One Of Our Ministers Is Missing: From the award-winning writer and former MP

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When Tory peer, businessman, and government minister Edward Bellingham goes missing while holidaying with his wife in Crete, assistant police commissioner Louise Mangan is roped in to investigate alongside Greek police. The story encompasses a hitman planning his last job (and his unsuspecting wife), gangs, people smuggling, a missing journalist, a beleaguered Turkish writer, and even a dash of romance. But there is another equally as important character in this novel, Brady. Seemingly a happily married man with a decent job who lives under the radar. But his real character is nothing like this. He is a killer preparing for his last job. I won’t reveal much more about his storyline because in some ways his character is the most fascinating in the book. He should have been a character I detested but there were aspects of him I appreciated and had sympathy for.

The novel opens with Brady, who isn’t what he seems. He is in fact a professional hitman and his wife doesn’t have a clue about what he does. How will he fit into the main story of Lord Bellingham, redoubtable peer of the realm and – as it transpires – sleaze bag, who seems to have gone missing on the island of Crete? Then there is Bellingham’s glamorous wife on the island, settled in their house in Agia Galini, together with their nanny, who has been entertaining a local young man when the the Lord and Lady are out for the evening. Since his retirement from front line politics, Alan Johnson has gone a considerable way towards acquiring ‘national treasure’ status, partially as a consequence of his memoirs, published in three volumes, which show a great triumph over considerable early adversity, and from his pragmatic and open approach, and his self-deprecating sense of humour. Is there no limit to his talents? . . . I absolutely loved Alan's new thriller, it's brilliant.' Hunter Davies Having read and enjoyed Alan’s previous book I was looking forward to reading this latest novel and I can report that I enjoyed it equally as much. I love his style of writing, he’s a great storyteller and the plots and characters are both interesting and entertaining. I did guess much of the the ending, however, that didn’t spoil the story. My only bug bear is that Alan tends to flip flop characters name, randomly using either the forename or surname, personally I would prefer consistency when referring to a character. I’m looking forward to reading more from Alan in the future.

As a whodunnit, the dastardly scheme is pretty obvious quite early in the piece. This is not actually a bad thing. Often crime novels spend way too much time creating convoluted red herrings and cryptic references that it confuses the reader. This one does not confuse, instead leaving the reader to enjoy watching it all unfold. There are a couple of twist-ettes, perhaps, as the strands are brought together, but nothing that will tax the brain too much. Lord Bellingham, a minister in the Foreign Office, has disappeared while hiking in Crete. Given the political sensitivities Louise is sent to Crete to liaise with the Greek Police, but nothing is as it seems. Lady Bellingham has no interest in talking to the police, the nanny is keeping secrets and the press were investigating Lord Bellingham.

Lord Bellingham is an easy character to dislike as is his wife so when we meet Louise Mangan, a met officer sent in to assist in the investigation into our missing minister, I was on her side straight away and as she mimics a police officer version of Shirley Valentine the love angle of the story appears. On holiday in Crete, Lord Bellingham, a minister in the Foreign Office, goes missing whilst trekking in the White Mountains. There are few clues, only the minister’s mobile phone. Again we meet with Louise Mangan, a member of the British Police Force, now in a higher rank and maintaining great skills. The book flits effortlessly between countries, weaving the threads of a variety of sub-plots, involving international police work and investigation along with the story. I found following the plotline through seamless and really felt that there’d been meticulous attention paid in the finer details. I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for a review copy of One of our Ministers Is Missing, the second novel to feature AC Louise Mangan of the Met.

One Of Our Ministers Is Missing

I didn’t read the first book in this series but I’ll be rectifying that now. This was an engaging read with a good plotline and an easy writing style. A good mix of police procedure and thriller involving a contract killer, a Lord of the Realm, an Assistant Commissioner of the Met and a Greek police officer. There are two distinct threads to this character driven book both in London and one of them in Crete. Some of the characters are well developed, but others feel rather stereotyped - the obese and alcoholic journalist Christopher Finch, Brady the Belfast-born hitman, the naive Geordie nanny, Dimitri the restaurateur. And in the audio-book version, the narrator (Richard Attlee) rather ill-advisedly chooses affect each accent for the dialogue sections. It does help to delineate the characters but at times it feels a bit music hall. Under pressure from the powers that be, can Louise find the missing minister, or will she discover something much more sinister at play? My Review Our Government minister is Lord Bellingham and yes he goes missing whilst on a walk in rural Crete. The story twists more than his trek and you will be left breathless as if you were along for the walk; a walk made very pleasurable by great descriptive writing.