Un mattino da cani by Christopher Brookmyre

It is barely surprising that their children should have problems.īrookmyre serves up a delicious storytelling with characters that are hard to like but so brilliantly compelling. The callous Max is a nasty piece of work that inspired nothing but revulsion in me. The Catholic Celia, the once a famous actress, is pushing her energies into painting a picture of family unity and perfection that is far from the truth. The parents, Max and Celia, are not people to admire, they are narcissistic, controlling, and snobs with big expectations of their offspring. She finds her curiosity aroused over the events that occurred in 2002, but the past can have a nasty habit of coming back to bite you as she underestimates the danger it puts her in. She is over the moon to discover the Temple family as neighbours, particularly as she was a huge fan of Max.

Amanda is an aspiring journalist with her own YouTube channel. Amanda, a Canadian teenager, is the nanny, looking forward to spending time getting to know a new place, only she has literally been left to look after the baby solo, travelling to the Algarve too. Lawyer Vince is now married to his much younger second wife, Kirsten, who has recently given birth to baby Arron. The scene is set for the emergence of dark secrets. There have been no family reunion since 2002, but Max Temple, the famous psychology professor, notorious for debunking conspiracy theorists has died, so once again the dysfunctional family comes together to remember him. Ivy works in PR, engaged in corporate reputational laundering, a woman who cannot help sabotaging any meaningful relationships in her life, more comfortable being hated and embracing her nickname as Poison Ivy. This tragedy has sown deep divisions within the Temple family, and their daughter, Ivy has become estranged. In 2002, Niamh, a young child disappears, presumed dead during a party thrown by neighbour Vince, and his wife, Laurie for the Temples. It has a dual narrative from 20, mostly set in the Algarve, Portugal, where the Temple family have villas for family holidays. I adore anything that Chris Brookmyre writes and this psychological thriller, which moves in a slightly different direction from normal, is simply terrific.

Un mattino da cani by Christopher Brookmyre