Spotted this and could not resist picking it up.

Thus the novel begins as a thriller with an innocent man mistaken for a murderer who finds himself caught up in the murky world of major pharmaceuticals and drug patenting. However, it soon becomes apparent that identity and self worth are also important factors in this book.

The chapters generally alternate between Kindred and Jonjo Case, the real murderer, as they take part in in a cat and mouse chase but are on occasions interwoven with the stories of a few minor characters, ranging from a semi-literate prostitute struggling to survive as a single parent living on a London sink estate, a charlatan preacher who provides free meals to those willing to listen to his sermons, a policewoman (who also adds the love interest of this novel) who lives with her father on a house boat, and the fat cat owners of a large pharmaceutical company. These sub-plots rather suggest that the author wanted to write a critique on London life, the differences between the disparate social classes but this idea is hinted at rather than fully developed. This is a real shame because I believe that Boyd had a real opportunity to shine a light on the murky, lawless, subculture of a London sink estate and the alienation felt by those who feel on the outside of society not to mention their desire to survive no matter what obstacles life puts in front of them. Consequently Kindred's own character comes across as lacking any real depth.

This books therefore seems to fall between two very differing genres but that all said and done it is well written making this an enjoyable piece of escapism. I simply feel that it was a missed opportunity and could have been so much better. I have the author's A Good Man in Africa and Armadillo in my possession so look forward to reading them at some point.

Going out as a sort of Brucie Bonus. I hope that you haven't already read it. Enjoy!

Thank you for the surprise book - don’t think I’ve read anything by this author before

8 July 22 - The storyline of this book made me remember a holiday many years ago. As we sat chatting to some people at a bar we asked what do you do. The reply was that they were farmers. As my other half proceeded to ask if that were dairy or what crops did they grow, they laughed and said no pharmas as in pharmaceuticals- Doh !!!

I’m always interested to try out new authors. This was sent to me as a bit of a surprise and sounded right up my street. And on the whole I enjoyed it, there was a bit of a mystery going on, a bit of tension and I couldn’t see where it was going initially. I liked the chapters being in different perspectives although I was never sure how much time had passed between each one, sometimes it felt like hours and at others several days. I wouldn’t say it was massively fast paced but it was easy enough to read to keep me turning the pages. Yes parts of the story really were nothing new and parts were a tad far fetched but I found it quite readable and will look out for more by this author.

Left in the telephone box library for someone else to enjoy