... When I first read this I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but the little blurbs on the back and the poem inside intrigued me, making me want to read this as soon as possible. I'm not the type of teenager who would normally pick this genre, but I'm glad I did. 1974, pulls you in by the first 10 pages, a little slow at the beginning but, well worth it. David Peace, I think captured the feeling and emotions perfectly. He has great, needed detail and description. "The whole bloody pack waiting for the main attraction, pens poised and tapes paused; hot TV lights and cigarette smoke lighting up the windowless room like a Town hall boxing ring on a Late Night Fight Night....". This is the first British book that I've read and I plan to read more, the British dialogue, was one of the really strong, emotional parts of the book, with out it the book, wouldn't be as good as it is. .1974 is the a brillant book, I know that it's word that is used a lot to describe more things that needed, But this book in one thing that truly deserves the title... Read this book, if you want to read a book, that you'll never put down, till it's over.
Rating: 
Summary: Akward First Effort
Review: Apparently modeled somewhat after Orwell's 1984, Peace's bookfails to offer much more than a bloody and bleak look at a series ofhorrific child murders and corruption in Leeds, England. As in Orwell's book, a young, idealistic and naive man (here a junior crime reporter) enters into an ever-increasingly brutal and nasty side of his surroundings. What motivates him isn't altogether clear, and whether he's an idiot, an ( ), losing his sanity--or all three--he's a far from sympathetic figure. Peace's writing is altogether awkward, he tries to hard to achieve some kind of flair, and plot threads. Yes, he piles on the cultural references to impress the time and place upon the reader, but the sheer level of brutality, and the body count makes it altogether silly by the end. Better luck next time. END
Rating:
Summary: The Best British Crime Novel I've Ever Read
Review: From page one until the very end, this book literally rips along at ninety miles an hour. The plotting, characters, and attention to detail are simply superb; the brutality of the violence, corruption, and misogony is both harrowing and heart-stopping. Peace has often been compared to James Ellroy and there is undoubtedly some truth in stylistic terms, but this is a much better debut than Ellroy's Brown's Requiem ever was. This brilliant debut does not sit easily beside the usual pedestrian fare of British Crime Fiction -which is the very reason I urge readers to buy it. At last the UK has produced a writer and book capable of giving the Sceptic Tanks a run for their money.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting character.
Review: Good job on a well written character. I enjoyed this book very much. It's a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Bollocks!
Review: Heavy-handed. A high character count trying to make up for thin plot. Sophomoric use of brutality, incredibly dissapointing ending, endless use of 'period' Britishisms, fun but ultimately self-indulgent and pointless. Racist attitudes portrayed but never addressed. Try again!
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Read
Review: I do not like this book. It has 300 pages. If you take away all f..words in every sentence, you are left with 200 pages. If you take away all the driving around the reporter does to no purpose and without result, you are left with probably less that 100 pages. And to top it all: the ending makes absolutely no sense at all. I would cancel my subscription to any newspaper that hires a reporter who is stinko drunk just about every day and who abuses women. And do you believe that he then goes out to cry for hours over a murdered child? Get real!
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage
Review: I do not like this book. It has 300 pages. If you take away all f..words in every sentence, you are left with 200 pages. If you take away all the driving around the reporter does to no purpose and without result, you are left with probably less that 100 pages. And to top it all: the ending makes absolutely no sense at all. I would cancel my subscription to any newspaper that hires a reporter who is stinko drunk just about every day and who abuses women. And do you believe that he then goes out to cry for hours over a murdered child? Get real!
Rating:
Summary: Ninety Miles an Hour -Rocking 'n' Riveting!
Review: I got this book on the strength of the New York Times Review and some friends who said this guy was kind of the English James Ellroy -well everyone was telling the truth. This guy rocks like the IRA in London: sex, violence and poetry all with a heart and a passion. I read some pretty weak reviews on this page so I just wanted to say this: buy this book and if you dig it like I did, hook up to the amazon.co.uk site cos they've got the sequel: Nineteen Seventy Seven and that's even better.
Rating:
Summary: Viscious and visceral (3.5 stars)
Review: It is the fate of any new crime/thriller writer publishing "noir-ish" fiction to be beset by comparisons to James Ellroy. For the great unwashed that market modern fiction the ability to pigeonhole somebody by reference to a known quantity is too tempting to resist. Thus, Ian Rankin is Scotland's James Ellroy. And, for David Peace, those marketing him make reference to his Ellroy type qualities. Thus, "the Yorkshire Ellroy".Well, to rid ourselves of the similarities. Peace, like Ellroy, writes fiction that does not baulk form dealing with the dark side of huamnity. His writing has a direct quality, that deals with brutal themes. The fiction, like Ellroy, is set in a real place (and - in his later work - draws on real events). But, enough of the comparisons. Ellroy is a consummate stylist, his work finely honed over many years. This is Peace's first novel. We must not expect the same level as Ellroy. However, this is very promising. It is a first person narrative, from Eddie, a journalist, whose father has recently died, and who gets caught up in a series of vicious child murders (some of the most disturbing imagery I have read is in the graphic descriptions of the crime scenes and forensic reports), local government corruption, blackmail, and corrupt racist police officers. On top of this Eddie has work problems, playing second fiddle to Jack Whitehead, the crime reporter of the year, and working with an editor, Hadden, that bows to Jack's greater ability. This is a brutish view of the mid seventies, an unflinching look at a community that produced one of the UK's most notorious serial killers. The first person narrative is generally well done, a startling stream of consciousness that product places, drops lines from songs, and has enough stylistic quirks to satisfy those that will write dissertations and theses of Peace's work in years to come. Sometimes it is too forced (it seems unnecessary to pepper pages with half remembered song lines and sadly remembered TV advertisements), and the violence of the imagery is disturbing. The characterisation is very strong, particularly Eddie, Hadden, Whitehead, and the one sympathetic police officer, Fraser (the latter three reappearing in Peace's Nineteen Seventy Seven). Plotting is handled well, and the novel is read quickly. The novel is particularly strong on police brutality and corruption (another echo of Ellroy?). And in this regard the denouement is very powerful (although somewhat over the top). This is an impressive debut, by no means perfect, but indicative of the promise Peace has started to fulfil in the later books in his quartet. It is not James Ellroy, Peace has his own unique voice. But this is heavily stylised noir-ish prose. Peace is one to watch. If you enjoyed this read the later books in the series, or try some of the noir fiction by Vicki Hendricks.
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