Marketed as a crime-thriller, Looking Good Dead is more murder-mystery as it lacks the shock and jump factor required to be a true bone-chilling thriller. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is drafted in as the police officer leading the investigation (played by understudy Lee Peck on opening night). Upon accessing the files, they are redirected to a website that puts their lives in danger and its anticipation aplenty as the Bryce family’s lives unravel and spiral out of control.

Patriarch Tom Bryce, played by Adam Woodyatt, finds a USB on a train and opens the files with the help of his son Max (Luke Ward-Wilkinson). The play revolves around the Bryce family and their efforts to navigate their own issues and exist as a cohesive family unit, only to have life as they know it screech to a halt as they witness the unspeakable.

Indeed, the scene is set before the show even begins, the auditorium is submerged in darkness with an eerily soothing nature soundtrack playing, a perfect juxtaposition to the production that follows. The gripping murder-mystery stars British television stalwarts Adam Woodyatt ( EastEnders, On the Razzle) and Gaynor Faye ( The Syndicate, Coronation Street, Emmerdale) as the leads, promising high-quality performances from the onset. Looking Good Dead, a new play adapted from the book by no.1 best-selling author Peter James, begins its weeklong residence at Milton Keynes Theatre bringing with it, thrills and chills in abundance. Writer: Original by Peter James, adapted by Shaun McKenna Hard working Tom is married to his Vodka loving wife, Kelly, their eldest son managed to escape the family arguing and went off travelling, leaving his younger, teenaged half-brother, Max to deal with the noise of his parents and none of this got easier, the day Tom found a USB stick on a train.This review was originally written for Dress Circle Antics. ‘Looking Good Dead’ is a story where a regular guy, Tom Bryce, tried to do a good deed, yet managed to end up with his whole family’s life in danger. These exciting plays are based on Peter’s award-winning books, but from various perspectives, not just of Roy Grace, a fictional, Brighton based Detective Superintendent played by Harry Long. Peter James is the UK’s number one bestselling author of Crime and Thriller novels and his stories are so good that four previous books have been adapted into plays, successfully thrilling audiences around UK theatres.

Looking good dead book review