Regret is such a waste of energy. You can’t undo what’s been done. But every new day offers the chance to shape it in the way you want”

Runaway by Peter May | Goodreads Runaway by Peter May | Goodreads

Peter May was born on December 20, 1951 in Glasgow, Scotland. Even from a young age, Peter wanted to be a novelist. He started out his writing career in journalism and won his first award, the Fraser Award, in 1973 when he was only 21 years old. For this he was labeled Scotland’s Young Journalist of the Year. Peter completed his first novel at the age of 26 titled The Reporter, which was later adapted to a British television series in 1978 called The Standard. He met his wife, Janice Hally, when he was working on the television series, Take the High Road. They were married in 1990 and are currently residing in France. The period detail was interesting and I found myself researching a few of the topics touched upon to find out more, which I always think is a good sign of an author who has said just enough to interest you in something and not drowned you in their research! Final thoughts The second journey in 2015 with an ailing Maurie in many ways reflects the first, with flashes of humour and heart-wrenching sadness along the way. But for me it is the quiet achiever, Luke, who silently steals the show. Since Author May is a veteran of the TV mills and decades of thriller- and mystery-writing, he's developed that habit of story-telling and be damned if you, reviewer, wish for something a bit more textured, true to life. As this particular novel is a standalone and is based in part on some of the author's own lived experience, well...maybe it's all down to that specialty of the old, the tidying-up of the past.This is a good road trip story and I particularly enjoyed the parallels between the two trips. ‘Runaway’ provides an interesting glimpse into life in 1960s London and could well serve to remind us all to grasp at life, rather than allowing it to drift by. As a baby boomer in his late teens in 1965 this part of the plot resonated so strongly for me. It so replicated my own life it could have been my biography. But my experience of the 1965s was a lot less traumatic than the young men in this story, I am glad to say.

Runaway by Peter May | Hachette UK Runaway by Peter May | Hachette UK

Runaway opens in 2015 with a murder in a downmarket room in London. Few would remember the name of the aging victim, former actor, Simon Flet, except Maurie. Fifty years earlier five starry-eyed 17-year-olds playing in a band together, were runaways from Glasgow, following their dream of finding fortune in Swinging Sixties London. I must say that the indentity of the perpetrator of the coercive and criminal scenarios made all the sense in the world to me, and the nature of the disaster in the past was very deeply sad if not terribly unusual. The pure-D unadulterated Peter-May-ness of the resolution to the disasters past and present stems from his utter, abject inability to leave a thread to dangle. Every last end is tightly bound up. The streets of London were not, as in legend, paved with gold, but money walked the pavements and motored the roads. Five of us had run away that fateful night just over a month before. Only three of us would be going home. And nothing, nothing would ever be the same again.

“I’LL KEEP YOU SAFE”

Runaway is a gripping crime novel spanning two cities and half a century. This extraordinary work by Peter May explores how aspirations and expectations shape us, and the pivotal yet changeable role that friendships play in our lives.

Latest News from Peter May, Scottish author of The Lewis Latest News from Peter May, Scottish author of The Lewis

The settings are finely drawn. The characters believable, three dimensional and empathetic. I love their mission, and the ending has more than a few twists. This is more than a work of crime fiction, this is more than just a contemporary narrative, this is more than the sum these elements … so much more. This is a story of life, of death, of adventure, of the potential of youth and the potential of older age and mostly this is the story of enduring friendships. And this is about pain, without pain you have nothing.Five very young men, disillusioned with life in Glasgow, decide to leave home and seek fame and fortune in London. Just a note left, for unsuspecting parents, to say goodbye. However, 50 years later, the murder of an old man in a seedy London bedsit, makes former vocalist Maurie Cohen, who is dying of cancer, feel compelled to return and confront the ghosts of the past and he persuades his two former bandmates to accompany him.

Runaway: a high-stakes mystery thriller from the master of Runaway: a high-stakes mystery thriller from the master of

Peter’s television career also involves Take the High Road (1980-1992), The Ardlamont Mystery (1985), and Machair (1992-1996). To add to his already prestigious career in television, Peter May’s novel The Killing Room is also being adapted into a full-length feature film. Awards and Nominations I’ve worked through most of his books now – I have Coffin Road and all except the first of the China Thrillers to catch up on (the list being longer than I’d like) – and I can honestly say I have yet to be disappointed. The Enzo Files weren’t quite what I had been hoping for, yet they were still fun. None of them have managed to live up to the brilliance of the Lewis trilogy, but I’ve still be pleased with them all. With Runaway, we have his usual four-star standard.Trouble is, most psychiatrists like the sound of their own voices too much, it’s what the patient has to say that’s important. Listening is the virtue. On 15 January, Quercus is publishing Peter May’s latest book, Runaway. Well known for his Lewis trilogy– set in the Hebridean Islands – as well as his recent hit Entry Island which is set on an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, Runaway is a standalone that… umm… really doesn’t feature any islands at all. Instead, it’s the story of a group of friends who run away from life in Glasgow to find fame and fortune in London. That part of the story is semi-biographical, as May did exactly that when he was 17. However, in Runaway wrapped up in that experience is a murder mystery. Below, we bring you a feature by Peter May all about the 1960s, what it was like to run away, how he researched the book 50 years later, and more. I’ve read four of Peter May’s novels so far, and enjoyed each one of them. There were a few twists that I didn’t work out in this novel until close to the end: I suspect that I was too busy reading to find out what would happen next rather than paying close attention to the detail.