Luther Grove is a man who lives simply off the land - only on what he can grow and catch - keeping himself very much to himself on his private piece of Scottish hillside. Then the nearby cottage is sold and renovated by the new owners, city dwellers John and Laura Payne. To them this represents a dream-home and a chance to start over; to Luther it's an infringement of his privacy. Their arrival stirs up memories of his wife and daughter that he's spent many, many years trying to suppress. At first innocently but increasingly maliciously they trample all over Luther's feelings and desecrate places important to him.
When John's brother Frank arrives, he decides to deliberately antagonise Luther - and events take a downhill turn...
The Healing of Luther Grove is the sort of thriller that grips you on the first page so that you can't put it down till the very last! The situation is carefully set up and believable but then events spiral out of control, Deliverance style. I felt my sympathies dragged this way and that as the story evolved. Luther's story is heart-breaking and it's easy to see why he's become the person he is. At first, John and Laura appear to be just normal folk hoping for a better life but as their past is revealed the reader realises nothing is ever that simple. And Frank?... well, maybe the less said about him, the better!
An enthralling read with a cataclysmic ending, more thought-provoking than many thrillers, this is Barry Gornell's debut novel and I look forward to reading many more from him.
Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Freight Books
Genre - thriller, adult,
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