Doug Johnstone (2017) Crash Land

Doug Johnstone keeps things simple. Two word titles his specialities. Hurting and fucked up families,  his mainstay And a protagonist that’s so fully formed her or him steps out of the pages and into your life. Here it’s Finn Sullivan.

He’s idling a few hours at Kirkwald Airport in Orkney, which is small as a bedsit. Johnstone’s novels usually take place in Edinburgh or that nook of the world.

But

‘Orkney was so stunningly beautiful, like God wanted to concentrate on all the dramatic views on one small archipelago.’

Finn meets Maddie Pierce at the airport. She’s stunningly beautiful too, ten years older than him and well out of his league. But some oil guys are trying to chat her up. One in particular is a right prick and won’t take no for an answer.

Finn has good old Amy at home in Dundee. That’s who he’s going back to after visiting his gran, Ingrid on Orkney. He lost his mum and Ingrid lost her daughter. Amy is a safe harbour.

Johnstone is a master of cranking it up. Asking questions of us. When does love become lust or vice-versa? Maddie flirting with Finn and him making a play, being the good boy he is, seems slightly ridiculous. All or nothing?

They get on the plane together. The Crash. Finn survives and is taken to hospital. Here’s where Irene’s life-long connections to the Islanders make it easier on him. Finn is a major suspect in the crash. Maddie has gone missing.

Val McDermid is a fan. She knows a great plot when she reads one.

Finn has found his classic femme-fatale in Maddie. She’s part Mildred Pierce and yet also strangely vulnerable. He can’t work out if he’s being played. But anybody with a secret life knows there’s no escaping your fate. She has him hooked and he’d do almost anything for her. But is it mutual? Is Maddie mad, psychopathic, or telling the truth?  

A love story with murderous intent. Every step ups the ante in classic thriller and Johnstone fiction. Wonderful plotting and a damned good read. Read on.