The Driftwood Girls

Part of a series - great story - innovative detective novel

Cal McGill's full first name is Caladh which is Gaelic for a harbor or haven, and many people have come to him hoping he will end their nightmares and find their missing loved ones. With his exhaustive knowledge of winds and tides and his far-flung network of contacts, he's been very successful, and I hope he continues to be because Mark Douglas-Home's series is one of my very favorites. As Cal begins his search for Kate's missing sister, he's also faced with the death of his best friend, Alex, and this leads to much introspection. Cal has always been a loner: he "experienced the closest he ever came to elation. He was on a wild coast alone and no one knew where he was." I can identify with this aspect of his nature, but I'm also aware of its downside. "Was he becoming more solitary in his habits, too comfortable in his own company and silence?" Cal has to work this through while he searches for Flora. The Driftwood Girls is several stories woven skillfully together. There's Cal's soul-searching after the death of his friend. There's the search for Flora Tolmie. There's the rather strange story of three people living on an island off the coast of the Netherlands. And there's the slowly unfolding story of what happened to Kate and Flora's mother twenty-three years ago. The book could actually be considered a study in the different ways people respond to grief and this overlying sadness-- as well as Cal's feeling of being cut off from the world-- may make it a bit difficult for readers to be drawn into the story. The knowledge that goes into making Cal the sea detective is fascinating but never overwhelms the story, and the author's descriptions of coastal areas of Scotland and the Netherlands can have even the most hardened landlubber smelling the salt air, hearing the cry of gulls, and wanting to set sail. The only thing that I can quibble over is how neatly the story of Kate and Flora's mother was wrapped up. It all seemed a bit too convenient, just a bit contrived, but it certainly didn't keep me from enjoying the book. The oceans, tides, and winds, the atmospheric descriptions of land and sea, the characters, and the stories all mesh perfectly into mysteries that I love to sink into. If you love stories like this, then you need to become acquainted with Cal McGill. Start with The Sea Detective, and be prepared to get your hands on all the others.

This is the fourth book in the Sea Detective series and although they are all fantastic this is by far the best. The story was griping, well written and I simply could not put it down. I stormed through it over one weekend and the ending did not disappoint. This series is getter better and better, well done Mark Douglas-Home!

I've been following Cal McGill, the obsessive, brooding Sea Detective hero of Mark Douglas-Home's thrillers, since his first appearance on a beach where something or someone mysterious has washed up. This, the fourth in the series is the best as the author casts his net over a mystery involving the disappearance of a young mother...whose daughter, Flora also goes missing 23 years later. As always, at the centre of the web, is Cal whose scientific yet intuitive understanding of winds and tides brings the story to its conclusion. You can almost smell the sea as you turn the pages. Very good characterisations in this latest in the series and a must for oceanographers as well as those of us who enjoy a thriller that rewards us with a big surprise at the end.

The fourth in a series of too few books. I have enjoyed the first three stories in this series and have waited some time for this fourth to appear and it was well worth the wait. In my view it is by far the best of the stories, the writing more polished and the atmosphere more gripping. I feel for the characters and have read in delight as they each have come alive to me, and now two thirds of the way through the book I am reluctantly attempting to slow down my reading as I don't want it to end. I hope we shall see many more of these tales of Cal appearing over the next few years. He's an original creation, likeable despite his oddness, and a refreshing change from typical heroes fronting novels. Publishers take note, I'll order it as soon as you advertise a new book is on the way, so please nudge the author into action and give him a hefty advance to write the next story.