Helen is a retired teacher living on the Irish coast. She enjoys the peace and quiet – despite the burden of Margaret, her unpleasant sister. Margaret arrived three years ago for a short holiday, but somehow managed to stay and worm her way into Helen’s life.

One day, Helen sees a man struggling in the sea and decides to investigate. She doesn’t quite know what it is, but something about it feels very strange…

The Swimmer is a short book, a novella really, from Television presenter Graham Norton. It’s just 82 pages long, and I actually read it in one night. Now granted it was the night after we came back from a trip to the USA and I had jet lag and just could not get back to sleep, but I also wanted to finish this book.

This is the second of Norton’s books I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Before I get onto the book itself, I want to address one thing. Yes, this is the second review I have written and published for this blog, and so far both have been by “Celebrity Authors”. Firstly, I didn’t choose them just because they were written by celebrity authors. I liked the sound of the books. And as I said, I have read another Graham Norton book before and enjoyed it, and I will happily read more of his books again. I know there is a bit of a backlash against celebrity authors, and I get that these authors may find it easier to get a book deal than other authors who don’t have a famous name and are just as good, even better writers. I just don’t feel that you should necessarily dismiss all authors with a famous name just because they are known for something else. Actors, comedians, artists etc they are all story tellers in their own formats, and sometimes in more than one format. Secondly, and very briefly, no this blog will absolutely not be dedicated just to reviews of books by Celebrity Authors.

So, onto this book. The story, as the blurb quoted above suggests, is about Helen whose quiet, but not altogether happy, retirement is rather shaken up by the disappearance of a swimmer from the sea near her home. Helen is the last person to see this man, and while the police investigate and appear to close the case easily and quickly, something about it doesn’t sit right with Helen. Together with the owner of the local pub, who she begins a friendship with despite his being many years her junior, Helen decides to do some investigating of her own, uncovering a rather different story.

This was a really good story, a mystery that I felt didn’t give too many clues as to the direction it was going to the reader so that you felt the conclusion was inevitable. It was fast moving, and short enough that most people would be able to finish it in at most a couple of sittings. It kept you wanting to turn the page and find out what happened, whilst still feeling like quite a gentle story.

I have only been to Ireland once and don’t know it very well, so may not be best placed to say whether or not Norton captures Ireland, but he certainly writes his Irish settings so that you feel like you know them at the end of his books. His love of his homeland is clear throughout this book.

The book is an easy read and a page turner. It does make a great holiday read, but if I were to compare this book to the last book reviewed here Thrown by Sara Cox, it is definitely this one I would re-read and recommend, and the one I am more likely to remember in a year. I have read one of Graham Norton’s books before this, and after this one would certainly read more of his books again in the future.

I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.