Runaway EXPORT - Softcover

May, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784299820 ISBN 13: 9781784299828

Publisher: Quercus, 2015

Synopsis

"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."
Glasgow, 1965. Headstrong teenager Jack Mackay cannot allow for even the possibility of a life of predictability and routine. The seventeen-year-old has just one destination on his mind--London--and successfully convinces his four friends, and fellow bandmates, to join him in abandoning their homes to pursue a goal of musical stardom.
Glasgow, 2015. Jack Mackay dares not look back on a life of failure and mediocrity. The heavy-hearted sixty-seven-year-old is still haunted by what might have been. His recollections of the terrible events that befell him and his friends some fifty years earlier, and how he did not act when it mattered most is a memory he has tried to escape his entire adult life.
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.
Runaway is a tense crime thriller spanning a half-century of friendships solidified and severed, dreams shared and shattered, passions ignited and extinguished, all set against the backdrop of two unique cities at two unique and transformational periods of recent history.

About this title

About the Author

Peter May is the multi award-winning author of numerous crime thrillers, including the internationally bestselling Lewis Trilogy. May started his career as a journalist and went on to become of Scotland's most prolific television writers, with more than 1,000 credits to his name. He eventually left television to pursue his first love, writing novels. Born and raised in Scotland, May now lives in France with his wife, writer Janice Hally.

Review

"Stretching the parameters of the genre, [Runaway] is as much a disquisition on friendship and the fragility of dreams as it is a thriller."―Financial Times

"The book is beautifully written, funny and poignant, and very different from any I have previously read by the versatile Peter May."―Literary Review

"A well-told tale ... The two time streams are woven together skilfully and the book ends with an intensely moving glimmer of renewed hope."―The Spectator

"May is going from strength to strength ... A wonderful exhibition of just how good May can be."―The Daily Mail


"A terrific read suffused with nostalgia and the burden of long suppressed guilt."―The Sunday Times

"An outstanding novel that speaks directly to the little voice within each of us: the voice that in our quieter moments sometimes asks "What if?""―Undiscovered Scotland

"An excellent addition to [May's] multifarious back catalogue... My overarching reaction to this book is one of warmth. I loved the poignancy"―Raven Crime Reads

"A real emotional edge to those regrets"―The Scotsman

"The scents of regret and squandered promise suffuse this well-crafted crime novel, about a group of senior Glaswegians attempting to make amends for past sins."―Publishers Weekly

"For those who remember the Sixties, but aren't sure if they've taken their meds today, this tale of two nostalgia trips is for them; for others, it might seem akin to taking a road trip through unfamiliar terrain with their Uncle Pete, if it's kept in mind that Uncle Pete is a crackerjack storyteller."―Library Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784299820
• ISBN 13: 9781784299828
• Binding: Paperback