Runaway

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The settings are finely drawn. The characters believable, three dimensional and empathetic. I love their mission, and the ending has more than a few twists. This is more than a work of crime fiction, this is more than just a contemporary narrative, this is more than the sum these elements … so much more. This is a story of life, of death, of adventure, of the potential of youth and the potential of older age and mostly this is the story of enduring friendships. And this is about pain, without pain you have nothing. 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 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.

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

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. 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. Peter May has done it again. He’s created yet another thrilling read, one that pulls you in from the start until the end.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. Overall, though, this is an excellent read that convinces me again that May is at his strongest when he's writing about his own native country – his instinctive feel for the places and people is far more convincing than even his best researched books set elsewhere. But perhaps I'm biased...

REVIEW: ‘Runaway’ by Peter May | Buried Under Books

The book is beautifully written, funny and poignant, and very different from any I have previously read by the versatile Peter May” The housing around us became more sparse, and up ahead I saw that the street lights came to an abrupt end, leaving only darkness beyond them. Fear sat among us like another passenger. It could only be a matter of time before Andy made his move.

The Enzo Files

It is astonishing how youthful ignorance can put adversity so easily aside to breed baseless optimism. Here is the “story behind the story” and how the inspiration for RUNAWAY came from his own experiences… Regret is such a waste of energy. You can’t undo what’s been done. But every new day offers the chance to shape it in the way you want” Both timelines have a great feeling of authenticity and, as always with May, the sense of place is done superbly. I hadn't realised May grew up in the Southside of Glasgow (as did I), but the accuracy with which he describes it suggests he must have done. Although he's writing about a somewhat earlier era than my own, the places, attitudes, language and lifestyle are all spot-on. Spookily so, in fact – I kept finding parts of my own life mirrored in the story and spent much of the early part of the book being reminded of events and places in my own past.

runaway, by Peter May | Crime Fiction Lover When I was a runaway, by Peter May | Crime Fiction Lover

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. 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." I’ve read four of Peter May’s novels so far, and enjoyed each one of them. There were a few twists that I didn’t work out in this novel until close to the end: I suspect that I was too busy reading to find out what would happen next rather than paying close attention to the detail. 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. Fifty years later one of the adventures, now dying from terminal cancer, wants to do the journey again. He has unfinished business in London and want to put it to rest before he dies. So with the help of his best friends, now all old, the trip is once again undertaken. The trip is a replica of the 1965 trip but this time seen through the eyes of older and wiser heads.

The Enzo Files is a series of five novels with one on the way. The series tell the story of Enzo Macleod, a half-Scottish, half-Italian former forensic scientist that is forced to use his skills once again to solve old cold-cases in France. In the first novel of this series, Extraordinary People (also published as Dry Bones) Enzo is sent on a disturbing scavenger hunt for body parts around France. Peter’s television career also involves Take the High Road (1980-1992), The Ardlamont Mystery (1985), and Machair (1992-1996). To add to his already prestigious career in television, Peter May’s novel The Killing Room is also being adapted into a full-length feature film. Awards and Nominations 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 by Peter May: Undiscovered Scotland Book Review Runaway by Peter May: Undiscovered Scotland Book Review

The streets of London were not, as in legend, paved with gold, but money walked the pavements and motored the roads. For the album cover, Stephen and I tried to replicate a photograph that was taken of us in a photobooth in Euston Station during that fateful trip. We spent our last half crown on it (never dreaming then, that it would end up all over something called the internet nearly half a century later). It’s an interesting comparison. 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! The period detail was interesting and I found myself researching a few of the topics touched upon to find out more, which I always think is a good sign of an author who has said just enough to interest you in something and not drowned you in their research! Final thoughts I enjoyed the adventures the five young men and the three older men had, though there were elements that felt seriously contrived (of course the young men will just happen to stumble upon an icon or three of the era). The shifts between 1960s London and 2015 London were well handled, with the gradual revelations aiding our growing understanding of the key characters. I like the honesty of the overall story arc. Not all mistakes can be fixed, but life carries on regardless.In a show of distain for his reader, no sooner do our protagonists arrive at their destination, for example, do they bump into not one, but two icons of the era - one of whom happens to be in the process of committing to celluloid the most iconic moment of his career. Are we really expected to swallow that as plausible, let alone likely? Similar events that occur throughout the book feel like unwarranted indulgences on the part of the author to relive his youth and demonstrate his musical chops. But this is lazy. Where he could have evoked London of fifty years ago through careful description of the mundane and profane, he has instead chosen to slap on a massive sign saying "Look, the Rolling Stones are on the Dancette, it must be the sixties!" On 15 January, Quercus is publishing Peter May’s latest book, Runaway. Well known for his Lewis trilogy– set in the Hebridean Islands – as well as his recent hit Entry Island which is set on an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, Runaway is a standalone that… umm… really doesn’t feature any islands at all. Instead, it’s the story of a group of friends who run away from life in Glasgow to find fame and fortune in London. That part of the story is semi-biographical, as May did exactly that when he was 17. However, in Runaway wrapped up in that experience is a murder mystery. Below, we bring you a feature by Peter May all about the 1960s, what it was like to run away, how he researched the book 50 years later, and more.