2015; London; someone gets bumped off, and the news report in a Scottish newspaper prompts a dying man to summon two childhood friends to his hospital bed in Glasgow. They must, Maurie explains to Jack and Dave, go back to London to where they ran away as sixteen-year-olds in 1965.
Five of them left that night, suddenly and secretly, and with mixed motives. They were a band, The Shuffle, and London was the place to make it big, but equally they each had their reason to quit their homes and families.
The twin track narratives unfold fifty years apart. In 1965, there are first tastes of sex, drugs and rock and roll; and bad company that leads to discord, disillusionment, and disaster. In 2015, the old guys, who again have reasons to get out of their current domestic settings, face different problems as they attempt to retrace their route to London, aided by Jack’s socially awkward grandson, Ricky.
The juxtaposition of youthful exuberance, attitudes and exploits with the frustrations and limitations of old age, is nicely done (at least viewed from my position in the latter camp). The writing is easy on the eye and both narratives move forward at pace, each to an exciting climax. By the end, secrets held for five decades slip out, providing a moving dénouement.
After my last May
read, the disappointing ‘A Silent Death’, this is more like the quality of his
excellent Lewis trilogy.
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