Blurb
What would you do if you saw your father murdered and no one believed you? When he was twelve, Finn McAdam saw his father, a scientist, murdered. No one believed him. Now he has returned to his native Galloway to discover the truth. Wherever it leads him. Whatever it costs. But the conspiracy he discovers exposes a cover-up involving leading political figures and places his life in great danger. Some people are determined that the truth must not get out.
Review
This was a pretty good thriller with a strong 39 Steps feel to it. In fact, that's even discussed in the story itself. I was rooting for Finn as he tries to uncover the mystery surrounding his father's death, but he's stonewalled and then threatened at every turn. It's almost as if he is a new Richard Hannay. Familiar, yet fresh.
There's an interesting array of side characters who inhabit the campsite where Finn is staying for the majority of the story. One of the most notable characters is Rougvie, a joiner staying in the tent next to Finn's who's volunteering for an organisation monitoring red squirrel populations. At first, Finn is put off by him, especially when he drunkenly made a pass at a woman nearly half his age (prompting a confrontation with her soldier boyfriend until it's de-escalated by another camper known only as The Colonel), but he soon proves to be a valuable ally in his quest. Said woman, Jessica Hamilton, turns out to be on a similar quest to Finn.
As the story progresses, there's a great albeit protracted sequence in which Finn and Jess are infiltrating the estate of a local aristocrat implicated in the plot, who sends his goons after them. It ramps up the tension really well, with a brilliant payoff.
I love the setting, and how the story unravels. I don't want to say much else to avoid spoiling it, but it's worth reading through.
Devil's Cauldron is available from Amazon here.
About the Author
Alasdair's first two two novels were set in Islay and Mull (west coast of Scotland) and have proved very successful, rich in local detail with interesting plots. His third novel, Devil's Cauldron, is set in Galloway which is in south-west Scotland, he likes to write about places that he knows the best.
Before he turned to fiction, he produced a series of books exploring Scotland's lost railways, a hobby that he enjoys with his sons and that took him all over Scotland.
