Product Description

The 1980s. Kate Meaney - with her 'Top Secret' notebook and
Mickey her toy monkey - is busy being a junior detective. She observes
goings-on and follows 'suspects' at the newly opened Green Oaks shopping
centre and in her street, where she is friends with the newsagent's son,
Adrian. But when this curious, independent-spirited young girl disappears,
Adrian falls under suspicion and is hounded out of his home by the press.

Then, in 2004, Adrian's sister Lisa - stuck in a going-nowhere relationship
- is working as a deputy manager at Your Music, a cut-price record store.
Every day she tears her hair out at the horribly bizarre behaviour of her
customers and colleagues. But together with security guard Kurt, she
becomes entranced by the little girl they keep glimpsing on the centre's
CCTV. As their after-hours friendship intensifies, they investigate how
these sightings might be connected to the unsettling history of Green Oaks
itself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #781 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Guardian
'An exceptional, polyphonic novel of urban disaffection, written
with humour and pathos'

Daily Mail
'A superb, haunting novel from a new literary talent'

Jonathan Coe
'Skewers our consumer society in all its absurdity and terrible
sadness. A great debut novel from an awesomely talented writer'

Customer Reviews

Booker List? You Gotta Be Kidding
I see all the excellent novels passed over on both the long and short lists for the Booker, then along comes a derivative, self-important book like this and I admit I feel a bit aggrieved. A 10-year-old who starts a detective agency with a stuffed monkey but is her school's second smartest student? The character of Kate is so badly constructed that she's totally unbelievable. Her age level seems to vary between 4 and 40. As for the rest of the book, come on, some people actually like to shop, and work, at the mall. It's not Sartre's no exit, it's a shopping center. I'm so bored with immature writers scribbling as if any place that gives people the opportunity to buy things in multiple shops rather than the over-priced high street with its dusty goods (and in this book) spoiled meats is the 21st century version of hell. I skimmed the last 50% of this book, not being able to another entire page of the daily life of mall employees.

A wonderful story

A delightfully complete read with an intriguing new angle on shopping evolution. Immediately you feel at home in Kate's company and enjoy her innocent way of looking at the world around her - it is such a funny book as well as being a mystery, a psychological thriller and a romantic story.
The idea of a shopping centre having something in common with vast old cathedrals and medieval buildings is a thoughtful touch. The thoughts that pass through the minds of the shoppers and other occupants of the building are utterly realistic.
The characters are all right on target, their regrets, fears and inhibitions all too understandable.
I loved it, read it in a day and hurried to lend it on. A fresh and friendly read with good human stories that linger in the mind afterwards. Everything falls into place.....

what was a great book
The first part of this book is absolutely brilliant, because we're following in the footsteps of would-be detective Kate Meaney and her sidekick stuffed monkey and both are charming, quirky, funny heroes and we really care about what happens to them. Then we jump forward 20 years, to the shopping mall which is the gloomy, ghostly, cavernous entity at the centre of the book. Bereaved security guard, Kurt, sees a small girl on the camera late at night, and he and his tentative new friend Lisa, set out to find the truth about the child. I actually liked both Kurt and Lisa, I thought they were rounded characters, but the book does drag in the middle. The suspense we feel the first time Kurt sees Kate on the camera just isn't sustained and there's no particular reason for the ghost to be there. The mystery of Kate's disappearance is solved, but nothing really changes.

There are also rather a lot of coincidences and people forget really important things and then remember them when its convenient to the plot.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book, but when I reached the end and thought about it, I felt a little let down. It's not a five-star read, but I would have given it four-and-a-half if I could!