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Runaway

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In addition to the Lewis Trilogy, the Enzo Files, and the China Thrillers, Peter was also able to write six standalone novels including his very first novel, The Reporter published in 1978. In this novel, investigative reporter, Colin Anderson, unknowingly puts his life and the life of his assistant, Janis Sinclair, on the line when he begins to uncover what could very well be the biggest international sabotage of all time. Peter’s other standalone novels include Fallen Hero 1979, Hidden Faces 1981 and 1982, The Noble Path 1992 and 1993, Virtually Dead 2010, and Entry Island 2014. Television and Film Nothing, of course, goes to plan. For all of them this will be a life changing journey. Some will benefit from the journey but some will never recover from it. After a few months of traumatic living in London most of the boys make the decision to return home to Glasgow and their worried parents.

Peter May Books | Waterstones Peter May Books | Waterstones

Peter May has done it again. He’s created yet another thrilling read, one that pulls you in from the start until the end.As a baby boomer in his late teens in 1965 this part of the plot resonated so strongly for me. It so replicated my own life it could have been my biography. But my experience of the 1965s was a lot less traumatic than the young men in this story, I am glad to say. I thoroughly enjoyed Runaway by Scottish author Peter May; my first by this author but most definitely not my last! A gripping crime novel, filled with fast paced, heart thumping tension; plus intrigue, emotional nostalgia and flashes of humour throughout. Told in the two timelines of 1965 and 2015 it worked incredibly well in showing the differences fifty years makes. I have no hesitation in recommending Runaway very highly. The two journeys, 50 years apart, allow May to show the changes across the country in that time, and he does so very well. Both journeys take the form of road-trips, punctuated by accident and disaster, but lifted by a healthy dose of humour. Along the way, the boys rescue Maurie's cousin from her drug-dealing boyfriend and she becomes one of the gang as they finally arrive in London and start looking round for the streets paved with gold. And at first, when they are given lodgings and a job by a man who promises them a chance to cut a demo disc, it looks as though they have landed on their feet. But it's not long before things go wrong and start to spiral out of control. I’ve worked through most of his books now – I have Coffin Road and all except the first of the China Thrillers to catch up on (the list being longer than I’d like) – and I can honestly say I have yet to be disappointed. The Enzo Files weren’t quite what I had been hoping for, yet they were still fun. None of them have managed to live up to the brilliance of the Lewis trilogy, but I’ve still be pleased with them all. With Runaway, we have his usual four-star standard. Despite how the mystery aspect was pushed behind the story of life, it was still an interesting mystery. As you worked through the story it became painfully clear how certain things were to end, yet you did not have the specifics. The specifics were what you were holding out for, curious as to exactly what would happen to each of the characters.

Runaway by Peter May | Goodreads

The book begins with a murder in 2015. We don't know the identity of the killer or victim until much later in the book. The streets of London were not, as in legend, paved with gold, but money walked the pavements and motored the roads.

London, 2015. A man lies dead in a one-room flat. His killer looks on, remorseless. What started with five teenagers following a dream five decades before has been transformed over the intervening decades into a waking nightmare that might just consume them all. Fifty years later, in 2015, a brutal murder takes place in London and the three men, who are now in their sixties, are forced to return to the city to confront the demons which have haunted them and blighted their lives for five decades. So do you remember where you were 50 years ago? These aging lads do – but they do not seem completely sure of how and why they have gotten to where they are. As for being a crime ‘thriller’– I couldn’t have cared less about the initial murder and none of the characters cared about the decades old one, which meant the story was an enjoyable adventure rather than a gripping thriller. That said, I liked the denouement, despite the drop of unnecessary sweetness at the end! However, 50 years later, the murder of an old man in a seedy London bedsit, makes former vocalist Maurie Cohen, who is dying of cancer, feel compelled to return and confront the ghosts of the past and he persuades his two former bandmates to accompany him.

Runaway by Peter May | Hachette UK Runaway by Peter May | Hachette UK

Flats that, once renovated, are still lived in today, while those they built to replace them have long since been demolished. This novel marks something of a change of pace from previous Peter May novels I’ve read. In many ways, the subject matter, social commentary and frequent splashes of humour are more reminiscent of fellow Scot, Christopher Brookmyre: but that’s certainly no bad thing. Runaway’ is described in the blurb as a crime thriller but is really a road trip adventure that happens to encompass a crime. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. What’s it about? Each had their own reason to leave and their experiences test the bonds of friendship, eventually taking a tragic turn. Of the five who left Glasgow, only three will return.

Looking forward to 2022

But I think that would be a mistake. The 1960s was just a few years away from the end of the worst war in the history of mankind, and the most heinous act of evil perpetrated by the Nazis in the form of the Holocaust. Peter May was born on December 20, 1951 in Glasgow, Scotland. Even from a young age, Peter wanted to be a novelist. He started out his writing career in journalism and won his first award, the Fraser Award, in 1973 when he was only 21 years old. For this he was labeled Scotland’s Young Journalist of the Year. Peter completed his first novel at the age of 26 titled The Reporter, which was later adapted to a British television series in 1978 called The Standard. He met his wife, Janice Hally, when he was working on the television series, Take the High Road. They were married in 1990 and are currently residing in France.

Runaway: a high-stakes mystery thriller from the master of Runaway: a high-stakes mystery thriller from the master of

The Aristokats, with Peter May on the left and Stephen Penn on the right, playing in Glasgow aged 13 or 14. Since Author May is a veteran of the TV mills and decades of thriller- and mystery-writing, he's developed that habit of story-telling and be damned if you, reviewer, wish for something a bit more textured, true to life. As this particular novel is a standalone and is based in part on some of the author's own lived experience, well...maybe it's all down to that specialty of the old, the tidying-up of the past.

The Lewis Trilogy

Five of us had run away that fateful night just over a month before. Only three of us would be going home. And nothing, nothing would ever be the same again."

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