Odd Child Out: A Novel

How well do you know the people you love…? Best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol’s Feeder Canal, Abdi can’t–or won’t–tell anyone what happened. Just back from a mandatory leave following his last case, Detective Jim Clemo is now assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle. Noah is British. Abdi is a Somali refugee. And social tensions have been rising rapidly in Bristol. Against this background of fear and fury two families fight for their sons and for the truth. Neither of them know how far they will have to go, what demons they will have to face, what pain they will have to suffer. Because the truth hurts.My Thoughts: Set in Bristol, a community in the UK,  Odd Child Out: A Novel  is a story of friendship, of betrayal, of loss, and of people from very different worlds brought together in unexpected ways.The author portrays the boys, Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad, through the eyes of their families and also from their own perspectives.Because of his illness, Noah comes across as a self-absorbed teenager, possibly with a sense of entitlement, but in the end, we see more depth to him. We learn that, in many ways, he is also thinking of others when he takes certain dangerous actions.Abdi has struggled with life in the UK, and even though he doesn’t remember the country from which they came, his family shows him what that world was like through the years as they carry on despite their struggles. Secrets that will come back to haunt them all drive Abdi to take some risky steps, while struggling with a terrible incident involving Noah and the Feeder Canal. Not knowing the truth lends itself to self-blame and bold actions.DI Jim Clemo’s narrative added that extra piece to the story, showing the reader how the police deal with the social tensions of a community divided by their fear and fury. His own poor choices in a previous case add to the caution he takes with this one. But in the end, he follows his best instincts and brings in a good outcome.Letters written by Noah and found afterwards evoked great emotion in the characters…and in this reader. There were plodding aspects to the tale, but overall, it was a beautifully wrought story that earned 4.5 stars.

Three books so far and each one knocks it out of the park .But Gilly will never be a media/ book darling and it’s because she doesn’t give the public what it wants and that’s one of the reasons I adore her. It’s hard to even classify what genre to put her stories in; there’s no big reveal or surprise or drama at break neck speed; it’s more like taking a walk in the woods and admiring each and every leaf and tree and blade of grass that makes up the woods and just enjoying the flow. She writes about subjects that are uncomfortable ( race, inferiority, games people play inside their own minds) and It’s done so well; I genuinely admire her work.This involves two boys Noah and Abdi, Noah’s terminally ill and some people see what they think is Abdi rough housing with him one day and pushing him into the water. Detective Jim Clemo is on the case and investigates what really happen that day. I always show my husband a few new books and ask him to pick my next read and he bypassed this one twice I asked why he said “looks boring” and that is precisely what is so worrisome to me. I think the public might view the title or even the “blurb” “boring” when nothing could be further from the truth Gilliam MacMillan writes about what is real; she writes close to the heart and I am forever a fan. Bravo on another job remarkably well done! And keep in the cult status please it makes me love you even more ❤️❤️

I generally love this author. This book was not chilling, it was not a page turner nor was it a psycho thriller. What it was, was boring. I can usually read a good book in about 3 days. This took me almost 2 weeks to get through. I kept hoping there was going to be some exciting twist, but it never happened.

This was not the story I expected, it was much better. The mystery of how Noah died was only a small part of this story about a family from Somalia and a family from the UK. As the storyline developed so did my interest in the characters and how they dealt with the tragedies in their lives. It was nice to read about basically good people who struggled to deal with the challenges of the past and the illness of a child.

The characters from this book are from two different words but the friendship of the characters bring them together. Both families have different struggles and it makes you more aware of the suffering of those around us. It keeps your interest until the end. The characters are realistic and also the detective who is searching for the truth about what happened next the two boys. Looking forward for more from this author.

Macmillan has carefully developed each character so that we understand their motives, and have compassion for their mistakes. The mystery is compelling and keeps us engaged, but most of all we really care for the characters, fearing for them as we hope for their innocence and their safety. In addition the book takes on an important social issue leading the reader to a better understanding of ome of the cricial issues of our times.

