In The Absence of Miracles by Michael Malone | @michaelJmalone1 @OrendaBooks

Delighted to welcome you all to my stop on the blog tour for In The Absence of Miracles by Michael Malone today! My thanks to Karen Sullivan at Orenda for the fabulous review copy and to Anne Cater for the opportunity to join the tour.

Author : Michael Malone
Title : In The Absence of Miracles
Pages : 300
Publisher : Orenda Books
Publication date : September 19, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

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. 

| MY THOUGHTS |

Michael Malone is an author who is not afraid to tackle the tough topics, the ones that are still somewhat of a taboo and not talked about enough, the ones that are often hard to read and make you feel uncomfortable. If you’ve read A Suitable Lie, then you know this. So, how much further could Michael Malone push that discomfort limit, you wonder? Well, quite a bit, as it turns out.

John Docherty seems like your everyday guy, dealing with everyday issues. His mother has just been moved into a nursing home and John has no option but to sell the family home to pay for the costs. But when he starts packing up the house, he stumbles upon a box which reveals a massive family secret. It looks like John had a brother. A brother who disappeared when John himself was a toddler. A brother who was never talked about again and one John can’t remember at all. What happened to this brother? John’s journey to find out reveals far more than he bargained for.

In The Absence of Miracles is one of those books that doesn’t fit neatly into just one genre. It’s part domestic noir, it’s a whole lot of suspense, it’s a bit crime thriller-ish and offers tremendous psychological insight as well. And at the centre of it all, is one of the most dysfunctional families you’ll ever meet, with characters that are put through the wringer and the reader right alongside with them. I must say I wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact this story would have on me.

As always, there is way more to this story than you’d first expect because that is something this author does extremely well. There are multiple layers that need to be unraveled, pieces of the puzzle that need to be fitted together and a mystery to solve. Throughout it all, I often vacillated from anger to sadness to frustration and back again, and ended up feeling quite drained at the end of it all and in desperate need of something fluffy.

Sometimes shocking, always haunting and immensely compelling, In The Absence of Miracles is another stroke of genius from Michael Malone. Extremely dark with a tough topic, albeit it done with the utmost sensitivity, John’s story is bound to stay with you for a long, long time. Michael Malone is one of those authors who always delivers and I can’t wait to see what’s next!

In The Absence of Miracles is available to buy!

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| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotlandand Markings. 

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;The Bad Samaritan and Dog Fight. His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and the critically acclaimed House of Spines and After He Died soon followed suit.

A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr.