Gone Again by Doug JohnstoneMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book confused me no end. The blurb on the back implies it's a thriller, but having seen Doug Johnstone in person recently, he himself described it as a study of the relationship between a father and his young son when the mother goes missing.
If it's the latter, it's quite effective, but I didn't find the thriller bit all that convincing. The central characters, including Ruth the mother-in-law, are good, but I wasn't sure about the way the police conducted things around the book's main incident. (I think they'd have been swarming around a possible crime scene.) I also felt completely unconvinced by the villains.
For all that, I enjoyed this as a quick read (it's short, around 60,000 words), and also I enjoyed its setting around Portobello in Edinburgh, an area I know really well. I had to wait for someone in Portobello for 40 minutes and actually spent the time in my car reading about Portobello in Portobello. How cool is that?
I will definitely look out for other Doug Johnstone books, though.
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