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Lockdown
Quiet, unassuming Meg Thorne is practically invisible. But this retired philosophy professor has plenty of opinions – like, why do people dismiss little old ladies as harmless?
Meg and her two friends, the tough-as-nails Dorothy Arden and the boisterous Lila Gatti, have decided to be a Force for Good with their Grey Ghosts Agency: because little old ladies can go undercover where other detectives can’t.
Their new case is the infiltration of Sunnyvale Residential and Care Home to learn why their client’s mother, Sara, is suddenly so afraid but won’t talk. It’s Meg’s job to check into Sunnyvale for ‘a short rest’ and uncover the truth.
Meg will have to confront her own fears of ageing while also investigating why Sara’s friend Jenny is being held in isolation, why an old enemy is popping up, what one of the other residents knows about the fate of Lila Gatti’s disabled son, and whether the other residents are truly prepared for Meg’s timely lecture on philosophy and responsibility.
Dangers lurk in Sunnyvale, but nobody counted on an unfolding global pandemic being one of them. Will Meg be able to leave with the truth, or will she be trapped in a lockdown with those who mean her harm in Janna Thompson's Lockdown.
Meg and her two friends, the tough-as-nails Dorothy Arden and the boisterous Lila Gatti, have decided to be a Force for Good with their Grey Ghosts Agency: because little old ladies can go undercover where other detectives can’t.
Their new case is the infiltration of Sunnyvale Residential and Care Home to learn why their client’s mother, Sara, is suddenly so afraid but won’t talk. It’s Meg’s job to check into Sunnyvale for ‘a short rest’ and uncover the truth.
Meg will have to confront her own fears of ageing while also investigating why Sara’s friend Jenny is being held in isolation, why an old enemy is popping up, what one of the other residents knows about the fate of Lila Gatti’s disabled son, and whether the other residents are truly prepared for Meg’s timely lecture on philosophy and responsibility.
Dangers lurk in Sunnyvale, but nobody counted on an unfolding global pandemic being one of them. Will Meg be able to leave with the truth, or will she be trapped in a lockdown with those who mean her harm in Janna Thompson's Lockdown.
214 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2022
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2023
“I imagined recruiting a gang of old women to be undercover agents. What would they be called: the Grey Ghosts, the White Spectres, the Senior Sleuths or the Killer Crones? I decided that final name wouldn’t be right. My gang would not commit murder; the Grey Ghosts would be a force for good.”
Professor Janna Thompson, one of Australia’s most eminent philosophers with expertise in environmental ethics, feminism and global justice, who published many scholarly articles and books during her career, was also a life long crime fiction fan. Lockdown has been published posthumously after her untimely death in mid 2022.
Set in Melbourne in early 2020, Lockdown is an entertaining mystery told from the alternating perspectives of unassuming retired philosophy lecturer Meg Thorne, and Jenny Mueller, a woman confined to a bed in a nursing home.
Meg is the founding member of the Grey Ghosts, a group of three women who have created their own detective agency. As women of a certain age, Meg, Lila Gatti and Dorothy Arden have learnt they are often overlooked or ignored in most situations and as such are excellent at subterfuge. Having already successfully assisted in exposing a fraudster, the women are confident they can help when they are asked to investigate Sunnyvale Residential and Care Home, which houses a mix of permanent and temporary residents, by a son worried about his mother, Sara Brighouse.
As the eldest and frailest of the group, Meg is the obvious choice to enter the nursing home, though she’s reluctant. She has traumatic memories of her own mother’s time in such an institution but with reassurance from her friends, she allows herself to be convinced. Feigning a recent fall and the need for a recovery period, Meg moves in with high hopes she can resolve the case quickly but Sara, who appears frightened, refuses to talk.
Meanwhile Jenny, who is kept heavily sedated and confined to a bed in the medical ward, desperately wants to talk with her best friend, Sara. As she slips in and out of awareness she recalls disturbing memories from her childhood as well as happier times shared with Sara.
As Meg tries to find the source of Sara’s distress, several possible causes come to light, some of these prove to be red herrings, while others overlap with Meg’s main objective. Thompson’s plotting is thoughtful and I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery. The tension in the novel heightens considerably as Meg, on the cusp of solving the mystery, is trapped in the Home when the Coronavirus pandemic begins, and someone is determined she won’t leave alive.
Thompson touches on a number of serious themes in Lockdown including ageism, cancer, sexual assault, elder abuse, addiction, and of course the threat posed by the pandemic. Still the tone is reasonably light and there are flashes of humour, even a spark of romance (though Meg denies it).
An engaging mystery, Lockdown is another fine legacy Janna Thompson has gifted the world.
