Book review: Run For Home by Sheila Quigley

Run for Home by Sheila Quigley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sheila Quigley's Run for Home was the Q in my A-Z of authors. I'd never heard of the author, but the plot sounded intriguing so I thought I'd check it out.
To start with, we meet Kerry Lumsdon a sixteen year old girl, who is training to be a professional athlete, she lives on a council estate with her alcoholic mother and a variety of brothers and sisters from different fathers.
Kerry is not a very sympathetic character. The first time we meet her she is stealing milk from the doorstep of a blind old lady, before chucking the empty bottle over into her garden to smash. She has a go at anyone and everyone for no particular reason. It seemed a bit unrealistic to me and I couldn't care less what happened to her.
The other characters seemed to be a bit soapish. With six children, and all their friends it's hard to keep track of everyone. The police searching for Kerry's missing sister Claire and mainly detached from this, but we constantly hear their thoughts about how much they fancy each other. I just wish they'd stick to their job, if I'm honest. Lorraine, the central police figure is a likeable character. Again, she has unnecessary family introduced just to add to the confusion, but you feel on her side. She has a lot on her plate. As well as searching for Kerry's sister, she also has headless bodies turning up left, right and centre. Despite being a strong police woman, she seems a bit feeble in her personal life. I wanted to give the character a shake of the shoulders and tell her to pull herself together.
One thing I did love about this book was the way Sheila Quigley wrote dialogue. It's set in Sunderland, and she writes her characters with an accent. I could hear their speech very clearly in my head, which I love. It does bring the characters to life more, even if there were too many of them.
Overall, an okay book, but I probably wouldn't read another of hers. There were good points and bad points, but it was a bit too melodramatic for me.

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