Gallow Falls by Alex Nye
A remote Scottish estate. A missing teenager.
When a young archaeologist discovers bones at the site of her Bronze Age broch on Gallows Hill, the community of Kilbroch hold their breath. Ex-detective Callum MacGarvey came to work on the estate in order to escape from his past, but when a friend asks for his help, he cannot refuse. Missing teenager Robbie MacBride's grandmother wants answers. She doesn't believe what the family tell her, and Callum finds himself reluctantly drawn into a historic missing person case. He suspects that everyone is hiding a secret, including George Strabane, the landowner whom Callum works for.
While the police believe Robbie ran away from home more than a decade ago, not everyone is convinced. The archaeologist, Laura, ex-detective, Callum MacGarvey and Robbie's grandmother continue to investigate, while Robbie's sister, the silent Ruthie, remains haunted by her childhood flashbacks. Sometimes the truth is so dark, it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.
About the author
Alex Nye is the award-winning author of seven novels. She is also a Teaching Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at the University of Glasgow. She has several times been a Writer in Residence and Creative Writing Mentor through the Scottish Book Trust. She has written books about Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Shelley, Glencoe, the Jacobites, refugees and the care system in Scotland. Her latest novel is a collection of stories which touch on challenging subjects as diverse as Tianenman Square and the school shootings at Dunblane. As a teenager she won the WH Smith Young Writers Award with a piece of reflective prose about a Biology lesson, where the pupils examined a foetus in a glass jar.
Review
‘Gallow Falls’ is an excellent piece of tartan noir that really did chill me to the bone! This is the first time I have read anything by this author but it won't be the last as I loved this book!
16-year-old Robbie MacBride went missing 12 years ago and his grandmother Joan is wanting to find out what happened. Luckily her close neighbour Callum MacGarvey is an ex-detective and she asks him for help. Robbie’s mum died two years after he went missing and his father Owen is a taciturn man, whilst his younger sister Ruthie is practically silent and just roams the hills and wood near their home. When a young archaeologist Laura begins a dig at Gallows Hill looking for a bronze age broch is seems the whole of Kilbroch are holding their breath…
Although, this was a slow burn of a book pacing wise I was gripped from the get-go! It really had an ominous air that permeated the pages and I just could not put it down! Maybe because I know what small village life can be like in Scotland and I was thinking of being at my dad’s isolated house which gave me the heebee geebees. But it's the standard of writing that makes it compelling and engrossing! It made the story dark and eerie and utterly believable.
The characters are also what makes this book special. Callum is struggling with losing his life’s purpose and is severely disillusioned with the police service because of it. Joan, Owen and Ruthie are all dealing with their close relatives' deaths. It is this deep dive into examination of loss which I felt strangely more drawn to the story rather than the actual mystery of Robbie. Maybe because it was the fact I guessed the resolution early on but I thought that the author did a great job of portraying grief in a myriad of settings.
I flew through this in one day and I would definitely read more about Callum. I think this might just be his first case of many! I will be visiting Alex’s back catalogue and keeping an eye out for what she is doing next.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
