According to the Missing People charity one in every five hundred of the UK’s adults go missing every year. The reasons are varied but in many cases their families will never hear from them again.

In Drift Stumble Fall M. Jonathan Lee studies just two of these aspects in what is initially a simple story of a week of suburban domesticity featuring two middle class homes.  On the one hand we have Richard giving us his narrative of how he plans to change his life from what he views as a humdrum personal prison, trapping him forever in a world that he is desperate to escape.

The second story features his elderly neighbours who, in Richard’s eyes, have all the peace and contentment that he craves.

Richard’s story is told in the first person, enabling us to get into his head and to understand his justification for considering the destruction of a family life that many would aspire to. Outwardly those nearest to him see nothing unusual except for the occasional odd moment. I was frequently tempted to shout at him to accept help by talking to talk to those he loved but sadly when people are as mentally confused as him they do not always see reason, regardless of how calm they may appear from the outside.

Despite the potential darkness of the situation M. Jonathan Lee tells his story in a light-hearted manner, easy to read and with great humour which varied from pure slapstick to subtle thoughts in his times of isolation. Look out for the morning after the pub night comments.

The author is clearly a good reader of character as all protagonists were convincing, no doubt drawn from traits of family and acquaintances.

Drift Stumble Fall is an enjoyable yet meaningful read. I have awarded the full five stars.

About the Author

M Jonathan Lee is a nationally shortlisted author who was born Yorkshire where he still lives today with his wife, children and dog, Alfie.

His debut novel, The Radio was shortlisted for The Novel Prize 2012. He has spoken in schools, colleges, prisons and universities about creative writing and storytelling and appeared at various literary festivals including Sheffield’s Off the Shelf and Doncaster’s Turn the Page festival.

His second novel, The Page was released in February 2015.

His much anticipated third novel, A Tiny Feeling of Fear was released in September 2015 and tells the story of a character struggling with mental illness. All profits from this novel are donated to charity to raise awareness of mental health issues. This was accompanied by the short film, Hidden which was directed by Simon Gamble and can be seen here.

In 2016, he signed for boutique publishers, Hideaway Fall and his fourth novel Broken Branches was released in July 2017, winning book of the month in Candis magazine for September.

He is a tireless campaigner for mental health awareness and writes his own column regularly for the Huffington Post. He has recently written for the Big Issue and spoken at length about his own personal struggle on the BBC and Radio Talk Europe.

His fifth book, the critically acclaimed Drift Stumble Fall was released in Spring 2018.