Published By: Bantam
Pages: 384
Released On: 12/02/2026
Glasgow, 1979. While walking her dog, twelve-year-old Janey finds a murdered woman on an abandoned railway – and her innocent childhood ends in a shocking moment of trauma.
When the victim is named as daughter of a local hardman, Janey’s nana, Maggie, is distraught and deeply afraid. Janey claims she can’t remember what she saw that day, but the police think she’s hiding something, and they’re not the only ones interested.
Maggie tries desperately to keep Janey safe but is battling long-buried secrets of her own. As fear and rumour stalk the streets of Possilpark, Maggie becomes convinced she will lose her beloved granddaughter forever – especially when Janey starts to remember exactly what happened in that bad, bad place…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025 and I had super high hopes for it.
I admire Frances. She was 60 when she graduated with MLitt (Distinction) in Creative Writing from Glasgow University, which then led to this book. She is proof that you don’t have to do everything by the time you’re 30, that success can come at any age.
The POV of a grandchild and grandmother, two ends of the spectrum; there are other characters but these are your two main players and they’re so interesting. The other characters are more background, only there to move the main story along, which is fine because they do that very well. I don’t think I’ve ever read a thriller or crime novel in the view of a child, maybe we don’t like to think of children being involved in things like murders, but I think it gives an interesting perspective of it. Which then contrasts with the grandmother’s viewpoint.
I think having a child’s viewpoint makes it all the harder to read about. Thrillers are my most read genre and I watch a lot of true crime programmes and so, to a certain extent, I’m a bit blasé when it comes to facing fictional murder, it’s not all that shocking to me anymore. But having a child find the body and then deal with the aftermath, it brings it home just how traumatic it can be and in a roundabout way, made it more thrilling to read.
I like that she’s made Janey write down what happened to her and how she’s feeling in a scrapbook as opposed to drawn-out narrative. I feel it would have felt unrealistic for a girl not yet a teenager to be happy to tell adults everything. But it’s believable that she may keep some sort of diary or journal, and it felt like an organic way to tell that part of the story.
It is written in a Glaswegian dialect and generally speaking, I don’t like books written in dialects or accents because I find they take your focus away from the story. It did take me some getting used to because there’s terms I don’t understand, however I do love the Scottish accent (I know that’s a bit generic because there are many different Scottish accents), and it really helped add further depth to he characters and their surroundings.
Yes it’s a crime novel, yes there’s a murdered woman, it’s thrilling, I get that. But for me, that aspect is almost second best to how Frances has constructed this story around it. It’s more about family and friends, your community, what you would do to protect your loved ones, working through trauma etc. that just so happens to have a body underneath it all.
One thing I did enjoy was there wasn’t a stereotypical, caricature, pantomime idea of a villain. It all felt very real which made it more tense because it feels like it could be anyone.
It’s set in the 1970s which means there are slightly more unsavoury elements to it, themes and actions that would have been acceptable at the time but unpleasant by today’s standards, but it’s important she’s added them.
I would have liked a clearer ending. I don’t mind an open-ended ending generally, but not in thrillers, as I want to know if the goodies win or if the baddies get their comeuppance etc. It’s a perfectly enjoyable ending but I just wanted that final thing tied up.
All in all, this is a fantastic, thrilling debut and I cannot wait for what she decides to do next.
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