#BlogTour: The White Lie by J. G. Kelly @thewaterclock @HodderBooks @emily_egg #TheWhiteLies #JGKelly

Book Synopsis:

THE LEGEND
1913. Captain Scott and his four companions reach the South Pole to find their Norwegian rival Roald Amundsen has won the race. Defeated, they set out on the 850-mile journey to their ship. Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the explorer sent out to meet them at One Ton depot, peering South through thick spectacles, sees only an infinity of white, and turns back. A year later Scott’s pitched tent is found, just ten miles from the depot, and the bodies within speak of hunger, the unbearable strain of hauling the sledge, and the brutal winter cold. They lie in a tomb of ice. Cherry is left forever tormented by thoughts of what might have been.

THE TRUTH
1969. Ten years after Cherry’s death, Falcon Grey – who as an orphan of the Blitz was brought up at the explorer’s country estate – receives a bequest: a small red notebook that was found in Scott’s tent. It is a diary: and it states that they were not victims of the cold, or hunger, but murder, in the coldest of blood. Suspects range from envious foreign powers – such as the Kaiser’s Germany – to revolutionaries and even Scott’s own men. Vital clues lie in the tent, so Falcon goes South to the ice to see it for himself, but someone is desperate to conceal the truth and will kill to keep the secrets under the ice.

My Review:

The White Lie is an absorbing, intriguing book from a new author for me.

Firstly I always love books set in cold locations so I really enjoyed exploring the artic alongside the Falcon Scott. I had heard of the famous explorer before reading this book but I didn’t know much about his ill fated expedition. It was really interesting to learn more about it and what artic exploration entailed.

I loved the main character Falcon who I warned too immediately as soon as I learnt about his sad past and realised he was the same age as my youngest son. He’s a very sympathetic character and I often wished I could reach into the book to give him a hug. Cherry was also an interesting character who I felt a lot of sympathy for as his guilt over what happened was almost palpable at times. It was heartwarming to read about his special relationship with Falcon and how he looked after him when he was younger.

I thought this book had a great pace to it and I enjoyed following events in both timelines equally. It was great fun trying to figure out what was happening and the link between the expedition with events in WW2. My only slight niggle with this book is that I found the change between the timelines a bit confusing at times as it often happened quite quickly but this did get easier as the book progressed. The ending was interesting and, despite having many theories, I was pleased that I hadn’t guessed.

Huge thanks to Emily from Hodder and Stoughton for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. I’ll definitely look forward to reading more from this author in future!

About The Author:

James Kelly is the author of the Nighthawk crime series for Allison and Busby and the Philip Dryden series for Penguin. He was born in 1957 and is the son of a Scotland Yard detective. He went to University in Sheffield, later training as a journalist and worked on the Bedfordshire Times, Yorkshire Evening Press and The Financial Times. His first book The Water Clock, was shortlisted for the John Greasy Award and he has since won a CWA Dagger in the Library And New Angle Prize for Literature. He lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire.