Lost Sister [Paperback]

Russel D Maclean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2009

A teenage girl is missing. Her godfather is a known criminal and her mother is hiding a dark secret. For Private Investigator J. McNee, what starts as a favor for a friend soon becomes a nightmare as he races to find the girl before it’s too late.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In McLean's solid follow-up to The Good Son (2009), Scottish PI J. McNee, an ex-copper with copious professional and personal baggage, agrees to help a reporter friend who's covering the disappearance of 14-year-old Mary Furst. When McNee discovers that Mary's godfather is David Burns, a well-known Dundee criminal whom he'd tangled with in Son, he decides to back off the case, much to the surprise of his longtime friend and police confidante, Det. Constable Susan Bright. Yet something about Mary touches McNee, and when Wickes, a Glaswegian PI, contacts him with a possible lead, McNee is back on the case. With alliances shifting constantly, McNee must decide whom to trust: a fellow PI with a hair-trigger temper and an obvious emotional attachment to the case, or the police, in particular Bright. While McLean's sophomore effort is more nuanced than its predecessor, McNee still needs something extra to set him apart from the brooding PI pack. (Mar.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

McNee, the morose, angst-ridden Scottish PI introduced in The Good Son (2009), is back, and this time the case is the disappearance of Mary Furst, an apparently happy and well-liked teenager. McNee�s primary interest is the girl�s godfather, a vicious Dundee racketeer who seems to have the police, McNee�s former employer, in his pocket. McNee is convinced that the racketeer is responsible for the teen�s disappearance, and he�s desperate to prove it. But McNee�s numerous personal demons rise up, and he quits the case, only to be drawn back into it by a strange, hulking Glasgow PI who claims to have special insight into Mary�s disappearance. The Lost Sister begins with some delightfully overwrought, world-weary-tough-guy narrative that�s more Mickey Spillane than Raymond Chandler. Fans of the hard-boiled style will revel in this beginning, but as soon as McNee�s inner demons erupt and threaten to unman him, some may begin to wonder if he�s bipolar. Maybe we�ll find out in the next episode. --Thomas Gaughan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Five Leaves Publications (September 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905512791
• ISBN-13: 978-1905512799
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,244,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Thomas Magnum would never have made it in the real world.", March 20, 2011

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Lost Sister (Hardcover)

Recovered physically but not emotionally from an accident which cost the life of his fiancée, followed by a downward spiral which led to his breaking of a superior officer's nose, J McNee has wisely left the CID and has been working as a private investigator in his home town of Dundee, Scotland. Morose and cynical, he suffers from agonizing psychosomatic injuries which sometimes nearly paralyze him as a result of the violence of his past life. When he is asked to investigate a missing person by reporter Cameron Connolly, McNee takes the job, "off the books," working in parallel with the Dundee CID. The missing person is Mary Furst, a fourteen-year-old girl, who is also the god-daughter of David Burns, a thug who is "knuckle deep in drug money, extortion, rackets, underground deals, and blackmail." Detective Constable Ernie Bright, a man who had trained McNee at CID and who still hopes he will return to the force, is his contact there, though he will work most closely with Susan Bright, Ernie's daughter.

As he investigates the circumstances surrounding Mary's disappearance, McNee concentrates first on her home life, then her room, and finally her computer. He soon discovers the name of her boyfriend and an unusually large number of e-mails to and from Deborah Brown, her art teacher. Hints about a strange relationship between these two are rampant at their school. Eventually, McNee becomes embroiled in every aspect of Mary's family life, the relationship of her parents, her early childhood, her closeness to her crime lord/godfather, and her mother's emotional problems. An investigation of Deborah Brown also reveals that she, too, suffers from severe emotional issues. When McNee repeatedly fails to obey his better judgment that certain aspects of the case would be better investigated by the police, he sets up the circumstances that lead to a dark and bloody conclusion.

Written in a straightforward, almost hard-boiled style, McNee tells his own story in a first person narrative which is much more psychological in approach than most other noir novels. McNee has to deal with his own problems and then apply his insights to the problems of other characters in the novel. As one of his colleagues tells him, "You're a man with a conscience and a code and all that other bollocks, but you're also a man who drags his own disaster around with him like a wrecking ball." Coincidence plays a role here in the developing action, while the backgrounds of all the characters unfold through interviews, which are efficient in giving a great deal of pertinent information, though they create numerous situations in which the author/narrator is "telling about" things that have happened instead of revealing information through the action. Some information about Dundee itself provides a bit of local color and atmosphere, though the story does not depend on it for interest.

