Ready to discover another great book for this 2019? Take a look…

The Big Chill by Doug Johnstone

Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Orenda Books
Source: Random Things Tours
Rating: 5/5
Amazon, Hive

About The Book

Haunted by their past, the Skelf women are hoping for a quieter life. But running both a funeral directors’ and a private investigation business means trouble is never far away, and when a car crashes into the open grave at a funeral Dorothy is conducting, she can’t help looking into the dead driver ’s shadowy life.
While Dorothy uncovers a dark truth at the heart of Edinburgh society, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah have their own struggles. Jenny’s ex-husband Craig is making plans that could shatter the Skelf women’s lives, and the increasingly obsessive Hannah has formed a friendship with an elderly professor that is fast turning deadly.
But something even more sinister emerges when a drumming student of Dorothy’s disappears, and suspicion falls on her parents. The Skelf women find
themselves immersed in an unbearable darkness – but could the real threat be to themselves?

My Thoughts

This is a mind blowing book, slow paced in the beginning but once the story starts flowing is unstoppable, the only thing I don’t like? I’ll have to wait to read the next Skelf book adventure!!
The story starts where the other book was left, I’ll advise that you can read it as standalone, the book gives you all the bits you need to follow perfectly this story, but, I really liked the first one, so please give it a try, is a must read. Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah are the Skelf family, they have a funeral home and an investigation business, weird? This is just the beginning, their life is not easy, Jenny’s ex-husband, Craig, is in prison and the family is still recovering from the previous cases when Dorothy (Jenny’s mother, Hannah’s grandmother) is almost run over by a car. As you can suppose, she can’t stay quiet but has to try to discover who was the man driving the car. On the other side we have Hannah, she is still trying to recover from the messy things with his dad but as much as she tries to rely on physics theories they don’t give her the peace she needs, and this will just be the beginning…
I really don’t want to spoil much of the story, I really like Doug Johnstone stories so I didn’t read the plot, this made the twists and mysteries more surprising than ever and some of them left me jaw dropping. I have to say too that the story for me was a little bittersweet, yes, there’s closure on all the cases, but not a happy ending, so I hope the next book will be released soon, I want a smile for all of them, they deserved it!
The Big Chill is not only one story, it is much more complex, full of emotions and unstoppable that it’s impossible not to feel connected with the characters. Don’t expect a super scary case with an impossible killer to discover, this book tells real cases, ones that you can totally relate to and understand the emotions and reactions of everyone involved.
If you are looking for a book, only one, take this, you’ll love it! 😉

About The Author

Doug Johnstone is the author of more ten novels, most recently Breakers (2019), which has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and A Dark Matter (2020), which launched the Skelfs series. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions – including a funeral home, which he drew on to write A Dark Matter – and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.