Home Stretch, by Graham Norton.

         

       

   This is TV comedian and internationally popular presenter Graham Norton’s third novel, and in my opinion, his best so far. And he’s brave to touch on themes which have had an enormous effect on his own personal life as a gay man;  homosexual life in eighties Ireland, where the story starts, was very much a closeted affair and Norton writes from personal experience, having to leave the country to attain a normalcy for himself that he couldn’t find at home – as happens to one of his main protagonists, Connor Hayes.

            It is Summer, 1987, and six young people from the village of Mullinmore are going to the beach.  One couple will be married the next day at the local church, and one of the other passengers is a bridesmaid;  her sister is also there  and jealous that she couldn’t be a bridesmaid, too.  The car is being driven by the local Doctor’s son who has brought along silent teenager Connor, the publican’s son (everyone wonders why)  - but before the day is over, tragedy strikes:  there is a terrible accident.  Three of the six die and one is paralysed,  and Connor is blamed, for he was driving. 

            Mullinmore will never be the same again.  The families of the victims must attend three funerals instead of the lovely wedding they had expected, and Connor, the architect of everyone’s misfortune, is shipped off to Liverpool and a building site where no-one knows his story;  he can start again, if he’s brave enough – and the attendant, awful secrets of that shattering day will remain his to bear for the rest of his life.

            But time moves on:  secrets, however well-hidden, sometimes have a way of revealing themselves and Connor, gay and living in New York, is shocked to stumble onto a chance family connection, with repercussions that once again alter irrevocably his loved ones’ lives in Mullinmore.  Should he stay safe and anonymous in New York, or should he return home to ruthlessly expose everyone’s misconceptions?

            Graham Norton guides Connor effortlessly to the right conclusion, causing us all to heave a massive sigh of relief.  He is an engaging and sensitive storyteller and his characters are your neighbours – albeit with an Irish accent!  And the humour leavens at all the right times the tragic elements of the novel, not just the accident but the longing for a proper identity, which is found at story’s end.  Great stuff.  FIVE STARS.         

 

                

 

Remain Silent, by Susie Steiner.

         

  

          Lucky, lucky me:  this is the third book in Susie Steiner’s series about Detective Inspector Manon Bradshaw, and my only regret is that I had to come to the end.  Manon is almost eerily efficient, hotshot at all aspects of her job, but the opposite is true at home where chaos reigns supreme, despite her and her little family’s best efforts to impose order;  unfortunately, her toddler son Ted is a mini wrecking-ball, her loving partner Mark is not good at bloke things like repairing anything that breaks, and her beloved adopted son Fly is not the least bit interested in cramming for his all-important GCSEs.  Life, as usual, is gnarly.

            And doesn’t improve with the discovery of a hanging body in woodland with a note pinned to his trousers, written in Lithuanian.  ‘The Dead Cannot Speak’.  The Hornet’s nest has been well and truly kicked when investigations reveal a filthy house, full of Baltic migrants who, lured to England with the promise of high wages and a better life, are trapped into working for twelve hours a day, every day, doing work no Englishman would dream of – for what?  They don’t see their wages, they have had to surrender their passports:  they are slaves.  And they are trapped.

            Hanging victim Lukas Balsys is one of their number and his story is told in a series of flashbacks that recount both sides of the thorny Brexit problem:  no future in his own country versus cheap labour versus England for the English, and Manon, freshly returned from part-time work investigating cold cases, discovers a huge hidden network of criminal cruelty and exploitation – if only she can find the proof to bolster her suspicions.  And the more she and her officers investigate, the sadder the situation, especially when one of these slaves dies:  what happens to the bodies?  Where are the bodies?

            There are also power struggles with the new DCI at work – DCI McBain-of-my-Life, who is more worried about job cuts, press releases and her own public image than results - unless they are reflective of her fine leadership:  Oh, the problems keep piling up – but Manon keeps grafting.  She is a hero for the ages, as so many women must be, for they have no choice in the matter. 

            These novels would make a great TV series – with Olivia Colman as Manon;  she’d play that brilliant, blowsy, straight-for-the-jugular, compassionate, loving woman to the hilt, as Manon deserves.  SIX STARS

              

 

One of us is Lying, by Karen M. McManus               Young Adults

 

 

           Five teenagers are in detention at Bayview High School, supposedly for trying to smuggle their mobiles into class, which is strictly forbidden.  They are a motley lot:  Bronwyn, over-achieving geek and scholar;  Addy, gorgeous home-coming princess, entirely under the thumb of her football star boyfriend;  Basketball sensation Cooper Clay;  Nate Macauley, class bad boy and local drug supplier; and Simon Kelleher, loathed and despised – and feared by everyone because he has an online gossip blog called About That which people can’t stay away from, for all the nasty outed secrets in it are true.

            No-one knows where Simon gets his information from, but there have been life-changing repercussions from Simon’s cruel exposés, and some of his student victims haven’t made good recoveries from being the centre of his interest;  needless to say, his companions in detention wish they were anywhere but with him, especially on what they think is a trumped-up charge:  none of them would dream of bringing their phones into class.  Who would be so stupid?  But here they all are, watching Simon get a glass of tap water because he can’t find his water bottle, so. They’d better knuckle down until they’re allowed to go home, whenever that will be.  Until a massive distraction is heard in the parking lot outside:  two cars have collided head-on, causing everyone to rush to the window, and by the time they turn away from the side-show, Simon is stretched out on the floor, gasping for breath – he has always had a peanut allergy and has swallowed a cup of peanut oil instead of the water he expected to drink.

            To make the nightmare events even worse, the epipen he usually carries cannot be found, nor can spare epipens that are always kept in the nurse’s office.  To everyone’s utter horror, Simon dies a short time later, despite the Paramedics’ best efforts.  And an even worse eventual discovery:  Simon’s next blog contained damning – and true – scandal about each of his detention mates, scandal that they never dreamt would see the light of day.  How did he know these things, secrets that nobody, nobody could be aware of?  

Fate is playing fast and loose with them all and the situation gets even worse when the police start investigating, and deciding that each of the surviving four have enough reason to doctor Simon’s water with peanut oil, thus preventing him from exposing their shameful secrets.  How can they prove their innocence?

Ms McManus treats the reader to a real page-turner, fast-paced and smart, with an excellent twist in the tale that shows her familiarity and respect for teens everywhere.  There’s a sequel, too:   ‘One of Us is Next’.  Can’t wait!  FIVE STARS.