I had heard great things about this book long before I managed to pick it up, so to say I was looking forward to reading it is possibly a little bit of an understatement. With the book set in a place that I love and visit every year for my birthday, I was intrigued to see how much of the place I recognised and how much had changed for the book. The answer to that is, except for the volcanic island, very little. The book opens with the Surtsey Mackenzie making a late-night trip to the island in the Forth of Firth to meet up with her professor and lover Tom Lawrie. When she gets there, she finds him dead and goes into a complete panic as Tom is married and she is also currently in a relationship with another person. The last thing she needs is this all coming to light, and several people’s lives being destroyed and for her to become the prime suspect. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens and Surtsey is left trying to work out who killed Tom and why as her personal life implodes around her. Initially the character of Surtsey annoyed me as she seemed on a mission of self-preservation no matter what it meant for anyone else and if she had just been honest from the start then some of the problems might not have been quite so big. The more I got into the book however, the more I started to sympathise with her. She is dealing with a mother who is dying and a sister who is not giving her much support with that, and her best friend seems to think that smoking pot and getting drunk is the answer to everything so she doesn’t really have the kind of support system she may need in the circumstances. With an unknown someone taunting her and threatening to expose her secret and potentially lay the blame at her door, you can really sense Surtsey’s desperation to keep a handle on her life. The book really brought to life the Edinburgh I love with that extra little twist. Although I may not particularly like any of the characters due to their actions, it is these very actions that make them more real. Some of the characters are hiding more than you realise and they way that the author slowly reveals these true characteristics kept me turning the pages longer into the night that I probably should have. With an ending that was both unexpected and thrilling Doug Johnstone has certainly packed a lot into this relatively short book. This may have been my first journey into his books but having thoroughly enjoyed Fault Lines it certainly won’t be the last that I read by this author.

Twenty five years ago, the tectonic plates shifted and a fault line opened up just off the coast of Edinburgh. A new volcano was born in the Firth of Forth and this volcanic island is known as The Inch. For Surtsey, the daughter of a volcanologist, named after an Icelandic volcanic island, this island has been part of her life since she was born and despite its continuing minor earthquakes, it is a special place to her. Now her mother is in a hospice, dying of cancer, and Surtsey is studying for her PhD in Volcanic Geology. Surtsey’s sister, Iona is also full of potential, but she has rebelled against academia and is currently living with Surtsey and their flatmate, Halima, in their mother’s house in Edinburgh. Iona is tending bar in a nearby hostelry and Halima is a student working alongside Surtsey. Doug Johnstone is one of those sickeningly bright and talented people that can’t seem to put a foot wrong. And with Fault Lines, he has got it bang to rights again. Johnstone’s novel is set against fault lines and seismic shifts, and these are reflected in the fault lines of the girls’ own family and other relationships. Surtsey is playful, confident and carefree and this causes her to ignore the consequences of her decisions, such as the impact that having an affair with her married Professor might have on his family and on hers. The setting for this very clever and emotionally wide ranging novel is perfect. I believe in Inch island; small but significant in the Forth, Johnstone has conjured it out of the sea in a manner that is both vivid and evocative and despite its size, it casts a shadow over all our characters. Beautifully imagined, this is writing that rises above its class to take you on a journey that feels both real and intense. As Surtsey journeys out in her small boat for an early evening delight with her illicit lover on the island, she little knows what awaits her. For not only is his dead body lying on the island, his boat is nowhere to be seen. Clearly foul play is afoot, and when, after pocketing the phone that he used to communicate with her, which was lying by his side, Surtsey begins to receive anonymous text messages from a tormentor, she views these rightly as a threat. From this point, each and every one of the characters is under suspicion and as the Police come closer to suspecting Surtsey and her alibi crumbles, another body is found, this one also strongly connected to her. Impressively plotted, this is a novel that captures a range of emotions and brings the reader quickly to empathise with its characters, even when you know they are off-piste with their actions. What works incredibly well, though is the Gaia connection between Surtsey, her mother and the land. As they experience shakes and tremors, so does the earth. There is a fundamental connection here at the heart of the book that is subtle and well integrated, so that you know that the fate of Surtsey and the Inch are somehow inextricably linked. For a young woman, Surtsey has a lot to deal with and I felt her pain, guilt, loss and occasionally her joy as we journeyed together through this book. Johnstone has the talent to bring his characters to life; to make you care about them, and to be able to visualise them as you read. On the plotting front the book is beautifully dark, intense and twisty and as it leads you down and through the cobbled streets, you may break a heel or two before you get to where you are going. Overall, highly enjoyable, deeply satisfactory and acutely well written.

