The Final Countdown

Mike Yorke #3

by Sheila Quigley

A family which rules the world. A group of women no one would suspect. A diabetic girl on the run. A detective in turmoil. DI Mike Yorke never mixes work and play - but his latest case on Holy Island has come a little too close to home. Aunt May is in a coma. Street kid Smiler is seeing doom at every turn. Childhood friend Dave is obsessively praying. The Drugs factory has been broken up, the enslaved children rescued and the monastery restored to the monks. Mike thinks he's seen the worst. He has no idea what's still to come...

343 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Sheila Quigley started work at 15 as a presser in Hepworths, a tailoring factory. She married at 18 and had three daughters: Dawn, Janine and Diane and a younger son, Michael. Recently divorced, she now has eight grandchildren, five boys and three girls, and every Saturday and Sunday can be found at a football match for the under tens and under fifteens. Sheila has lived on the Homelands Estate (at present with her son and two dogs) at Houghton-le-Spring near Sunderland for 30 years.

Reviews

[Tweedledum]

Sheila Quigley's Holy Island Trilogy has all the hallmarks of a page turner....a global conspiracy with historic antecedents, murders, abductions and abuse of various kinds, with some separated lovers and cute dogs thrown in. The Holy Island link is bound to appeal to those who know and love the place.

I read this final story in the trilogy very rapidly and enjoyed it up to a point. But there is no getting away from the thinness of the plot, the plotholes and inconsistencies and the sudden all too easy and simplified resolution which reminded me slightly of the ending of a Shakespeare play with its' sudden revelations and glib acceptance of them.

I feel that Quigley got hold of a very big idea which she set up well but then found it was maybe bigger than she could handle so ended up cutting corners all over the place. That said I found the whole trilogy enjoyable overall and thought provoking ...... (Though the thoughts provoked are not necessarily what Quigley intended.) I also felt that there was an excessive amount of conversation heavily laced with the f word and other fruity terms. This gets excessively boring after a while and loses it's initial impact.

I would really rate it a 3.5 star but as a piece of easy read escapism I have allotted 4. I find that despite the inconsistencies, the thin plotting and the all too convenient ease of escape from dire situations the overall ideas and some of the characters have taken up residence in my brain..... For a while.

Quigley has a fair way to go to rival the giants of the genre but earthing the stories in Teeside and Northumberland gives them a strong appeal for Brits who love our diverse voices and localities.

[Pat]

Well this trilogy started well, struggled a bit in the middle and turned to mush in book three. Sorry Sheila I love your work but this read like a childish fairytale. It didn't ask you to suspend disbelief, it shattered it and the writing style was amateurish at best.

[Diane]

Another great book about Detective Mike Yorke. This book again follows on from the last in the quest to escape the families and to find out exactly what's going on. Mike's Aunt May seems to hold all the pieces of the puzzle but is Mike going to like what she has to tell him.

[Lynden]

Brilliant read after reading Thorn in my side and Nowhere Man The Final Countdown was excellent. a Great Trilogy worth reading.

[Derek Melville]

A familiar theme, secret organisations ruling the world, that has been done better in my opinion. However it was enough of a page-turner to keep me going until the end

[Valerie Smales]

Page Turner👍

A Trilogy that you keep reading to the end,with a story line giving you undercurrents of Belief!

Likeable characters, thoroughly enjoyed this read 👌

[Julia Carton]

This is the last book in the Trilogy featuring DI Mike York and the Families where loose ends are tied up but with more questions you want answering hence why only gave it four stars but still a great read

[Maggie Scott]

review to follow

[Nigel Courtenay]

Too many questions left unanswered.
Very good trilogy.
Thoroughly enjoyed all three books

[Jane Hunter]

Has a disappointing ending

[Elixabeth Ballantine]

Good ending, left open so that there could be more to come.

[Amanda]

Really enjoyed this series but disappointed with the ending and hope there is a follow on book.