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The Tinker
Who is the mysterious visitor who turns up every year in the picturesque Cotswold village of Drayburn? What dark secret is he keeping? In another gripping thriller, award-winning writer, Alan Reynolds creates intrigue and finger-nail biting tension as we follow an itinerant worker who has returned to the English countryside for the past six summers applying his skills for the benefit of local people. In return for doing odd jobs and maintenance in the medieval church of St James he is given board and lodgings by the vicar and his wife. The villagers are only too keen to make the most of his many talents and treat him as one of their own but there are those from his past that would do him great harm. His very survival depends on him keeping his previous life from being discovered. This year it will be different. Maybe, just maybe it's time to stop running.
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 29, 2014
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30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 8, 2022
Mystery set in the bucolic COTSWOLDS
The novel is set in the fictional chocolate box village of Drayburn in the Cotswolds, which is populated by traditional characters one might expect to find living in this bucolic area of England.
We are introduced to the vicar, John, and his wife, Denise, and the Major who calls his wife Memsahib. We meet Melanie, who is a stylist at the local salon, who finds herself in an extremely unhappy marriage. The Summer winds, combined with thunder and lightning, blow in odd-job man Michael (the eponymous Tinker of the title), who can turn his hand to any repairs. He lodges in The Lodge at the Vicarage and is given succour by the locals in return for his work. He has been bowling up every Summer for the past few years.
He is a monosyllabic man, who catches the eye of several women in the locality, who seem to be gagging for his return, and consequently, before he has really had the chance to start on projects, he is being seduced left, right and centre, whilst still finding the time to work, tackle poachers, go fishing etc. Actress and famous person in the village, Tina Ashworth, has despatched her latest husband, and, of course, Michael soon finds himself servicing her pressing boiler needs.
There is every indication, too, that he has a rather alarming backstory. Denise is a trained counsellor and her soothing manner will soon have him spilling the beans… (her husband was also one of her counselling clients, so clearly….)
In the main, the characters are caricatures and a little wooden, so it’s difficult to get a sense of who they are and what makes them tick. The scenes of a sexual nature are clearly written by a male hand and conform to a bit of a male fantasy stereotype, which I personally found unappealing.
As a general observation, there are indicators that a more professional level of editing and proofreading would have been helpful:
Characters’ opening gambits, when they meet another character are ‘Hello so-and-so..’, and Michael invariably responds with a regular “Aye” to anything asked of him – it may well fit his character, but it gets tedious seeing it repeated (there needed to be much more variety). The Vicar’s wife, Denise, chats to her husband, concluding her sentences with ‘dear’ at virtually every turn, and sometimes a comma precedes it (as it should) and sometimes it doesn’t. There are missing words and errors, and as examples: "..as he was lay in bed.." / "..Hi [he] took clean clothes from the bag.." which makes for an irksome read. These examples underline the importance of a really professional pair of editing eyes.
The writing is quite formal, which lends credence to the era of the 1980s, when the story is set. And of course setting is really nicely conveyed. Overall, though, this novel wasn’t really for me.
The novel is set in the fictional chocolate box village of Drayburn in the Cotswolds, which is populated by traditional characters one might expect to find living in this bucolic area of England.
We are introduced to the vicar, John, and his wife, Denise, and the Major who calls his wife Memsahib. We meet Melanie, who is a stylist at the local salon, who finds herself in an extremely unhappy marriage. The Summer winds, combined with thunder and lightning, blow in odd-job man Michael (the eponymous Tinker of the title), who can turn his hand to any repairs. He lodges in The Lodge at the Vicarage and is given succour by the locals in return for his work. He has been bowling up every Summer for the past few years.
He is a monosyllabic man, who catches the eye of several women in the locality, who seem to be gagging for his return, and consequently, before he has really had the chance to start on projects, he is being seduced left, right and centre, whilst still finding the time to work, tackle poachers, go fishing etc. Actress and famous person in the village, Tina Ashworth, has despatched her latest husband, and, of course, Michael soon finds himself servicing her pressing boiler needs.
There is every indication, too, that he has a rather alarming backstory. Denise is a trained counsellor and her soothing manner will soon have him spilling the beans… (her husband was also one of her counselling clients, so clearly….)
In the main, the characters are caricatures and a little wooden, so it’s difficult to get a sense of who they are and what makes them tick. The scenes of a sexual nature are clearly written by a male hand and conform to a bit of a male fantasy stereotype, which I personally found unappealing.