Professor Janna Thompson, one of Australia’s most eminent philosophers with expertise in environmental ethics, feminism and global justice, who published many scholarly articles and books during her career, was also a life long crime fiction fan. Lockdown has been published posthumously after her untimely death in mid 2022.
Set in Melbourne in early 2020, Lockdown is an entertaining mystery told from the alternating perspectives of unassuming retired philosophy lecturer Meg Thorne, and Jenny Mueller, a woman confined to a bed in a nursing home.
Meg is the founding member of the Grey Ghosts, a group of three women who have created their own detective agency. As women of a certain age, Meg, Lila Gatti and Dorothy Arden have learnt they are often overlooked or ignored in most situations and as such are excellent at subterfuge. Having already successfully assisted in exposing a fraudster, the women are confident they can help when they are asked to investigate Sunnyvale Residential and Care Home, which houses a mix of permanent and temporary residents, by a son worried about his mother, Sara Brighouse.
As the eldest and frailest of the group, Meg is the obvious choice to enter the nursing home, though she’s reluctant. She has traumatic memories of her own mother’s time in such an institution but with reassurance from her friends, she allows herself to be convinced. Feigning a recent fall and the need for a recovery period, Meg moves in with high hopes she can resolve the case quickly but Sara, who appears frightened, refuses to talk.
Meanwhile Jenny, who is kept heavily sedated and confined to a bed in the medical ward, desperately wants to talk with her best friend, Sara. As she slips in and out of awareness she recalls disturbing memories from her childhood as well as happier times shared with Sara.
As Meg tries to find the source of Sara’s distress, several possible causes come to light, some of these prove to be red herrings, while others overlap with Meg’s main objective. Thompson’s plotting is thoughtful and I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery. The tension in the novel heightens considerably as Meg, on the cusp of solving the mystery, is trapped in the Home when the Coronavirus pandemic begins, and someone is determined she won’t leave alive.
Thompson touches on a number of serious themes in Lockdown including ageism, cancer, sexual assault, elder abuse, addiction, and of course the threat posed by the pandemic. Still the tone is reasonably light and there are flashes of humour, even a spark of romance (though Meg denies it).
An engaging mystery, Lockdown is another fine legacy Janna Thompson has gifted the world.
October 27, 2022
Author Janna Thompson was a distinguished Australian philosopher, noted for Intergenerational Justice: Rights and Responsibilities in an Intergenerational Polity. Apart from reviewing for Australian Book Review she was a crime fiction fan. She put the final touches to her own book “Lockdown” sadly just before her death in June 2022 aged 79. As its title suggests, the story is set during the global pandemic. Under her guise of “innocuous oldie” character Meg Thorne appears a quiet and unassuming retired philosophy professor, almost invisible because of her age and gender. This works in her favour when Meg and her two friends, Dorothy Arden and Lila Gatti, set up their own detective agency – using the premise that golden gals can go undercover where younger detectives cannot, e.g. into Sunnyvale Aged Care Home where something suspicious is going on. Meg decides to take a short stay at Sunnyvale to uncover the truth behind the threat but Covid-19 rears its ugly head, the world locks down, and Meg is stuck there. This is a novel with a fresh twist on the recent spate of energetic seniors stories, such as Richard Osman’s “Thursday Murder Club” or Joanna Nell’s “Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village”. An enjoyable mystery and relatable for anyone dubbed “retired senior” because seniors know nobody ever actually retires, least of all Meg.
December 8, 2022
✍️This story is set during the Covid Pandemic and follows retired philosophy Professor Meg Thorne who is part of a detective agency with her two friends Dorothy and Lila. She goes undercover into Sunnyvale Aged Care Home where something suspicious is going on. When COVID -19 strikes the world she is stuck within the walls with no way of escaping.
I RELISHED this book by the Late Janna Thompson. I immersed it from beginning to end. I delighted in the storyline and the quick chapters that followed. I couldn't put it down.
The writing style was remarkably lucid and gave me "Thursday Murder Club" Vibes. I enjoyed the assortment of topics from Sleuthing, Philosophy, and Mystery and procured the plot to be imaginative and creative. There were instances where I felt sadness and inequity about the mistreatment of certain individuals. A fabulous story with critical awareness of elder care
I RELISHED this book by the Late Janna Thompson. I immersed it from beginning to end. I delighted in the storyline and the quick chapters that followed. I couldn't put it down.
The writing style was remarkably lucid and gave me "Thursday Murder Club" Vibes. I enjoyed the assortment of topics from Sleuthing, Philosophy, and Mystery and procured the plot to be imaginative and creative. There were instances where I felt sadness and inequity about the mistreatment of certain individuals. A fabulous story with critical awareness of elder care
May 25, 2024
It’s sad what can happen, and what HAS happened to the elderly in nursing homes. The elderly in their declining years should be treated with respect and not taken advantage of.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews