⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Mind-blowing  ⭐⭐⭐⭐Compulsive  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Haunting  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Terrifying ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Brilliant⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐A Masterful Writer


A Spiralling Obsession. A Missing Wife. A Terrifying Secret. Will he find her before it’s too late?

When Dr Jacob Boyce’s wife goes missing, Glasgow CID put it down to a simple marital dispute. Jacob, however, fears something darker. Following her trail to Spain, he becomes convinced that Ella’s disappearance is tied to a mysterious painting whose hidden geometric and numerical riddles he’s been obsessively collating in a notebook, and trying to solve for months. Obscure, hallucinogenic clues, and bizarre, larger-than-life characters, guide an increasingly unhinged Jacob through a nightmarish Spanish landscape to an art forger’s studio in Madrid, where he comes face-to-face with a centuries-old horror, and the terrifying, mind-bending, truth about his wife.

OTHER BOOKS

WHAT READERS SAYS

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 The smartest literary thriller youʼll read this year. The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce is one of those rare novels that feed the mind and soul in equal measure.

Alistair braidwood

Scots Whay Hae!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A brilliantly unsettling novel…As rich in layered detail and twisted invention as the art of the Baroque painters at the centre of its mystery.

David F. ross

Author - The Last Days of Disco (Disco Days Trilogy)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A profound and intricate story. It has the nature of a waking dream … where we come up against the limit of our rational knowledge and touch on worlds beyond. 

nichol wheatley

Scottish Artist

ABOUT AUTHOR

Tom Gillespie grew up in a small town just outside Glasgow. After completing a Masters in English at Glasgow University, he spent the next ten years valiantly attempting to avoid work. Sadly, the authorities finally caught up with him and he now lives in Bath with his wife, daughter and hyper-neurotic cat, where he teaches at the University and writes in the the narrow gaps between.

Tom Gillespie- Writer

I come in here and hope that one day I will find it...you know...the stillness.

Tom is a novel and short fiction writer. His stories have been published worldwide in journals, e-zines and creative anthologies including East of the Web, Linden Literary Review, Untitled, Alephi, and The Ogilvie. In 2020, two of his stories were selected  the Federation of Writers, Scotland New Voices Anthology. Glass Work Humans – A collection of Short Stories is due to be published, Autumn 2020. 

The Strange Book of Jacob Boyce  is the first of a trilogy of novels set in his hometown of Glasgow, published by Vine Leaves Press, and available to pre-order now.

Tom Gillespie

Writer

Sign up for Tom's newsletter, updates, a FREE copy of A Small Book of Strange Stories,
and more...

Scroll to top