Harry Barnett is leading a contented life in Vancouver with his wife and daughter when he is brought back to England by the death of his mother. He intends to spend just a few days sorting out her affairs when a chance meeting he will regret for the rest of his life makes him change his plans. Two old acquaintances from his National Service days track Harry down to his mother's house - the last address they had for him. A lavish reunion has been organised to mark the fiftieth anniversary of their RAF days. Harry decides to go. During the war Harry and his fellow RAF conscripts spent three months in a Scottish castle where they acted as guinea pigs in a psychological experiment. The reunion is to take place in the same castle. It will be a chance to see friends, settle old scores and lay a few ghosts to rest. The party begins on the train up to Aberdeen, until the apparent suicide of one of their number shatters the holiday atmosphere. Their arrival in Scotland seems under a cloud. And when another comrade dies soon after their arrival, Harry is gripped by a sense of foreboding.
The recollections of the old comrades of their time in the castle are frighteningly different and unexplained events from 1955 still haunt them. As Harry tries to solve the mystery of what really happened fifty years ago, he uncovers an extraordinary secret that convinces him he will never leave the castle alive.
The rear cover has all the usual best seller buzz words, 'gripping', 'page turner', 'twists', 'unputdownable', etc......but it was a bit of a let down. I didn't really feel for any of the characters. In fact, the only characters I wanted to read about were the few that were only briefly mentioned, the key characters were only mildly interesting.
Long story, short....At a secret location in Scotland about 10 years after the war ended a handful of WWII servicemen underwent some secret military testing. Now it's present day and they're meeting for a reunion and none can really remember what happened back then and even the little bits they think they remember differs from man to man.
I kept going because the whole book was hinting that what they thought they remembered from the experiment in 1955 wasn't actually as it appeared and I wanted to know why. What happened to them en-route was just page filler.
I won't go into detail about what the tests involved or whether or not the sketchy memories were pieced together because that's basically the whole story. Overall, the trail that leads to the truth is littered with too many lucky breaks for the hero and seemingly 'being in the right place, at the right time' moments but it was still an ok read.
It's not the worst book I've read, but it's far from the best so while I'm glad I've read it, it's not one I'd go back to. The guy can definitely write though.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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28 November, 2013:
Finished reading
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28 November, 2013:
Reviewed