‘Exile’ by Denise Mina

Published by Bantam Press,
3 August 2000.
ISBN: 0-340-76079-0 (HB)

'She's dead,’ said the woman. But she wasn't, she was alive, and she heard them.

In this the second book by Denise Mina, Maureen O'Donnell is attempting to come to terms with the death of her lover, the fact that her father is back in Glasgow and living in close proximity to her, a dangerous threatening game being played out by her former therapist, and the continual storming of her defences by her mother.

To appease her conscience of the money left to her by Douglas, her former lover, Maureen has taken some voluntary work with the 'Place of Safety Shelters'. When her best friend Leslie comes to her expressing her concern for one Ann Harris, a battered woman, who has suddenly left the shelter, and disappeared. Maureen is confused by Leslie's concern and by the widening gap in their friendship. Maureen is convinced that Ann has not been battered by her husband, but if not by him, who?

The circumstances surrounding Ann's disappearance take Maureen to London, looking for answers, but the overriding enthralment in this fascinating mystery is in the incredible characterisation, and the sad reality of those trapped in a dangerous way of life. It is powerful in its portrayal of family and friends in crisis, and pain and suffering, and laughter and tears. It takes you in a roller coaster of emotions.

A compelling read. One of those books that stays in your mind.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Denise Mina was born in 1966 in Glasgow. She worked as an auxiliary nurse in geriatric and terminal care nursing homes before studying law at Glasgow University. As an academic researcher she has written extensively on the medicalization of deviant women, and until recently she taught Criminology and Criminal Law. She lives in Glasgow, where she now writes full time.