Having been given a copy by the man himself, I was delighted to dive into this second book, having really enjoyed the first The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Alan, you did not disappoint with this one, it was brilliant! Some of the characters are well developed, but others feel rather stereotyped - the obese and alcoholic journalist Christopher Finch, Brady the Belfast-born hitman, the naive Geordie nanny, Dimitri the restaurateur. And in the audio-book version, the narrator (Richard Attlee) rather ill-advisedly chooses affect each accent for the dialogue sections. It does help to delineate the characters but at times it feels a bit music hall. The novel opens with Brady, who isn’t what he seems. He is in fact a professional hitman and his wife doesn’t have a clue about what he does. How will he fit into the main story of Lord Bellingham, redoubtable peer of the realm and – as it transpires – sleaze bag, who seems to have gone missing on the island of Crete? Then there is Bellingham’s glamorous wife on the island, settled in their house in Agia Galini, together with their nanny, who has been entertaining a local young man when the the Lord and Lady are out for the evening. Again we meet with Louise Mangan, a member of the British Police Force, now in a higher rank and maintaining great skills. The book flits effortlessly between countries, weaving the threads of a variety of sub-plots, involving international police work and investigation along with the story. I found following the plotline through seamless and really felt that there’d been meticulous attention paid in the finer details. Assistant Commissioner Louise Mangan of the Met Police is sent to assist in the investigation but soon discovers that there are more layers to this case than the local police realise.

Lord Bellingham is an easy character to dislike as is his wife so when we meet Louise Mangan, a met officer sent in to assist in the investigation into our missing minister, I was on her side straight away and as she mimics a police officer version of Shirley Valentine the love angle of the story appears. This is the first book that I have read by this author and on finishing I immediately looked at his earlier books. This was a book that I enjoyed for its originality and its characters. I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for a review copy of One of our Ministers Is Missing, the second novel to feature AC Louise Mangan of the Met.The Girl on the Train with a dash of Russian poisoning and a classic femme fatale * Sunday Telegraph * Since his retirement from front line politics, Alan Johnson has gone a considerable way towards acquiring ‘national treasure’ status, partially as a consequence of his memoirs, published in three volumes, which show a great triumph over considerable early adversity, and from his pragmatic and open approach, and his self-deprecating sense of humour. Having read and enjoyed Alan’s previous book I was looking forward to reading this latest novel and I can report that I enjoyed it equally as much. I love his style of writing, he’s a great storyteller and the plots and characters are both interesting and entertaining. I did guess much of the the ending, however, that didn’t spoil the story. My only bug bear is that Alan tends to flip flop characters name, randomly using either the forename or surname, personally I would prefer consistency when referring to a character. I’m looking forward to reading more from Alan in the future.

Under pressure from the powers that be, can Louise find the missing minister, or will she discover something much more sinister at play? It took a couple of chapters for this romp to gather momentum but once it got up steam it was full speed ahead for this pleasing and very twisting cosy thriller. The pace through the book was superb, unexpected reveals made with the suspense being kept on a high. On the one hand, this was something really addictive about it. The chapters were short, the plot had twists and was engaging. But, at the same time, it felt a bit muddled with time jumps (I have no idea if this book took place over the course of a week, month or several), the almost two-dimensional characters and the beats of the story.But there is another equally as important character in this novel, Brady. Seemingly a happily married man with a decent job who lives under the radar. But his real character is nothing like this. He is a killer preparing for his last job. I won’t reveal much more about his storyline because in some ways his character is the most fascinating in the book. He should have been a character I detested but there were aspects of him I appreciated and had sympathy for. On holiday in Crete, Lord Bellingham, a minister in the Foreign Office, goes missing whilst trekking in the White Mountains. There are few clues, only the minister’s mobile phone.