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After a thirty-year absence, Daniel Robertson returns to the Robertson family farm in Scotland and hangs himself in the woods. The police believe it’s nothing more than a suicide—a mysterious suicide, no doubt, but that’s all there is to it.
Daniel’s brother, James Robertson, doesn’t quite believe that his brother committed suicide. And if he did, why? Seeking answers, he turns to private investigator J. McNee, hoping to uncover some clue as to what actually happened in the woods.
A recent tragedy has left McNee struggling to carry on with his life. He’s not exactly suicidal, but an accident wouldn’t be unwelcome. He’s also shut everyone out—because, sooner or later, someone always gets hurt around him, and he either takes the blame or gets the blame. A new case is just what he needs as a distraction, even if he only ends up proving that Daniel Robertson killed himself. But when McNee starts asking questions, people start dying. Maybe Daniel’s death was the result of something more sinister after all.
When two out-of-control thugs send McNee a ghastly warning, he becomes certain that there was more to Daniel’s death than mere suicide.
Author Russel McLean leaps into the Scottish crime fiction scene with a deeply emotional and gripping debut. The Good Son delivers a two-fold punch with its intense plot and poignant depth. McNee fights personal demons as he launches into a hair-raising case, which forces him to think about the tragedies in his past. And although McNee’s character is in a depressing place at this point in his life, the author managed not to make it a distracting irritation.
Tenacious and quick-witted, McNee grabs a hold of the case and gnaws at it until he finds answers—and when someone warns him off with deadly means, it just makes him more determined to solve the case.
A novel doesn’t need to be fast-paced to keep you on the edge, and author Russel McLean proves that with The Good Son. What goes on inside McNee’s head, as he works through both his grief and the case’s clues, is every bit as exciting and crazy as a high-speed car chase. Of course, there were a few wild action scenes, too, which just makes The Good Son an even better pick.
