Reckoning
James Jauncey
(Young Picador, Nov. 7, 2008)
Standing on the beach watching the early morning mist roll in off the sea, Fin is thinking about the day when he can move to the mainland, and escape the misery at home. His sister got away but now no one has heard from her in two years. Fin’s thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a car on the bridge above him. He hears doors slam, voices, a scream and then, for a brief moment, he glimpses a figure falling through the fog. It’s a teenage girl, and she dies in Fin’s arms.Did the dead girl jump or was she thrown? Sceptical of the official suicide verdict, Fin is determined to find the truth, a hunt that will lead him closer to his missing sister and to a shocking secret at the heart of his island community.Tied in with Fin’s story THE RECKONING touches on large topics such as extremism and terrorism but is, above all, a compelling and intriguing literary mystery.