Book review

Runaway
Peter May is a prolific author, however one who can be relied on for a good story well told. While better know as a thriller writer he has also produced stand alone novels and non fiction. Runaway is a novel with a touch of mystery, I would be surprised if anybody could foresee how the final chapter was going to pan out.

The story is set between two very different cities, Glasgow and London and in two equally different times 1965 and 2015. It concerns five very young teenagers who embark on an ill advised trip to London. This proves to be a rolling disaster with their time in London little better.

Fifty years later one of the three of the group still living in Glasgow talk the other two into returning to London to complete some unfished business from their adventure all those years ago. The second journey proves to be as eventful as the first.

The lead character is Jack, a head strong seventeen year old when we first meet him. It is jack who leads the team into and, usually, out of trouble in the early times. While the second journey south is at the instigation of another member of the group but it is Jack who eventually gets them there.

The story covers half a century of friendships made and broken, dreams shared and shattered, loves kindled and lost. All against a backdrop of people met along the way, some run of the mill and others far from ordinary. Peter May has the writing skill of being unobtrusively descriptive, you clearly visualise every minute of this fast moving novel.

The only grip I have is with the blurb on the back cover. This writer speaks of a rather grim book : ‘a tense nostalgic crime thriller’ and of ‘ a heavy hearted sixty seven year old haunted by the cruel fate that befell him’ and of ‘a remorseless killer’ really? This definitely isn’t the book I read.
The designation of ‘Crime thriller’ also perplexed me. Crime? well there was one murder which happened very near the end and was not a major part of the story. Thriller? there is high drama a couple of times, but leavend by following equally light moments, all rolled into an interesting believable tale well told. I thoroughly enjoyed this book .