Cambridge English Readers

Level 6 - Advanced

This Time its Personal

Alan Battersby

This Time its Personal is a thriller book, specially written for learners of English by Alan
Battersby. He shows a simple and direct way of writing which is what readers, me included, are
commonly looking for in this kind of graded books.
The main character, Nat Marley, is an ordinary New York private investigator. The
majority of his work is dull and routine but this time the case will be difficult, dangerous and,
as the title says, it will become personal for him. Jos De La Cruz, Nat Marleys personal
assistants brother, gets involved in a crime investigation and is charged with the murder of
Alexei Romanov, a Russian community man with fine reputation.
Nat Marley, The NYPD, Romanovs widow and some other characters will collaborate
and work together to find the real murderer. Firstly, Jos has no memories and the possible
witnesses are too afraid to talk. However, they will eventually uncover a huge Russian illegal
immigration network and prove that this criminal organization had killed Mr Romanov because
he had been doing too many questions about their illegal activities.
In my opinion, the story is too simple. It seems too forced how all the characters help
the detective Nat Marley in the investigation. Even Romanovs widow and the NYPD help him
to prove Joss innocence. Besides, there are no plot twists or surprises and the ending is easy
to guess. Nevertheless, despite these small details, I would recommend this book to anyone
who is learning English and is looking for an entertaining and easy to read book.