An intriguing read for summer

⭑⭑⭑⭑  The Truants is a hard book to categorize. It is a mish mash of literary fiction, mystery, a coming of age tale and even has the makings of a cult classic about it. 'Thriller' is not what I would call it as its gradual burn doesn't have the pulse pounding force that one might expect from a thriller. It gleefully defies classification which is one of the great qualities of The Truants.

Here, we follow a student freshly arrived at uni (Jess) who makes fast friends with a racier girl (Georgie). Together they form a small group of friends with the addition of Alec and Nick. But more importantly for Jess, she becomes friendly with best selling author and professor Lorna Clay who she  idolizes from afar. Lorna lectures on Agatha Christie which gives fans of the queen of mystery a great refresher on more than a few of her books. Through this small cluster of people there are various shifts in dynamic as time goes on and, well, anything can happen. That's the beauty of this genre-free book. Almost anything can happen and does as we are not constrained by model or type. This is the point when curious events occur and I loved the free wheeling feel of this novel. It is so well written with characters the reader feels they know well when everything seems to shift slightly on its axis. I dare not tread any further on plot discussion as I don't want to let slip the crux of the story. But, I did enjoy it thoroughly and was keen to see where it would lead. The ending was not as I expected but that is for the best as we would not want a genre-bending novel to follow any preexisting formula, would we? Great stuff, well worth reading and I am looking forward to more novels by this talented yarn spinner.