Bluff
by Francine Toon
In 2023, Cameron, a teacher in his twenties, returns for Christmas to his family in the coastal village of St Rule (modelled on St Andrews?), in Fife, Scotland, ten years after graduating from school there. His visit home, prompted by a recent break-up, revives memories of his student life and of a momentous end-of-school party, during which his friend Joanie was cheated on by her then-boyfriend. This leads him to realize that he has not heard from his old school companion in a long time. His attempts to trace her and catch up, however, are unexpectedly and mysteriously stonewalled — including by some of his closest friends. When Cameron starts receiving threats, he figures out that his curiosity might well be dangerous...
I had lapped up Francine Toon’s debut novel Pine, with its mix of mystery and supernatural Gothic, set in Scotland, a country I love. Bluff had enough similarities to pique, and retain, my interest: the same Scottish setting, a mystery at its heart, and Gothic overtones verging on dark academia. Toon also skilfully employs a mix of alternating narrative voices: a teenage essay by Joanie recounting a break-in at her house that would prove to be a defining moment in her life; the 2013 storyline, narrated in the third person, charting Joanie’s increasing involvement with the enigmatic Erin and David; and the “present” timeline, narrated by Cameron in the first person.
Yet Bluff never quite surpasses Pine. Toon’s
second novel feels as if it’s straining to capture the same atmosphere, but
with a plot that is less convincing. When the explanations arrive, somewhat
rushed in the final chapters, they feel anticlimactic and their impact is
underwhelming. As mystery thrillers go, this is a good and entertaining read,
but hardly an unforgettable one.
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