Day: February 21, 2021

I’m a fan of this author and have read several of his books. One of my all-time favorites is still After the Accident. I always look forward to his new releases, because it seems as if he likes to challenge himself to approach stories in different ways.

This time out, we get the perspective of Harry Curtis. Originally from England, now living in Canada, he is phoned by an old school friend when Harry’s former best friend (Richard) is arrested for murder. Harry returns to the village he grew up in to help figure out what really happened.

Or does he have other reasons for returning, namely the friend who called him, Paige? Is there something more to that friendship?

The author does a fine job of keeping the lines between Harry and Paige murky. I was never quite sure if what they were saying, or if what Harry was thinking, was accurate or if they were just fooling themselves.

Or worse, lying to themselves and everyone else around them.

Essentially, Paige and Harry (believing their friend to be innocent) set out to find the real killer. Oh, and this murder brings up another one that occurred when the three were still in school.

I thought the author captured the potential bleakness of small-town life. Whether it was through Paige’s actions or the attitudes of the townspeople, there was a despair that illustrated the lack of hope that can set in.

The author also touched on a number of “current” issues including different types of addiction, organized crime and family dynamics.

It’s this last one that makes up a good part of the plot. The relationships between Harry and his sister Evie and between Paige, her mom, and her estranged husband, were especially interesting and well described.

Overall, though, I think the theme of “What does ‘friends forever’ really mean” was strong and thoroughly explored.

I did think that the plot meandered a bit. I know that it was to build tension and to keep the reader off balance like Harry seemed to be. Probably to build more background for the characters as well.

But there were times that I wished the action moved a little bit faster and was more concise. And I have mixed feelings about the final revelation.

On the one hand, it would have been nice to have a few more hints or obvious signs regarding the situation so that events or memories earlier in the book all of a sudden made more sense. On the other hand, sometimes realization of the truth just smacks a person in the face.

I suppose in that regard, the latter was a good choice for this book, as Harry seemed to be at loose ends about pretty much everything throughout the story.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the story and will continue to look forward to what the author comes up with next.

Author Bio:

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.