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The Loner
Davie Adams wasn't quite an adult the night he lost it all. His mother gone forever and his father on the run, Davie knew that he could no longer stay in Blackburn, the only home he'd ever known. He made his way to London with little more than the shirt on his back, desperate to escape his haunted memories and sure that he could survive anything. But life on his own is not what Davie expects. His search for his father proves fruitless, and the loneliness eats away at him. Anxious to reunite with the people he left behind, he returns to his anguished grandfather and his childhood love still pining for him in Blackburn—where he discovers that only his own fears can keep him from learning the truth about what tore his family apart.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 19, 2007
About the author
Josephine Cox
121 books348 followersJosephine Cox was born in Blackburn, one of ten children. At the age of sixteen, Josephine met and married her husband Ken, and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to college and eventually gained a place at university but was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home. Instead, she went into teaching – and started to write her first full-length novel. She won the ‘Superwoman of Great Britain’ Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, at the same time as her novel was accepted for publication. She is now a No.1 bestselling author with over 40 books to her name.
She wrote dark psychological thrillers under the name Jane Brindle.
She wrote dark psychological thrillers under the name Jane Brindle.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
October 25, 2010
For a start, I thought that Josephine Cox was meant to be quite an acclaimed author - I expected a really high standard of writing and on reading the back of 'The Loner' was looking forward to a gripping page-turner.
I was disappointed.
The writing style was so lacking energy and enthusiasm and certainly the first 2/3 of the book dragged on and on and was nothing more than an over-flowery attempt at setting the scene. In fact, by the middle of the book I was bored and willing a plane crash, hurricane, mass murder - anything to inspire me to want to read on!! It was like an episode of 'Last of the Summer Wine'.
I hate leaving a book unfinished though so I did plough on and actually, come page 350 or so it got interesting and loads happened all at once. What amazed me though was the fact that up until this point, Cox had spent 6 pages describing something as trivial as a walk in the woods, then a major event - a gruesome act of revenge was written about in half a page! It seemed like an amatuer attempt at writing to me - and I know Josephine Cox is no amatuer.
As another reviewer also picked up on, a couple of very delicate, major subject matters were touched upon and Cox totally wimped out of going into them properly, that could possibly have saved the book as well.
The title bemused me too - 'The Loner'. Davie wasn't a loner though, he just kept moving on. At no point did he try to avoid making freinds, turn down work, decline love interests, etc. Not very well thought out!
Then the end - give me strength - PREDICTABLE, TOTALLY PREDICTABLE! Just like the ending of a kids book where they all live happily ever after - I'll say no more.
I was amazed in ASDA yesterday to see a whole shelf filled with copies of this book - I couldn't believe it .... I pity anyone who wastes their money on it.
I was disappointed.
The writing style was so lacking energy and enthusiasm and certainly the first 2/3 of the book dragged on and on and was nothing more than an over-flowery attempt at setting the scene. In fact, by the middle of the book I was bored and willing a plane crash, hurricane, mass murder - anything to inspire me to want to read on!! It was like an episode of 'Last of the Summer Wine'.
I hate leaving a book unfinished though so I did plough on and actually, come page 350 or so it got interesting and loads happened all at once. What amazed me though was the fact that up until this point, Cox had spent 6 pages describing something as trivial as a walk in the woods, then a major event - a gruesome act of revenge was written about in half a page! It seemed like an amatuer attempt at writing to me - and I know Josephine Cox is no amatuer.
As another reviewer also picked up on, a couple of very delicate, major subject matters were touched upon and Cox totally wimped out of going into them properly, that could possibly have saved the book as well.
The title bemused me too - 'The Loner'. Davie wasn't a loner though, he just kept moving on. At no point did he try to avoid making freinds, turn down work, decline love interests, etc. Not very well thought out!
Then the end - give me strength - PREDICTABLE, TOTALLY PREDICTABLE! Just like the ending of a kids book where they all live happily ever after - I'll say no more.
I was amazed in ASDA yesterday to see a whole shelf filled with copies of this book - I couldn't believe it .... I pity anyone who wastes their money on it.
April 13, 2013
I've read a few novels by Josephine Cox, and find I always thoroughly enjoy them. Her writing style is easy to read, and the stories and characters she creates are always believable. It's easy to get emotionally involved when it comes to her books.
May 23, 2026
3.5★
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
February 1, 2017
After starting 2 bore your socks off books and dumping them (one time I would have persevered but now I reckon life is too short for books that don't do it for you) and then after starting another book I realised I had already read it, (same book different cover!) I then pick up and read another excellent story by Josephine Cox. I am so glad I have found this author, once again she has done it for me. Brilliant.
February 13, 2013
this is a great book , very interesting and exciting . you would defiantly enjoy the way Josephine describes scenes , feelings and ideas , i recommend it to every one ..
June 5, 2020
Could not put this book down. Brilliant
August 15, 2023
Another great Josephine cox book, i read this when it was first releaced and loved it then. The second read was just as good. The characters went through lot’s of loss and heartache and had a powerful journey to go on. This was such a powerful book. I have loved all of this authors books and have never been able to pick a favourite.
January 18, 2021
Utter childish dribble
October 18, 2018
Mm. How to discuss a work that's so lame and yet so readable...
Make no mistake, this might just be the most contrived schmaltz I've ever read. Granted, weepies are not a genre with which I normally trouble myself. I only caved in and read The Notebook to see if it was less idiotic than the movie, and alas, nothing doing. But at least Nic Sparks had the decency, on that occasion anyway, to condense the annoyance to a fairly slim length, rather than the 445 pages this one chews up.
With that being said...I've retained something of a soft spot for it.
It's an ideal read when you're in the mood for something that cannot be taken seriously. I'm sure that's not the path Josephine Cox intended it for, but it's said with as much backhanded respect as I can manage. The fact is that it's stayed alive in my memory, quite the compliment for what it is. I found it in a bargain bin twelve years ago and was enticed by its synopsis, title, and cheap price. Disappointment lurked upon completion but, in retrospect, the setting in which I turned the final page wasn't great. I read it while waiting for a university class to start, and with said class being a disaster, I wasn't willing to forgive two misleading things in a row. It's true that The Loner's name and summary doesn't entirely fit. As another reviewer mentioned, our leading man barely resembles a loner (I'm qualified to say), and what promises to be his perilous journey of grit is instead a censored, dime-store romance where, save for one incident, everything works out with remarkable convenience.
And not only has it been misrepresented in plot, the mistakes vary from website to website, often growing more incorrect with each helping. Maybe the lack of drama attracts the need to exaggerate, I don't know. But all you can do is smirk when Harper Collins describes the story's protagonist, Davie, as "returning home, where he discovers that only his own fears can keep him from learning the truth about what tore his family apart."
He was never unsure what tore his family apart, guys. His mother screwed around. Many times, in fact.
But in the process, it has its charms. The dialogue is cheesy, the situations forced, the story repetitive and the ending predictable - but in an endearing kind of way, akin to watching a toddler play spaceman in the backyard. The noise grates and you'd rather not join in, but watching it happen makes you smile. That's the best way to describe The Loner, which carries that hesitant, just-starting-out air of a teenager's How I Spent my Summer Vacation essay. Particularly strange when you learn the true age of Cox, who's already penned some forty other books.
I don't know if The Loner ends up being enjoyable despite this fact or because of it. But it is enjoyable all the same, largely thanks to her over-the-top style of writing. I got a huge laugh out of these ultra-interactive extracts; which are not dialogue, just to be clear.
"Where did it all go wrong? Was it after Davie was born? Maybe she couldn't cope when money was tight and he found it difficult to get a job? Was the badness always in her? Or did he somehow cause it? But how could he blame himself? What did he do that was so wrong? And could he really stay here now and keep his sanity? Did he still love her enough?"
"How could he look after her? What would become of them? And what of the boy?"
"Had Lenny meant what he said? Or was it a passing fancy? What if he was right? She was destined to grow old and lonely without him? Could she learn to love Lenny? Was it possible to learn to love someone?"
"Why had he run away? Why couldn't he have stayed and tried harder with Rita? Had she changed now? Had his leaving brought her to her senses? Or was she still gallivanting, bedding every man she met? Moreover, had she found someone to replace him?"
Ah, Josephine?
Sure, these paragraphs aren't meant to be comical. But the entertainment factor remains - and there's not a lot of books I can say that about. So while it's not a novel I'd recommend to anyone (requires a lot of patience to get through), it still makes for an amusing ride, especially in the amount of details people get wrong about it. Consider this input from Fantastic Fiction:
"Back home, those Davie has left behind wait anxiously; like Kathleen, his childhood friend who has held a secret close to her heart."
Her name was Judy.
Make no mistake, this might just be the most contrived schmaltz I've ever read. Granted, weepies are not a genre with which I normally trouble myself. I only caved in and read The Notebook to see if it was less idiotic than the movie, and alas, nothing doing. But at least Nic Sparks had the decency, on that occasion anyway, to condense the annoyance to a fairly slim length, rather than the 445 pages this one chews up.
With that being said...I've retained something of a soft spot for it.
