Gilly Macmillan’s Odd Child Out combines a detective story with two very earnest themes: dying children and racism towards immigrants. Detective Jim Clemo works in Bristol, a city in Southwest UK. He is given the case of a 15 year old boy, Noah, who is near death because he fell in a canal, and he already had a very serious illness. He was with his best friend Adbi, who is a Somali refugee, whose family moved to Bristol before he was born. The police want to know what happened but Abdi won’t say. He refuses to speak. Through telling the story from the perspectives of most of the main characters in different chapters, Macmillan gives a multidimensional account. We get to know the families of Noah and Abdi, through both their eyes and other family members. Detective Clemo has recently returned to work after a difficult time and he has gone through therapy. His personal life continues to be complicated.

The book shows modern Britain, with the interaction between the liberal mainstream, the growing right wing forces, and the immigrant population. The story starts off with an anti-immigrant demonstration, and the local newspaper fuels interest in its stories by playing on the fears of its readers about immigration. Noel’s father is a photographer who has an exhibition of photographs from Somalia. Abdi goes to the same school as Noel, a fee-paying private school where he as a scholarship, helping the family to become part of mainstream life. The police are very concerned about not making community tensions worse. So there is plenty about race, class, and gender here. The story unfolds slowly and may be trying to do too much. The text could have done with some editing – at over 430 pages, the story drags in the middle. However, for those who know the city of Bristol, it is a pleasure to have a novel set there, with a portrayal of the issues facing the city. The characters are well drawn and the friendship between the two boys is especially well drawn, leading to a moving ending.

© 2017 Christian Perring

Christian Perring teaches in NYC.