Dave Thompson
’Dancing Man’ is a novel that concerns a mother’s need for retribution and how she achieves it. The story is based in the Liverpool of the 1950’s and involves the disappearance and murder of a small boy.Little Freddie Jones was the apple of his mother’s eye, for Joan Jones he was her link back to the husband she lost in the war when his ship was torpedoed. She loved her little Freddie, and one day he was taken away from her in a brutal, savage manner. Joan could not bring her son back, but she was determined that no other mother would suffer in the same way. His murderer had to be found. There had to be justice for little Freddie and retribution, but how?’Dancing Man’ has no hero, just a small team of men who set out to bring her justice and the reader is taken on a journey that ends up in Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. Along the way further murders are revealed, all of small boys dispersed around the country in an almost random way.William Coleman is an unusually small and intelligent man with an obsession with fairgrounds and puppets, especially Punch’s heads. William’s involvement in the intricacies of Abbey life in Tewkesbury proves central to revealing a deadly organised crime. However, the fairground fraternity’s close-knit way of life makes things extremely difficult for the local police force who are desperate to solve their own murder of a local boy.The investigation is to take an unusual and disastrous turn when a few of the officers are revealed to be unsuspecting bit players in the crimes.’Dancing Man’ explores the effect that the crimes have on the families involved, and those tasked with solving the crimes. The murders prove to be complex, wide ranging, and difficult to solve. However, they are solved, and retribution is had, but whether it is ultimately worthwhile is for the reader to decide.
