The Replacement

Ruby, a talented musician, has run from home after a family row. Tangled relationships mean that she now only talks to her sister Joanna, a senior police officer who also lives away from home. They don’t talk often so Jo doesn’t always know where Ruby is, or what she is up to, and fears for her health and well-being.

A toddler is found wandering on her own in a seaside town, then a flustered Ruby arrives on the scene and claims she’s the child’s mother. Jo hides her connection to Ruby from the investigating team when Ruby’s apartment is noted to be directly opposite the flat belonging to Gregor, a man who’s found badly hurt in an overflowing bath. This knee-jerk reaction will have terrible consequences for both Jo and her copper partner Steve. He works out the hidden agenda and sides with Joanna, which is a decision that will endanger them both.  

The Replacement is engrossing, twisting and mysterious. Ruby and Joanna are not obvious siblings – they come at life from different angles and have different goals. Ruby is a musician – stubborn, sweet natured, and generous. She is now on her own in a rough world and it takes her a while before she trusts anyone. Jo is a hard-nosed, tough police officer, whose working life subsumes her private life and consequently makes it hard for her to form lasting relationships. She thought her closest friend was at home, but it turns out she was mistaken – her anchor is her partner at work. It seems she is not good at holding onto a personal relationship.

Jo and Ruby come together again over Gregor, his apparent girlfriend Constance and their baby, and as I was gradually drawn into the twisting plot, I was also drawn into the chase. It is an exciting ride as I was gunning for the good guys whilst fearing they won’t survive the mad and manipulative bad guys.

Into this is thrown the eerie and unexplained connection between Constance and the selkies who live on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. The cat and mouse action moves across the country and up into the remoteness of these islands, where law and order don’t come into it.