Book Review : The Long Journey Home by Michael Gilbert

Once again, browsing in a second-hand bookshop produces an absolute belter of a book. I’d never read a book by Michael Gilbert before, but there it was on the shelf. I have an affliction where I can’t visit a bookshop and NOT buy a book, so I bought The Long Journey Home.

Admittedly, the protagonist of the book, John Benedict, is a self-made millionnaire who is absurdly fit, but even so the story is wonderful.

Benedict has a premonition that the plane he’s on will crash, so he curtails his trip in Rome. He decides to walk through southern Italy fixing farm machinery for free for the locals. He befriends a particular family and is shocked when they’re killed by the mafia. He reckons the mafia were intending to kill him due to his business dealings. He has to escape, but the mafia have spies everywhere, so he makes the brave decision to head back to the UK by walking, as you do!

He avoids the mafia and the Union Corse in France. He realises that the British company he sold his own company to, have had shady deals with the mafia and the union corse, so he’s determined to sort out the company too. Does he succeed?