It's an ideal read when you're in the mood for something that cannot be taken seriously. I'm sure that's not the path Josephine Cox intended it for, but it's said with as much backhanded respect as I can manage. The fact is that it's stayed alive in my memory, quite the compliment for what it is. I found it in a bargain bin twelve years ago and was enticed by its synopsis, title, and cheap price. Disappointment lurked upon completion but, in retrospect, the setting in which I turned the final page wasn't great. I read it while waiting for a university class to start, and with said class being a disaster, I wasn't willing to forgive two misleading things in a row. It's true that The Loner's name and summary doesn't entirely fit. As another reviewer mentioned, our leading man barely resembles a loner (I'm qualified to say), and what promises to be his perilous journey of grit is instead a censored, dime-store romance where, save for one incident, everything works out with remarkable convenience.
And not only has it been misrepresented in plot, the mistakes vary from website to website, often growing more incorrect with each helping. Maybe the lack of drama attracts the need to exaggerate, I don't know. But all you can do is smirk when Harper Collins describes the story's protagonist, Davie, as "returning home, where he discovers that only his own fears can keep him from learning the truth about what tore his family apart."
He was never unsure what tore his family apart, guys. His mother screwed around. Many times, in fact.
But in the process, it has its charms. The dialogue is cheesy, the situations forced, the story repetitive and the ending predictable - but in an endearing kind of way, akin to watching a toddler play spaceman in the backyard. The noise grates and you'd rather not join in, but watching it happen makes you smile. That's the best way to describe The Loner, which carries that hesitant, just-starting-out air of a teenager's How I Spent my Summer Vacation essay. Particularly strange when you learn the true age of Cox, who's already penned some forty other books.
I don't know if The Loner ends up being enjoyable despite this fact or because of it. But it is enjoyable all the same, largely thanks to her over-the-top style of writing. I got a huge laugh out of these ultra-interactive extracts; which are not dialogue, just to be clear.
"Where did it all go wrong? Was it after Davie was born? Maybe she couldn't cope when money was tight and he found it difficult to get a job? Was the badness always in her? Or did he somehow cause it? But how could he blame himself? What did he do that was so wrong? And could he really stay here now and keep his sanity? Did he still love her enough?"
"How could he look after her? What would become of them? And what of the boy?"
"Had Lenny meant what he said? Or was it a passing fancy? What if he was right? She was destined to grow old and lonely without him? Could she learn to love Lenny? Was it possible to learn to love someone?"
"Why had he run away? Why couldn't he have stayed and tried harder with Rita? Had she changed now? Had his leaving brought her to her senses? Or was she still gallivanting, bedding every man she met? Moreover, had she found someone to replace him?"
Ah, Josephine?
Sure, these paragraphs aren't meant to be comical. But the entertainment factor remains - and there's not a lot of books I can say that about. So while it's not a novel I'd recommend to anyone (requires a lot of patience to get through), it still makes for an amusing ride, especially in the amount of details people get wrong about it. Consider this input from Fantastic Fiction:
"Back home, those Davie has left behind wait anxiously; like Kathleen, his childhood friend who has held a secret close to her heart."
Her name was Judy.
February 2, 2020
I think this was better than the other book I read by this author, but still not impressed.
It was a decent story and the middle seemed to be the best part.
The beginning was slow and repetitive to me. There is a tragedy and it feels like it keeps getting rehashed every five pages by all the characters. It just seemed a bit much to me.
The ending is the opposite and just runs through everything in a flash. All the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit together perfectly in the last two chapters and everything is resolved. Oddly, there are hardly any conversations at the end of the book taking place to work through the pain of the tragedy. With the amount of drama that took up so much of the characters' feelings in the first part of the book, you would think there would be more to work through in the end than silent forgiveness and understanding. There was no difficulty or hesitation in any of it, yet there was so much stubbornness and guilt at the time of the incident. It's just unbalanced to me.
I did enjoy some parts of the book (mostly anything in the middle), but I wouldn't read it again.
This will be passed on to someone else to enjoy. I just wasn't feeling it.
It was a decent story and the middle seemed to be the best part.
The beginning was slow and repetitive to me. There is a tragedy and it feels like it keeps getting rehashed every five pages by all the characters. It just seemed a bit much to me.
The ending is the opposite and just runs through everything in a flash. All the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit together perfectly in the last two chapters and everything is resolved. Oddly, there are hardly any conversations at the end of the book taking place to work through the pain of the tragedy. With the amount of drama that took up so much of the characters' feelings in the first part of the book, you would think there would be more to work through in the end than silent forgiveness and understanding. There was no difficulty or hesitation in any of it, yet there was so much stubbornness and guilt at the time of the incident. It's just unbalanced to me.
