One of my favourite books to read is a combination of a missing person and a destitute but resourceful private investigator who is hired to find that missing person, and when the book is written well, it is the perfect read. This story unfurls slowly - not too many clues are given - and the pace is andante. The narrative alternates between the PI and a young Gypsy character. Overall, the book is neither brilliant nor dull. It lacks the fast-paced nail-biting suspense-filled mystery but I suspect the author intends it that way. It is a detour from my usual book choice but interesting enough for me to finish it off.
I have always liked Maxine Clarke's review on Eurocrime because she tells it like it is and so I have included her review below as well as a newspaper review.
Hardback blurb: Rose Janko is missing.
It has been seven years since she disappeared, and nobody said a word.
When Rose married the attractive Ivo Janko, she became part of a travelling Gypsy family. But many wondered at the time, were they really suited? Rose is quiet and shy; Ivo - taciturn, yet charismatic. Rumour had it she ran off when her baby boy was born with the family's genetic disability. But her father Leon is not so sure. He wants to know the truth and he hires a private investigator to discover it.
Enter Ray Lovell, a small-time PI who has the added advantage of being of Gypsy descent and therefore not an outsider. He agrees to take the case. But after seven long years he fears the trail has run cold, and his investigation is hampered by the very people who ought to be helping him - the Jankos. They are a close-knit clan, and the last thing they want is a stranger digging around in their private business. Ray cannot understand their reluctance to become involved.
Why don't they want to find Rose Janko?
About Stef Penney: Stef Penney was born and grew up in Edinburgh. After a degree in philosophy and theology from Bristol University she turned to film-making, studying film and TV at Bournemouth College of Art. On graduation, she was selected for the Carlton Television New Writers Scheme and has since written and directed two short films.
Her first novel, The Tenderness of Wolves (2006), was a world-wide bestseller which won the Costa Book Awards for First Novel in 2006, nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in the Best Novel category in 2007, voted as The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2008, and others. She lives in London.
Penney talks about The Invisible Ones (2011):
Maxine Clarke's review.
The Financial Times' review dated 9 September 2011.
Rating: 3/5
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