#BookReview-‘In The Absence Of Miracles’ by Michael J Malone

About the book…

A young man discovers a family secret that turns his world upside down in this dark, emotive, shocking psychological thriller by number-one bestselling author Michael J. Malone

John Docherty’s mother has just been taken into a nursing home following a massive stroke and she’s unlikely to be able to live independently again.

With no other option than to sell the family home, John sets about packing up everything in the house. In sifting through the detritus of his family’s past he’s forced to revisit, and revise his childhood.
For in a box, in the attic, he finds undeniable truth that he had a brother who disappeared when he himself was only a toddler. A brother no one ever mentioned. A brother he knew absolutely nothing about. A discovery that sets John on a journey from which he may never recover.

For sometimes in that space where memory should reside there is nothing but silence, smoke and ash. And in the absence of truth, in the absence of a miracle, we turn to prayer. And to violence.

Shocking, chilling and heartbreakingly emotive, In the Absence of Miracles is domestic noir at its most powerful, and a sensitively wrought portrait of a family whose shameful lies hide the very darkest of secrets.

It’s my turn on the blogtour for beloved publisher,Orenda Books latest,much anticipated,Michael J Malone novel, ‘In the Absence Of Miracles’.

In order to belive in a miracle, it is required that there is an absence of fear. To accept something miraculous, you have to lay aside all concepts and notions that such a thing is impossible, and simply believe.

This is the challenge facing John Docherty when he discovers what he thinks may be a huge family secret. In order to accept the solving of the mysterious disappearance of his newly discovered brother, he has to deconstruct his past, examine why his parents behaved as they did and try to solve it in order to move forward with his life.

His father has died-everyone John comes into contact with reminds him what a ‘good man’ he was, which is at odds with the person John remembers-and his mother has had a stroke leaving her spinning wildly between sense and non-sense. His younger brother,Chris, has opted out of filial responsibility and continues to do so, leaving John to sort all their parent’s affairs whilst he whizzes in, and then out, of John’s life.

It is whilst he is assessing the house in order for it to be sold, to fund his mother’s nursing home fees, that he discovers a picture , an impossible picture, which overturns everything he thought he knew and sends him on a path that could lead to enlightenment or self-destruction.

In talking to one of his policeman father’s colleagues, a quote from Nietzche is raised-

”You can judge a man’s spirit by the amount of truth he can tolerate.”

Harry has seen right through John and assessed him as unworthy or incapable of shouldering such a load, this is a prophetic warning before John’s digging takes him to uncomfortable places. But with a rocky relationship, a job that seems unfulfilling, possibly an issue with alcohol-this is subtly alluded to from the start, this reader’s impression is that this is a crutch, a habit which if not attended to, could be an addiction.

”Memory is not to be trusted.It’s as mendacious as the shimmer on the surface of a placid lake.Providing an illusion of calm,whilst beyond the sunless depths the sand and silt is littered with rocks and the debris of life.And there within the roots of a drowned tree, a pike lurks with hate in its unseeing eyes.”

And in the absence of truth, nature, being what she is, abhors a vacuum and fills it with things that she thinks you need. So in essence, whilst trying to protect the two remaining sons from the knowledge of their brother and what may or may not have happened to him, John and Chris’ parents have given them an alternate childhood shrouded in lies, regret and hidden motives. If we do not speak of these things, did they ever happen?

How often, in life, do we say either internally or externally, that we are doing this thing for ‘the sake of’ someone else? Whether it is by omission or intent, we want to protect our children from harm, but, in doing so, risk a greater hurt in the long run.

This is a stunning work of contemporary fiction, brought close to the reader by the use of the first person narration. We really get to follow in the footsteps of John, and are closely aligned with his reactions, and suspicions as he tracks down anyone who remembers his brother’s case.

Michael J Malone strikes me as a writer who presents his wares, sits back and lets the reader fully explore, emote and engage with his art and as such, there is no definitive way to interpret his intent.To use an analogy,it’s as though he places his work under a sheet, on top of a table, and exhorts you to touch and feel your reaction to his tale, as you piece the parts together. There is no imposition of thought or manipulation of reactions, this is the story, he has told it with a quiet strength and dignity shot through with pathos for times lost, and relationships irrevocably altered.

You feel for John, his burden on balancing his post-stroke mother to the one he thought he knew, the vibrant, loving mother who bears little resemblance to the woman that he visits. His responsibility to his profession and his girlfriend, Angela, are anaesthetised by being one step removed from them-his flat is described as a ”space where boy’s toys go to die.” The marks left on the walls by previous inhabitants evoke a sense of a man who is passing through, with no permanant plans. He is waiting in the wings of his own life for something to happen,a reckoning, a revolution, and when it does, it tears apart the fragile fabric of the life he has been told that he has lived.

Are the people begging him to leave things where they were, in the past, saying it for their own peace of mind or protecting his?

What is his instinct telling him?

And is he, and us as readers, prepared to face the horrific truth?

This book is dark, and gut wrenchingly powerful because it is so real.

And the reality of the things that happen in this book is so much worse because of the quiet, measured prose of Michael J Malone.

It’s a powerful, moving and touching exploration of the nature of a man, the strength he finds to confront the unthinkable and bring it from the shadows into the light.

About the author…

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country, in Ayr.

He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including  New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. His career as a poet has also included a (very) brief stint as the Poet-In-Residence for an adult gift shop. ‘Blood Tears’, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. Other published work includes: ‘Carnegie’s Call,’ ‘A Taste For Malice’, ‘The Guillotine Choice’, ‘Beyond The Rage’and ‘The Bad Samaritan’. His psychological thriller, ‘A Suitable Lie’, was a number one bestseller on AU/UK ebook charts, and ‘House Of Spines’ soon followed suit.

Michael is a regular reviewer for the hugely popular crime fiction website  Crime Squad. A former Regional Sales Manager at Faber & Faber, he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller.

Links-http://www.mjm-ink.com/biography/

http://orendabooks.co.uk/

Twitter @michaelJmalone1

   @OrendaBooks

   @annecater