The Demolition of the Century by Duncan Sarkies

The demolition of the century by Duncan Sarkies
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 408

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Amazon Vine

Blurb from Goodreads

Tom Spotswood (aka William McGinty) is an insurance investigator who has lost his socks, his suitcase, his career, his ex-wife and, most importantly, his son Frank.

He is being followed by Robert Valentine, the mysterious owner of the horse with no sperm; Alastair Shook and his van of teenage guards; and Spud, a demolition man who is using his wrecking ball to bring down the most beautiful movie theatre in town, the Century.

To find his son, Tom will have to come to terms with his past – a past he ran away from. But first will have to find those socks.



My Review

This book was nothing like I was expecting, I was thinking a dodgy investigation scam and maybe the fallout from that following Tom. And it isn't exactly not that, Tom is an alcoholic running from his past and the ever looming Robert Valentine. He lost so much after making one wrong decision, his job, his family, the place he lived. Now he is back and Valentine has people practically on every corner, threatening Tom and Tom isn't having it.

Spud is all about the demolition game and has huge issues from his past. Just now his job is taking down a beautiful old theater, we learn about his home life and past demons hovering. When Spud and Tom's path cross we start to learn more about both and things we thought were very separate actually have links and the story has much deeper layers than the reader initially realised or anticipated.

The book for me was almost like two different stories, part one being focused heavily on Tom and coming back to town after the shady insurance job. Spuds family life, his work and who he is as a person and the struggles he had endured, the past influences the present. Side note, there is a small focus on a badness that happens to a horse but no more animal harm discussed or covered bar that one incident. Part two we see much more depth to Spud and Tom and how many issues they both have, looking at addiction, issues from childhood and how this impacts on mental health. Mental health is integral to the second half, cause and effect and the book has a very human feel to it. Being that the two main characters are male it opens a very emotive theme, raw, sad, moving and I think depending on what your personal experiences are may have an impact on a personal level you receive the book.

This is the first time I have read this author, I would absolutely read him again, 3.5/5 for me this time. I like when a book catches you unawares and the depth this book takes you to, especially as I wasn't expecting it to go to the places it did, thought provoking for sure!

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