A Patient Man by S. Lynn Scott

Kindle Edition, 223 pages
Published August 20th 2018 by Matador
☆☆☆1/2
About the Book:
It is 1976 and Mikey, eight-years-old and street-wise beyond his years, is looking forward to a summer of freedom, roaming the creeks and the mud-flats of Canvey Island. But violent emotions are rumbling beneath the surface, about to destroy all that he thought he knew.  When Mikey’s neighbours, the Freemans, win a great deal of money, the old couple become the targets of a criminal act that leaves Peggy Freeman dead and her husband, Bert thirsting for revenge. Believing that young Mikey’s family is responsible, Bert devises a highly unusual but devastatingly effective form of reprisal. But where does the guilt really lie, and will there be punishment or redemption?  Told from Mikey’s viewpoint with light touches of humour, A Patient Man is a gripping crime novel peopled with believable characters who are drawn inexorably in to a story that explores the effects of greed, money and the human need for retribution.

If you're looking for a thriller or a grizzly murder mystery this book is not for you. If you're looking for a brilliantly written story of a family and their selfishness and how it effects an eight year old boy, I recommend you dig right in!

Beware the fury of a patient man.
I love dysfunctional family books and this one was excellent. Each family member, has their own quirks and is affected by events in a different way and although some do terrible things the reader still cares about them. This book admittedly has a lot going on. From describing how people deal with grief, death and relationship issues between spouses, parents, children and siblings. It's a veritable melee of relationships and emotion, but it works.

This is an wonderfully written book. I was fascinated by the emotional story and the beauty of the writing. There is great vision and the mental images of 1976 and Canvey Island that are created makes it so believable, so heartwarming, and so ultimately tragic. It had me thinking of mutton chop sideburns and Starsky & Hutch. I had empathy for Mikey and his family and how the events of 1976 shape his life.

S. Lynn Scott is a fantastic writer it reads like a true story; it does not read like fiction. This was a wonderful family drama that is told with insight and sensitivity. It was absorbing and was hard to put down for any length of time.