Published by Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: 20th January 2022
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Book Description:
DEATH IS NOT THE END. FOR GRACE McGILL IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
When people die alone and undiscovered, it's her job to clean up what's left behind - whether it's clutter, bodily remains or dark secrets.
When an old man lies undetected in his flat for months, it seems an unremarkable life and an unnoticed death. But Grace knows that everyone has a story and that all deaths mean something more.
A STAND-OUT NOVEL WITH A UNIQUE NARRATIVE VOICE AND AN UNGUESSABLE MYSTERY, YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO REMEMBER GRACE McGILL.
My Thoughts:
The idea of undiscovered deaths and the people who tidy up after such unfortunate scenes are largely shied away from but author Craig Robertson has embraced the unpleasant reality and used it as the really quirky basis of his latest mystery novel. Grace McGill is the voice of this twisty tale; a seemingly straightforward introvert with few friends and whose job is enough to make most folks recoil in distaste. But Grace has hidden depths. She sees her job as a way of ensuring that the people who were forgotten in life are looked after in death. To ensure the people live on after their demise Grace makes dioramas, 3 dimensional models of the places they took their last breath, and it is when a local journalist features Grace in the newspaper that her world starts to unravel.
The less you know about this book going in the better. The layers that make up Grace's character are slowly peeled away to reveal a completely different - at times shocking - person who you struggle to match to the quiet individual who lives alone with her cat at the start of the book. It definitely wasn't the story I was expecting, and the first hint of where the story was heading took me completely by surprise.
This is certainly a very different book to anything I've read before and it had me considering Grace's life and actions as the author led us through to the closing pages. Not the ending I wanted for Grace and I am very conflicted in my feelings about whether or not it was a fitting conclusion. I am a determined fence sitter on this one; I could argue the case either way. I can't wait to discuss it with other readers and to hear their views!
My thanks to the publisher for allowing me the privilege of reading this book ahead of publication via NetGalley.About the Author:
A former journalist, Craig Robertson had a 20-year career with a Scottish Sunday newspaper before becoming a full-time author. He interviewed three Prime Ministers, reported on major stories including 9/11, Dunblane, the Omagh bombing and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He was pilloried on breakfast television, beat Oprah Winfrey to a major scoop, spent time on Death Row in the USA and dispensed polio drops in the backstreets of India.
His gritty crime novels are set on the mean streets of contemporary Glasgow. His first novel, Random, was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA New Blood Dagger, longlisted for the 2011 Crime Novel of the Year and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Murderabilia was longlisted for the 2017 Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize. The Photographer was longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize.
He now shares his time between Scotland and California and can usually be found on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic.
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