The mystery at the centre of Susan Stairs's second novel revolves around the visit of an English teenager to his aunt and uncle in rural Ireland in the 1980s. As with her debut novel, The Story of Before, Stairs is skilled at evoking setting; here she brings to life the fictional town of Lissenmore, with its fried breakfasts, its gossipmongers and a cast of credible teenagers who pass the time bullying, blackberry picking and traipsing across fields to discos. A dual narrative shifts between the village and contemporary Dún Laoghaire 30 years later, as Orla, a solicitor, tries to uncover the secrets of her parents and the boy they harboured. Unfortunately, the story is dragged down by the author's constant promotion of the mystery and her flagging of plot points.
