The Heat Disappears Through The Cracks!

Impressed by favourable reviews elsewhere and intrigued by the synopsis . . . murder, volcanoes, earthquakes . . . I decided I'd give this one a go. The first thing to say is that if you're expecting a book full of violent eruption and constant volcanic thrills this isn't it. What it is is a decent thriller plot that is well-written and over fairly quickly, I never got bored though the plot itself and the characters are pretty much by the numbers stuff and the lead Surtsey is not that easy to like.

Highlights for me included her relationship with her dying mother which I thought was well done and gave the best depth to any of the characters and there was also an exciting ending. Where i felt the author failed was in delivering a "re-imagined Edinburgh". Sure there are tremors throughout but I never felt that the author ever really explored the impact of it on Edinburgh at all. How it would have changed daily lives or impacted the local infrastructure. I never got the feel of this new reality for the city's citizens.

The characters also never felt fully-developed and Surtsey seemed to shrug off some major trauma and pressure all too easily. For my personal tastes this book needed more development of place and people to deliver on its promise and become fully realised. If I'm also nitpicking that exciting finale will probably have real vulcanolgists wincing somewhat but whether you like it will very much depend on how much leeway you're willing to give the author.

The narration by Caroline Guthrie brings what to my ignorant ears sounded like authentic accents but it is heavily accented and there isn't great character voicing so you might want to check out the sample before you buy. My ears tend to be more forgiving than most I think when it comes to accents.

So, it's actually a reasonably decent story and I liked Johnstone's writing style. GIven that he chose to "re-imagine Edinburgh" though I don't think he delivered what he promised and the large majority of the main plot could easily have happened without the leap of faith that a volcanic Edinburgh requires. So, half decent popcorn munching movie type stuff but not the greatest of reads.

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3 people found this helpful

Fast pace. So much happens so quickly

I don’t normally write reviews but this one was easy to get into from start to finish. The characters were believable. I found myself shouting at the book “Oh no” several times. I would definitely recommend it.

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Portobello or Joppa, always something going on.

once again great to read something local to the area I know and was brought up in. I like the back ground idea of volcanic activity. Great creativity from the author. The narrator did a great job with the accents and distinguishing the different characters. Well done all round . Certainly recommend this as a read.

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