The action that does occur, though violent and unexpected, is consistent with the black-and-white issues that underlie the plot, and though the use of psychological angles provides some depth, the novel itself is straightforward and uncomplicated--clever and compressed, rather than elegant or subtle. The grand finale, which is easy to imagine as an action film, takes place at an atmosphere-filled location in the Scottish countryside, and should satisfy all readers of noir fiction. Mary Whipple

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast Paced, October 12, 2011

By 

John O. Raab "Editor of Suspense Magazine" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Sister (Hardcover)

Welcome to Dundee, Scotland, where past actions affect the lives of today. Where a teenage girl goes missing and a private investigator is reluctantly drawn into the case. Where lies and secrets abound and personalities clash. This the second book by McLean, who has written numerous shorts stories for magazines in both America and Great Britain.
Private investigator J. McNee deals with each case on a personal level, maybe too much. He is dealing with an incident the previous year where he was manipulated into exposing his dark side and killing another man. Mary Furst, a teenager, is missing and McNee can't help but be more than a police observer and advisor. Suspects include a crime lord McNee hates, an ex boyfriend, and Mary's art teacher, Deborah. Enter Wickes, who claims to be an investigator from Glasgow. He tells McNee a story concerning Deborah, their relationship, and the fact Mary is actually Deborah's mother, given up through a surrogacy arrangement. However, McNee soon discovers Wickes has a violent side and may not be telling the truth. That truth, however, is complex and McNee finds himself struggling with finding Mary while battling internal demons threatening to rise again.
This is a fast-paced story spanning all of three days. It is character driven with nearly every character having troubled pasts. McNee has relationship problems with many of his `friends.' If McLean plans for future McNee books, he has a lot of room for more character development. Keep an eye for more good stuff from this acclaimed author.

Reviewed by Stephen L. Brayton, author of "Beta" for Suspense Magazine

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Family Secrets And Twisted Love Are Major Themes In Russell D. McLean's Scottish Crime Noir, "The Lost Sister", May 1, 2011

By 

J. B. Hoyos (Chesapeake, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lost Sister (Hardcover)

Everyone in Dundee, Scotland is looking for the missing fourteen-year-old Mary Furst. The crippled Cameron Connolly, reporter for the "Dundee Herald," approaches PI J. McNee and asks him to help find the girl. Aided by a former coworker, Detective Constable Susan Bright, McNee soon learns that Mary is the grandniece of local mobster David Burns. McNee tries to end the investigation, but is drawn back when his office is vandalized and another PI, a huge, hulking man named Wickes, tells him he knows what has happened to Mary.

Russell D. McLean's "The Lost Sister" is a fast-paced, intriguing mystery of a young girl in peril. Where is Mary Furst? Did someone abduct her or did she leave home on her own free will? "The Lost Sister" is not as bloody as its more mob-riddled predecessor "The Good Son," but it is more psychologically horrifying. Once again, the themes of family secrets and perverse, twisted love dominant the plot. In "The Good Son," a man wants to find his brother's killer. In "The Lost Sister," a woman wants to find her missing daughter and another woman wants to find her sister who has been both physically and psychologically lost to her for many years.

The guilt-ridden McNee still feels responsible for the death of his fiancée Elaine. He also feels responsible for his office assistant Bill who was shot in the stomach. We learn that Bill has been permanently crippled. Returning in this sequel are Susan Bright; her father and McNee`s mentor, DCI Ernie Bright; McNee's enemy DI George Lindsay; and mobster boss David Burns who keeps reminding everyone how important his family is to him. Unfortunately, he won't hesitant to kill a member of someone else's family. Ever since Elaine's death, McNee has become reclusive; he probably feels he has lost his chance at having his own family. His soft heart makes him more susceptible to believing every heart luck story he's told.

David Burns has dark family secrets in regards to Mary. Ernie Bright has been keeping secrets from his daughter. Family life is far from perfect in "The Lost Sister." This novel also introduces one of the most possessive, dominating control freaks I have read about in a mystery. This villain's love is twisted, perverse and destructive; their words are very deceitful. Fortunately, McNee is a good PI; I would hire him to find someone I love.

"The Lost Sister" is a sad story of how one person spent their entire life searching for love and happiness and could never find it. The ending is a bloody, tragic one that was rather graphic, shocking and horrifying. Life doesn't always have happy endings.

I found the author's writing style unnerving. The story is told in the first person from McNee's point of view as though he has written it himself. The sentences are short and clipped. Most of the time, they are mere sentence fragments. Reading them is almost like watching a film that keeps freezing. I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between McNee's thoughts and what he was actually speaking aloud. I had to carefully read each paragraph. Also, the editor failed to realize that there are many instances where a word is missing from a sentence. Furthermore, the novel is set in Dundee, Scotland but I felt that I never really got a true sense of its people, environs and culture.

If you enjoyed Russell D. McLean's "The Good Son," then "The Lost Sister" is a must read. Don't expect a bloody crime noir; "The Lost Sister" is more of a psychological suspense novel that plays on the reader's emotions. The reader will begin thinking about their own family and may want to reconnect with that parent, sibling, etc., that has disappeared from their life.


Joseph B. Hoyos