Book Review - The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

You have probably heard about this one by now. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It deals with the effect on a town, of the death of a small town's councilor thus creating a casual vacancy on the council. His death affects many in the town. From those who are jockeying for his council position to others who only now realize that their relationship was in some way buffered by his presence. I heard a review which said that the dead man was the only nice man in the town and I can see why that is the impression but the writing is more nuanced than that. It doesn't shy away from problems of the disconnected and the poor, viz drugs, abuse, bullying and teenage sex but I found the characterizations compelling and the situations realistic. Wendy