As a general observation, there are indicators that a more professional level of editing and proofreading would have been helpful:
Characters’ opening gambits, when they meet another character are ‘Hello so-and-so..’, and Michael invariably responds with a regular “Aye” to anything asked of him – it may well fit his character, but it gets tedious seeing it repeated (there needed to be much more variety). The Vicar’s wife, Denise, chats to her husband, concluding her sentences with ‘dear’ at virtually every turn, and sometimes a comma precedes it (as it should) and sometimes it doesn’t. There are missing words and errors, and as examples: "..as he was lay in bed.." / "..Hi [he] took clean clothes from the bag.." which makes for an irksome read. These examples underline the importance of a really professional pair of editing eyes.
The writing is quite formal, which lends credence to the era of the 1980s, when the story is set. And of course setting is really nicely conveyed. Overall, though, this novel wasn’t really for me.
May 10, 2016
Having previously read and thoroughly enjoyed Flying With Kites by Alan Reynolds (Reviewed April 11, 2014), I had eagerly awaited the release of his latest novel, The Tinker. And yet, at the same time, I was a bit nervous when I was finally able to download it. There is always that lingering fear that the next book won’t quite live up to an author’s last successful book.
Thankfully, my anxiety about reading The Tinker was allayed by the time I had finished the first chapter. Like Flying With Kites, Alan Reynolds once again manages to successfully weave past events from distant military actions into the fabric of present day British communities. In Flying With Kites he wove the story of a Kosovan refugee, fleeing from the civil war in Kosovo, into the fabric of her new home in Newcastle. Similarly, in The Tinker, the author weaves the story of Michael, a former undercover agent for the British Government in Northern Ireland, into the sleepy little village of Drayburn, in England’s Cotswold district.
Michael is an itinerant handyman who has appeared in Drayburn like clockwork, every summer for the past five years, doing odd jobs for the town’s residents and living in a bungalow provided by the village vicar, the Reverend John Colesley and his wife, Denise.
Even before he appears in the book, readers come to know Michael as an enigma: polite, friendly, and capable on one hand, but guarded and wary on the other. While he has endeared himself to the village’s residents through his selfless actions and good work ethic, he steadfastly works at keeping a safe emotional distance from the residents at the same time.
The Tinker is unique and isn’t a typical psychological thriller that immediately draws us into a struggle between the hero and villain, usually creating deep mystery or intense drama right from the beginning. Instead, The Tinker is more like one of those carefully crafted, rare songs that breaks from the typical three verses and a chorus structure of most songs. Instead, the melody and the story in those songs builds continuously to a climax that leaves us breathless - much like Roy Orbison’s breathtaking classic, Running Scared. In a similar manner, Alan Reynolds starts off The Tinker by cleverly teasing the reader’s curiosity about Michael, and then steering us through a number of increasingly dramatic events that help to develop his characters, but also continues to build our curiosity about Michael.
Through a chain of random and coincidental events, Michael’s past finally catches up with him in Drayburn, and the story’s tension builds exponentially with each succeeding chapter.
Eventually, it is the vicar’s wife, Denise, whose curiosity about Michael and her compassion for him finally manages to draw out his story - gruesome and tragic events that he barely survived while in Northern Ireland. Reynolds uses the chain of coincidental events to gradually and skillfully build the tension in The Tinker to a peak, ultimately leaving Michael to choose between continuing to run from his past, or fighting his nemesis from Northern Ireland in order to have any chance at living a normal life amongst the friends he has made in Drayburn.
In my review of Flying With Kites, I concluded that Alan Reynolds had raised the bar for all Indie writers. Any trepidation I might have had as to whether he could live up to that standard with The Tinker, quickly disappeared. Once again, he has skillfully woven a unique and thoroughly enjoyable story that has established him as an author to be reckoned with.
Thankfully, my anxiety about reading The Tinker was allayed by the time I had finished the first chapter. Like Flying With Kites, Alan Reynolds once again manages to successfully weave past events from distant military actions into the fabric of present day British communities. In Flying With Kites he wove the story of a Kosovan refugee, fleeing from the civil war in Kosovo, into the fabric of her new home in Newcastle. Similarly, in The Tinker, the author weaves the story of Michael, a former undercover agent for the British Government in Northern Ireland, into the sleepy little village of Drayburn, in England’s Cotswold district.
Michael is an itinerant handyman who has appeared in Drayburn like clockwork, every summer for the past five years, doing odd jobs for the town’s residents and living in a bungalow provided by the village vicar, the Reverend John Colesley and his wife, Denise.
Even before he appears in the book, readers come to know Michael as an enigma: polite, friendly, and capable on one hand, but guarded and wary on the other. While he has endeared himself to the village’s residents through his selfless actions and good work ethic, he steadfastly works at keeping a safe emotional distance from the residents at the same time.
