I was ready to put this book away after one particular sentence from the therapist's (of all characters!) mouth in which she told the patient that the situation in her (the therapist's!) family of origin was so complex that she became o therapist and her brother is a transvestite. Excuse me? First of all, Peter Buckman portrays doctor Marion Fitzwalter as a brilliant psychologist and mental health practitioner who stays on top of her game and is very respected in the field. Just from this one sentence it's obvious that this portrayal doesn't hold water. First of all, a good (not to mention brilliant!) psychotherapist wouldn't allow for this level of disclosure, of which Marion actually does a lot, often talking in sessions more than her patients. Second of all, a psychologist who is on top of their game, wouldn't use the term "transvestite" as nowadays it's considered not only outdated but also offensive.

And I'm not writing this review based only on this one sentence. No! I read the whole thing.

If this story was written in a similar manner by a young female author, and instead of a "veteran lawyer" we would follow a character of a talented female professional, we would without a doubt pin point the protagonist as a case of self-insert. That being said, I truly think that the character of Leo is some sort of alter ego of the author. Why? Because of the dedication to writing him, the details, the "can't do no wrong" approach that is not visible in the portrayal of any other characters.

Getting this out of the way, I was expecting a mystery novel with twists and turns but instead got a manifesto in support of assisted dying. It's not very subtle as the characters and events seem to serve as vehicles to express author's opinion on the matter. And because of this, the story isn't even coherent or engaging. There's no mystery. There's just a cast of characters, written very unevenly and there's a plot that has way too many sub-plots and there are quite a few Jew-jokes for some reason, that considering the UK-context felt very out of place.

I had a brief idea that this book may be an attempt on satire, because it was so over the top at times. If it is a satire, then it's a poorly executed one. I also had another idea: it's an attempt on a cozy crime genre. That fell closer to what "Dead Early" was, but the genre doesn't make it a skilful story crafting.

This story was such a waste of time and energy for me.