What a superb and highly original thriller. A tectonic fault has opened up and produced a new volcano in The Firth of Forth which has created a volcanic island. Volcanologist Surtsey and her team have named The island The Inch. Surtseys life is about to spiral out of control when she arranges to meet her lover and her boss on the island for a date. On arrival Surtsey discovers Tom's body after his head has been caved in. She decided to try and keep her affair and Tom's body a secret, but how long can she keep quiet? Who killed Tom? Will the truth ever come out? A brilliant and highly original whodunit thriller .i thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Especially as I couldn't guess whodunit until the end. Superb twists and turns throughout! This book will definitely win awards! One too look out for this year!!

'In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, in which a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery. On a clandestine trip to The Inch - the new volcanic island - to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, Surtsey finds his lifeless body. Her life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact - someone who claims to know what she's done....' The intensity of the geographical and geological description of the island of Inch and its surrounding area was just stunning and so atmospheric, I actually felt like I was standing on the island in the opening chapter looking through the eyes of Surtsey. There's a very deep emotional story running behind the dark psychological crime plot that had me quite tearful and I had so much empathy for sisters Surtsey and Iona watching and waiting for their mother to die. I didn't particularly like any of the characters but I think that's how we as readers are expected to feel these days. We love to dislike characters and although Surtsey was particularly unlikable I couldn't help feeling sorry for her and this made me empathise with her more. Although she was a complete mess and troubled, I fully understood her actions. There has obviously been a lot of research carried out into volcanos and geology in general and knowing Edinburgh particularly well myself and loving all things Scottish, I adored this book and devoured it over a weekend. I'll be checking that no fault lines have appeared when I visit Edinburgh in the next couple of weeks and hope there's no tremors when crossing the new Forth bridge! A frighteningly tense and scary scenario concluded this brilliant book. I thought the whole premise for the story unique, original and very clever. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it and I will be definitely reading more by the author Doug Johnstone. I so like his writing style, I find him creative, intelligent and very talented and wouldn't hesitate to recommend him or his book "Fault Lines" published by the well respected Orenda books. 4 stars

Doug Johnstone requires you to believe two improbable things at the start of this book.   First, that a volcanic island has erupted in the Firth of Forth, turning Edinburgh into an earthquake zone.   And secondly, that Louise, a geologist going into labour at the time of the eruption, decides to call her daughter Surtsey.   This is the volcanic island that emerged to the south of Iceland during such an eruption in, if I remember correctly, the 1960s.   Personally, I find the former more likely than the latter, but then people from Edinburgh are capable of anything. Surtsey is the central character of this story.   It begins with a murder on the said volcanic island, which is called The Inch, from the Gaelic, Inish, which means island.   The one thing that we know is that it is not Tom Lawrie, one of Surtsey's two lovers, because he is the corpse.   We also know that Surtsey was going to meet him on the Inch, for a romantic tryst, and that when she finds the corpse she rows away as fast as she can.   That happens in the first five to ten pages.   The question is, who did it?   And why? One other person can be ruled out, and that is Louise because she is terminally ill in a hospice overlooking the Firth.   But otherwise, there are plenty of suspects.   Is it Alice, Tom's vengeful wife?   Is it Halima, who likes getting Surtsey doped to the eyeballs?   Is it Iona, Surtsey's sister, who is not coping with Louise's illness?   Is it Brendan, Surtsey's other lover?  Is it Donna, the old school friend?   Is it Bastian, the leader of the New Age protesters, who want the Inch left in peace?   At one point, I thought it might even be either Yates or Flanagan, the Rebus-like policemen, but lacking his vivacity and charm.   This should give you a clue about how difficult it is to work out whodidit?   I did, but it took me quite some time. There is also a logic to the way that the story progresses.   From the discovery of Tom's corpse, being devoured by seagulls and crows, and Surtsey running away, the possible options for her become more and more limited.   She has fled from a crime scene.   There are questions that run through her head.   When will the body be discovered?   Was she seen on the Inch?   Can she cover her tracks?   And, of course, who killed him?   This is not the usual progression in a detective story.   We know that she has something to hide, and we know what it is.   But this is not a detective story: it is a thriller.   There are certainly are thrills - plenty of them.    Doug Johnstone knows how to keep you on tenterhooks. But enough of the story line.   You will need to read the book to find out what happens.   I am not going to tell you.   What I will tell you is that Doug Johnstone writes very much in the tradition of Raymond Carver.   To describe the writing style as short and pithy does not do these sentences the justice that they deserve.   They are sharp and to the point.   There is not a word wasted.   There is no fat in them to be trimmed away.   Yet, they manage to be elegant, conveying precisely the trajectory of the story. One final thing: I got this book at the launch event last night in Edinburgh and I finished it over breakfast this morning.   I did get some sleep last night, but it was not enough.   I blame you, Doug Johnstone.