Quite different than the usual Peter May novel, this one is a bit autobiographical.

The decision of five teenage boys to leave their homes in Glasgow in 1965 and head for London is led by Jack Mackay when he is expelled from school. His friends need little incentive to run away from abusive families and dead end jobs to pursue fame and fortune as a band.  However, the boys find the reality to be devastatingly different from their dreams, and within less than eight weeks of their departure, just three of them return home, their lives irrevocably damaged.

Fifty years later, in 2015, a brutal murder takes place in London and the three men, who are now in their sixties, are forced to return to the city to confront the demons which have haunted them and blighted their lives for five decades.

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In fact, when Peter was age 17 he had been expelled. And convinced his buddy Stephen to run away from Glasgow to London. They didn’t last long.

Here are Peter and Stephen reminiscing about their escape 50 years in the past.