The Dying Light by Daniel Aubrey

I loved the first book in this series by Daniel Aubrey, Dark Island, although I am yet to review it (hangs head in shame!) so I was super excited to read this new one. Big thanks to Kelly Lacey at Love Books Tours for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my review e-copy of the book. I will be buying my own paperback copy at Bloody Scotland on Friday - more on that below or on last Saturday's post. 

 

The Blurb

The longest day. The deadliest sins.

The residents of Orkney can’t sleep.

Through 18-hour summer days, the islands are drenched in unrelenting sunshine.

But a killer with a shadowy past is living undetected on the archipelago.

As the heat rises, reporter Freya will not rest until she’s brought the truth to light. Can she stop the murderer before they strike again?

My Review

The Dying Light sees the return of young journalist Freya Sinclair, now settled back on Orkney after years away, and working for newspaper, The Orcadian. Freya has a number of stories to focus on when a body is discovered in a tomb cave. The investigation is being overseen by DI Fergus Muir, with whom Freya has a great relationship. But rather than focusing on any of these stories, Freya is carrying out her own investigation into the death of her father years previously. We see the progress of the police investigation into the death on the rocks, and of her own investigation, which takes her somewhere she never wanted to go... 

I am thrilled to see Freya back. She is a bright, refreshing and determined young woman who doesn't always see the world as others do. Freya is neurodivergent, albeit without a formal diagnosis, and as such, approaches situations differently. It can often be a strength, such as hyperfocusing on a research topic but, equally, that hyperfocus can be detrimental if said focus could lead to jeopardy or danger as Freya can't always follow the most suitable of routes. If she starts something, she has to see it through, come hell or high water. She struggles in some social situations and can often feel overwhelmed by people of noise, etc. I love that Daniel not only shows the strengths of her neurodivergence but also the negatives - he doesn't make out like it's a superpower (because that's not helpful to anyone). This is an author who understands what it's like to be neurodivergent. 

From the rest of the cast, I love Tom, Freya's husband and rock, the one person who truly 'gets' her. And I really enjoyed the back and forth between DI Muir and recent recruit DS Jennie Murray. Also, I can't go without mentioning Orkney itself, with both its beauty and bleakness and it's wild, ever changing weather. It's somewhere I would love to visit. 

The story goes back and forth between 1997 and present day, with different storylines all  coming together culminating in one explosive denouement. It's a satisfying, well written tale with moments of humour but, for me, the main strength of The Dying Light is in its characterisation, and in putting somebody centre stage who is differently abled. That shouldn't be something that needs to be celebrated but I think there is still so much misunderstanding around neurodiversity, and other conditions, of course, that anything that brings the discussion into the mainstream is a very positive thing. But it certainly helps that it's a great book! Highly recommend. 


The Author

Daniel Aubrey is a former journalist whose previous jobs included writing for a local paper in Spain and working as a sub-editor at an international press agency in Hong Kong. Now living in Scotland, his debut novel, Dark Island, is a crime thriller about neurodivergent reporter, Freya Sinclair, who uncovers a disturbing conspiracy following the discovery of human remains on Orkney’s wild Atlantic coast. The Dying Light is his second novel.


Bloody Scotland Panel

Daniel will be appearing at Bloody Scotland this coming weekend. You can book your tickets here. This panel is one of my two highlighted choices in last Saturday's post. 

Celebrating Neurodiversity: Daniel Aubrey, Sean Watkin, Trevor Wood
Friday 12th September, 7.00-8.00pm, Holy Trinity Church, tickets £9.00/8.00

Meet three authors of intriguing and powerful novels whose neurodivergent protagonists excel despite – and sometimes because of – their brains working differently from what is considered “typical”. Freya Sinclair, Daniel Aubrey’s autistic and fearless journalist, returns in The Dying Light, set against the unrelenting sunshine of an Orkney summer. DCI Win de Silva is suffering from PTSD but must catch the killer of teenage girls in Liverpool in Sean Watkin’s compelling Black Water Rising. Trevor Wood’s sensitive portrayal of Early Onset Dementia sufferer DCI Jack Parker gets a reprise in the enthralling new thriller The Inside Man.