Second Skin

★★★★★

I’m not alone when I say that I’ve been waiting for this book to hit my desk since turning the final page of Bruce-Lockhart’s debut, The Lizard.

His first novel – which tells of a St Andrews university graduate who becomes embroiled in a depraved Greek underworld – bowled me over with its unpredictable plot, and is now being adapted for TV. A good omen, surely, for Second Skin, in which we return to protagonist Alastair Haston’s less than angelic trajectory through life.

This time, Alastair’s comparatively banal London existence is off-set by a return to Greece (a place he vowed not to set foot in again), after receiving a mysterious call. Turns out, he fathered a child out there in the summer of ‘88.

When he hops on the plane to find Amara, a former love interest, it would be naïve to assume that his sun-drenched Greek escapade would run smoothly. Indeed, his trip – in stifling, dry oven heat – is rich with pathetic fallacy and by the second chapter is met by the first of countless plot twists. Cue espionage missions and suspected mafia operations... It’s genius.

As we edge closer to summer, the publication of this second instalment couldn’t be better timed – it’s a hedonistic, turbulent read that is the ideal accompaniment for a beach holiday. Bruce-Lockhart’s imagination is quite extraordinary, and his own solo trip to Greece in ‘88 , which he embarked on as a student with an Army rucksack and precious little else, has undoubtedly abetted its authenticity. A sinfully good read. (RM)