"The Invisible Ones" by Stef Penney

In The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, Rose Janko has lived his life as a gypsy, travelling around with his family without having any precise goals to attain. Seven years ago, Rose Janko went missing without a trace, and private investigator Ray Lovell was hired on the case. Unfortunately, today the investigator, is stuck to a hospital bed, being struck by paralysis with delirium dangerously looming over him. 

The interesting part of his life, however, is the one which led up to the accident that put him in a hospital bed. What exactly led the gypsies to choose Ray as an investigator? Well, it had pretty much nothing to do with his investigative skills and more with the fact that Ray is actually half-Romany himself.

However, as it usually happens, things take a turn for the strange with the Jankos as Ray, the investigator the family hired, starts poking around… and receives nothing but hostility from the family. Naturally, Ray finds it suspicious that the family who hired him to find their son is stopping him from accomplishing his mission, and being a private investigator in a detective novel, he has nothing to do but dig deeper and deeper.

He finds that the Jankos have been victims of some great tragedies which have shaped their hostile minds… Ray believes that the family is either touched by some kind of Romany curse from the beyond, or, more likely, that the family is hiding some kind of terrible secret (is there any other kind of secret?)… and as you can surely guess, it’s related to the disappearance of Rose. 

The Invisible Ones is quite an entertaining novel which simply seeks to provide you with a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, all while having you relax at the same time. The Romany, I find, are a very under-explored culture in books and movies, albeit being quite interesting as they are practically the only ones still living a true nomadic lifestyle. 

They have their own societies and systems of belief and behaviour, all of which are well-depicted in this novel as Ray tries to unravel a web of mystery and deceit.

---

Stef Penney Personal site Stef Penney is a Scottish writer and filmmaker who grew up in the country's capital and has earned a degree in Philosphy and Theology from Bristol University. In 2006 she was awarded the Costa Book Awards as well as The Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award for her debut novel, The Tenderness of Wolves.