Published by Little Brown
Fans of Chris Brookmyre’s Jack Parlabane will be pleased to see him returning in this action-packed and humorous thriller.
After losing his wife, his job and pretty much his self-respect, journalist Jack Parlabane is given a second chance after a friend asks him to investigate the disappearance of rock and roll star, Heike Gunn.
The story is told from both Parlabane’s view and also Heike’s bandmate, Monica Halcrow – a technique that works really effectively in the book.
This was my first introduction to Parlabane and I have to say he is a fascinating and surprisingly loveable character. Like Ian Rankin’s Rebus, he does himself no favours and doesn’t exactly make friends easily but I did find myself rooting for him by the end of the book.
The story line is enticing and would definitely fall into the category of “page-turner”. The action itself was good but at points became a little too over the top for me. For example, at one point Parlabane and his female companion are being chased by the baddies when he decides to abseil down a stairwell to evade them. At another point he demonstrates his skills in Parkour to escape from being captured. What journalists do you know that have those kind of skills?
The humour that Brookmyre injects into these situations however dilutes the absurdity of some of the scenes and made it a really enjoyable read.