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I loved this book. I’ve read all 3 of Ms. Macmillan’s books & enjoyed them all, but this is my favorite. The detective was a very sympathetic character. All the characters did things I liked & didn’t like which made this a very realistic story. It was different than anything I’ve read, though. I look forward to the next book by this author.

Gilly Macmillan's debut, Burnt Paper Sky, was a stand-out for me and when I reviewed her second book, The Perfect Girl, I lamented its lack of DI Jim Clemo, whose wonderful angst-ridden character had left me wanting more. Clemo is back in Odd Child Out and I was looking forward to this enormously as I love books that have a cracking story but also a great character to follow at their centre.Well, I am now struggling to remember exactly what it was that I loved about DI Clemo. He was back and I liked him, but he seemed to be a watered-down version of himself. I think one of the reasons is that he wasn't in so much of the book - a lot of it was given over to other characters. Maybe it could have been a bit longer with a little more character development, as I didn't feel we learnt anything more about him or saw his situation move on much.All that said, Odd Child Out is a cracking story. 2 teenage boys:- Abdi, the son of hard-working immigrants and Noah, who has spent half of his life fighting illness and is now in a coma following an accident. It's narrated partly in the first person by DI Clemo and partly by Noah, 'speaking' from his comatose state. Parts of it are also written in the third person. Abdi is refusing to talk and no one knows how Noah's accident occurred. The two families are empathetically dealt with as all the events unfold as to the reasons why the two normally nerdy boys go off into the night and end up in a restricted area next to a river. This was a really good read and I was especially moved to read the author's note at the end that certain aspects of the story were based on personal events. I look forward to Miss Macmillan's next outing.

What a refreshing change for a book to live up to the good reviews. ( the last couple of books I’ve read based on gushing reviews have been rubbish).There’s an awful lot going on here and Macmillan manages to keep the guessing right to the very end, which is an achievement and keeps the tension of the storyline high. What seems to be a very unfortunate accident- where a boy, Noah, falls in the canal, receiving bad head injuries, turns into a conundrum when questionable facts come to light. Two 15 years old boys, Noah and Abdi, are a couple of the central characters. They are great friends; Noah being English and Abdi being a Somalian immigrant. DI Jim Clemo has been tasked to look into the ‘accident’. The investigation subsequently throws up refugee issues, dealing with illness, suspected racism and revenge reporting.The book is well written; not flimsy English and the plot well thought out and believable. I would recommend this. I shall certainly look forward to the next book by this author.

Back from Gilly Macmillan's incredibly gripping debut, 'What She Knew', is Inspector Jim Clemo, freshly released from his requisite counselling and assigned a low priority case that quickly becomes high priority. Jim Clemo investigates when an unfortunate accident leaves Noah, a British boy in a coma. But Abdi, the Somali refugee at the heart of the case, is refusing to talk.Set against the backdrop of social tensions in Bristol, this is an excellent psychological literary story that will make you think about the way we perceive what happens around us. I enjoyed that it wasn't a straightforward suspense novel and wove controversial topics into the story. Really fantastic read that kept me engaged right up to the very end.

Noah and Abdi are best friends and are inseparable but when Noah is found floating unconscious in a canal, Abdi can’t or won’t tell anyone what happened.Jim Clemo is back from mandatory leave and is now assigned to look into this incident. It soon ignites into a public battle as Noah is British and Abdi is a Somali refugee. Against the background of fear and fury two families fight for their sons and for the truth.I found this to be a slow burner but I was very interested to find out what was going to happen. Overall an ok read.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would; it had an interesting twist in the storyline which built on the interest.I was a bit irritated by the fact that the story was told in the first person for two of the main characters and this was quite confusing as it sometimes took a few sentences to realise which person was speaking. Not sure why the author thought this was a good idea as it certainly didn’t add to the flow of the story.I would also have liked more detail as to what had caused Clemo’s meltdown after a previous case and also his and his sister’s problems, but maybe this is being saved for future books?That said, a good book and an interesting choice of storyline and well worth reading