I did enjoy some parts of the book (mostly anything in the middle), but I wouldn't read it again.
This will be passed on to someone else to enjoy. I just wasn't feeling it.
October 6, 2019
Took me a year to finish as it was a “cabin book”. It was hard to chug through this book, the author was extremely wordy and the dialogue was long, dry and at times repetitive. Many pages were written when a few paragraphs would have sufficed.
Read
December 6, 2008I tend to really enjoy these traditional historical fiction novels by this author and interestingly enough Cox is my mum's maiden name and I always pass them along to her
December 31, 2023
Pages 445
This is a great book, very interesting and exciting. I defiantly enjoy the way Josephine describes scenes, feelings and ideas. I would recommend it to everyone
This is a great book, very interesting and exciting. I defiantly enjoy the way Josephine describes scenes, feelings and ideas. I would recommend it to everyone
July 6, 2018
The Loner was such a heartwarming read. I throughly enjoyed it.
A story where a young boy Davie Adams, experiencing a traumatic night, that changed his life forever.
He became a man before his eyes, and had to do what he had to do.
Leaving his friends and family, he had to work out who he was and what he was going to do with the future.
It felt like a lifetime, but at the end it all worked out For his own good.
Josephine Cox is a compelling author, she knows how to grab you, and be glued by her words.
I recommend this book 📖 highly, it’s a delightful read
November 20, 2017
It was boring, but OK - not my cuppa - but not too bad for listening to while driving. I must say though that I found myself waiting for something interesting to happen, and like one of the other reviewers, I would have welcomed just about anything to make it more interesting. If this is one of the better books by this author (according to other reviews) I don't think I'll bother with any of her others.
September 22, 2018
What could have been a superior reading due to the great characters and spell binding plot was almost destroyed by serious continuity problems and excessive repetition of feelings and thoughts by the various characters regarding events. The only reason I finished this book is because I was on a long trip, was listening to the audible version, and the reader was beyond excellent. His character voices were outstanding.
August 15, 2021
Davie, a tortured soul, found himself between his father determination to leave everything and his mother reckless behaviour who needed his protection and love....a stroy of 15 years old boy with sadness and sorrow all over the way, finding himself alone by design, running away from the world, grwoing up, maturing finding love then loosing it that leads to critical decisions to achieve happiness.
Soft, smooth book, loved, a boom to keep.
Soft, smooth book, loved, a boom to keep.
September 6, 2026
I thoroughly enjoyed this well plotted and well written story. Yes, a bit predictable, yes, a happy ending. But yes, a totally relaxing, engaging, heart-warming story. The good are very good, the bad are very bad and the mix of both are treated with humanity and not judgement. To get away from the real world for a few hours is essential at times and keeps everything at a distance, I needed a total mental and physical rest when I picked up this book and it gave me both.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2023
A very dated and disappointing read. The ending was predictable. However I thought what happened to Annie and Phillip was not dealt with at all well. It was brushed over with little thought or consideration of the ongoing effects of what happened. It was rushed and it was as if all the boxes were ticked and lets make things nice for everyone. It is not acceptable in todays times.
March 28, 2023
One of the worst and most boring books I've ever read. The constant repetitions!!! No way would Joseph have repeated himself again and again or any of the others. The plot is so predictable. 2 stars is being generous because I have read better book by Josephine Cox.
March 25, 2024
This was sitting on my bookshelf for years, and I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. The writing standard was not at the level I was expecting, it was pretty lame to be honest. Dragged on in places and then accelerated over parts that could have done with more detail. But it was an easy read.
March 31, 2026
Devo aver pescato questo libro in qualche bancarella di beneficenza… pessima scelta. Noioso, prolisso e ripetitivo, è prevedibile nello sviluppo della trama e risibile nel patetismo dei personaggi, piatti a più non posso. L’ho abbandonato a metà, e destinato al sacco della carta da riciclare.
May 17, 2017
Sorry to say that I found this incredibley boring ...
July 30, 2017
average read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2018
Good storyline. A good read
September 30, 2018
Nice easy read
January 17, 2019
Only 2 stars for this book because it was very boring! Pathetic characters and lots of repetitive text.
May 26, 2019
I was gifted this book along with another one by the same author. The book was not for me, there was a lot of sadness throughout which finally resulted in a happy ending with all loose ends tied up.
September 27, 2019
Always enjoy her books, good easy read. Especially after a heavy novel
September 30, 2019
This was a good easy read. Not a page turner but kept your attention.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews