Camino island review11/18/2023 Susie Steiner Borough Press, £14.99, pp368 Alistair is nothing if not gullible, trusting women because they’re beautiful and saying pompous things like: “I was after the innate wisdom of my primeval forefathers, where the only qualification needed was an ability to hunt and fight a stripped-back, honest existence.” But that’s all part of the fun, and this riotous chase through the glory of the Greek islands is entertaining, if somewhat preposterous. We know from the start that Alistair has ended up in jail for murder, and The Lizard follows the parties and general debauchery that led to that charge, and the wild plans for escape and revenge that follow. Unfortunately for Alistair, he is almost immediately mugged and loses his passport, and after also losing a job as a labourer, he is rescued from destitution only by a mysterious, wealthy artist, Heinrich, who wants Alistair to recruit tourists to pose (and possibly do more) for him. In actor Dugald Bruce-Lockhart’s first novel, Alistair, a philosophy student, is determined to transform himself after his girlfriend breaks his heart, planning to spend the summer in the Greek islands and return to university a new man. The Lizardĭugald Bruce-Lockhart Muswell Press, £12.99, pp306 As her herd of social-media-obsessed teenagers get ready to go out, she skewers them with the line: “They had the means to look however they wanted, but they all chose to look the same.” Intense and claustrophobic, this is an impressive first book. Its walls were the shade of purple that must have thrilled Lily six or seven years ago, and every corner was filled with the whispers of her childhood”. She could read their glances, detect their brags and their shifts” – but the secrets she uncovers as she investigates hold up a mirror to her own life, and the choices she makes will come back to haunt her.īarkworth is excruciatingly good at encapsulating that point in life where Mia and Lily stand, on the edge of growing up – Lily’s abandoned bedroom is “heartbreaking. “She had spent over 15 years watching teenagers. Unable to get through to her own child, Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with helping to find Lily. Rachel is a secondary school English teacher, and mother of a teenager, 15-year-old Mia, in Hazel Barkworth’s debut novel, which spirals deep into Rachel’s secrets after her daughter’s best friend Lily disappears in the midst of an increasingly hot summer. The plot becomes increasingly outlandish, but mostly in a good way: Grisham knows exactly what he’s doing, and this is a fine way to while away an afternoon in lockdown. So Bruce and co start investigating, and discover that whoever killed Nelson may well have wanted to prevent his next book coming out. Seriously?” – but Camino island isn’t set up for a proper murder investigation the “homicide guy” in the local police force also does bank robberies, and is pretty hopeless. Bruce Cable, owner of a bookstore on the idyllic Florida island and host of expansive dinner parties for the community of local writers, is enjoying a drink or two when Hurricane Leo blows in, devastating the island and leaving his friend, popular crime author Nelson Kerr, dead.īruce and his buddies don’t believe it’s an accident – “You’re thinking somebody came over here in the middle of a category four hurricane, caught Nelson in the den, whacked him in the head, dragged his body outside, tried to clean up the blood, and than ran off. The follow-up to Grisham’s Camino Island, it’s very different in tone to his legal thrillers – more tongue in cheek, with a lightness of touch and humour that is very welcome these days. There is something very soothing about Camino Winds, despite the fact it deals with more than one brutal murder, and a disturbing drugs conspiracy.
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