The Tinker is unique and isn’t a typical psychological thriller that immediately draws us into a struggle between the hero and villain, usually creating deep mystery or intense drama right from the beginning. Instead, The Tinker is more like one of those carefully crafted, rare songs that breaks from the typical three verses and a chorus structure of most songs. Instead, the melody and the story in those songs builds continuously to a climax that leaves us breathless - much like Roy Orbison’s breathtaking classic, Running Scared. In a similar manner, Alan Reynolds starts off The Tinker by cleverly teasing the reader’s curiosity about Michael, and then steering us through a number of increasingly dramatic events that help to develop his characters, but also continues to build our curiosity about Michael.
Through a chain of random and coincidental events, Michael’s past finally catches up with him in Drayburn, and the story’s tension builds exponentially with each succeeding chapter.
Eventually, it is the vicar’s wife, Denise, whose curiosity about Michael and her compassion for him finally manages to draw out his story - gruesome and tragic events that he barely survived while in Northern Ireland. Reynolds uses the chain of coincidental events to gradually and skillfully build the tension in The Tinker to a peak, ultimately leaving Michael to choose between continuing to run from his past, or fighting his nemesis from Northern Ireland in order to have any chance at living a normal life amongst the friends he has made in Drayburn.
In my review of Flying With Kites, I concluded that Alan Reynolds had raised the bar for all Indie writers. Any trepidation I might have had as to whether he could live up to that standard with The Tinker, quickly disappeared. Once again, he has skillfully woven a unique and thoroughly enjoyable story that has established him as an author to be reckoned with.
April 14, 2016
This book was spotlight of the week via 'Aiding indie Authors' on Facebook.
The cover and the blurb lead my mind to interpret the story as being perhaps a ghostly mystery maybe something dating back to Medieval days. This is not what I got. There really is a mystery surrounding the scruffy hermit, 'Tinker' like guy who cycles into the village Drayburn in the beautiful Cotswold's. Yet he is warmly welcomed by the vicar and his wife, who accommodate him in the church lodge in return for odd jobs.
The book appears to cross multi-genre but of course the main one is the mystery surrounding Michael and that is what kept me turning the pages. I was a little surprised when several pages in we appear to cross into the genre of 'Chick Lit' with all the village women swooning after him. I must say he does sound like he scrubs up well with his athletic body tanned by work in the outdoors, his hair lightened by the sun. I was a little taken aback when we crossed into the section containing 'adult sexual content' and strong language.
I don't want to say anything about Michael's background because that was the big mystery and it was not at all what I expected. Here we again cross into another genre that of 'violence and murder'. For me Michael did not at all fit into this role, then again maybe that is what the author intended. Needless to say an enjoyable read even if it was not what I was expecting. It kept me turning the pages and I finished it in no time at all.
My favourite parts were the descriptions of the countryside surrounding the Cotswold's and that is what sticks with me most oh and the heroic rescue that Michael makes. Now if you want to know about that you will have to get the book.
Happy Reading
https://www.facebook.com/groups/16752...
The cover and the blurb lead my mind to interpret the story as being perhaps a ghostly mystery maybe something dating back to Medieval days. This is not what I got. There really is a mystery surrounding the scruffy hermit, 'Tinker' like guy who cycles into the village Drayburn in the beautiful Cotswold's. Yet he is warmly welcomed by the vicar and his wife, who accommodate him in the church lodge in return for odd jobs.
The book appears to cross multi-genre but of course the main one is the mystery surrounding Michael and that is what kept me turning the pages. I was a little surprised when several pages in we appear to cross into the genre of 'Chick Lit' with all the village women swooning after him. I must say he does sound like he scrubs up well with his athletic body tanned by work in the outdoors, his hair lightened by the sun. I was a little taken aback when we crossed into the section containing 'adult sexual content' and strong language.
I don't want to say anything about Michael's background because that was the big mystery and it was not at all what I expected. Here we again cross into another genre that of 'violence and murder'. For me Michael did not at all fit into this role, then again maybe that is what the author intended. Needless to say an enjoyable read even if it was not what I was expecting. It kept me turning the pages and I finished it in no time at all.
My favourite parts were the descriptions of the countryside surrounding the Cotswold's and that is what sticks with me most oh and the heroic rescue that Michael makes. Now if you want to know about that you will have to get the book.
Happy Reading
https://www.facebook.com/groups/16752...
April 5, 2015
Intriguing and captivating. Well deserving of five stars.
July 31, 2021
A worthy book to read.
A captivating story that is well worth the time to read. Looking forward to more books from this author. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
A captivating story that is well worth the time to read. Looking forward to more books from this author. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
July 10, 2016
A novel of different parts. I had fun reading about the village and Michael's return. His real story when it is revealed I found chilling, insidious hate and violence from a dark period, chilling because it is based on real events. Then we are propelled into thriller mode as the past catches up with him and those around him are in danger. I would have liked the novel to stop there with no epilogue, or perhaps just a hint how the past can always catch up again. I enjoyed the book , the first I have read by this author and would like to read more.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews