Undiscovered Scotland

 

"The Other Side of Fear" by Douglas Skelton is the latest in his Rebecca Connolly thriller series.

Rebecca, a journalist, is at a crossroads in her life and finding it hard to see the way ahead. She know that she loves her partner Stephen, but she is scared to commit. When he asks her to marry him she simply doesn’t know what to do and asks him for time to consider his proposal before she gives him her response.

She sees a call to revisit the island of Stoirm, to investigate threats to the estate and local people there, as an opportunity to take some time out to think and form her views on how she wants her future to look. She quickly realises that the stakes are higher than her personal troubles but presses on regardless.

Many on Stoirm remember Rebecca’s earlier visit to the island and know of her family’s history there. She is greeted on the one hand with a welcome, on the other with animosity. Some islanders argue that they don’t want her there, that she will only bring more trouble in her wake. Others believe she has the ability to investigate and report to a wider audience the threats to the future of their island community.

It isn’t long before the threats she has gone to investigate escalate to murder and Rebecca finds herself in mortal danger as the identities of those at the heart of the island power struggle emerge one by one. Rebecca is finally able to answer questions that have eluded her for years and finds herself back in the very place where it all began, Thunder Bay.

The characterisation, action and settings in "The Other Side of Fear" mean that even if you haven’t read the earlier books featuring Rebecca Connolly, it is easy to drop into the series at this point and quickly get up to speed. Stoirm is an imaginary island off Scotland’s west coast, but it sits comfortably within its geography, even for someone who knows the region well. The characters in the book are well rounded and have clearly grown into themselves over time. The action moves at a good pace and there are plenty of surprises along the way to keep you turning the page. The ending provides an excellent climax to the book and leaves the reader wondering what next for those left to pick up the pieces.