Lead Review (The Lollipop Man)
- Book: The Lollipop Man
- Location: West Yorkshire
- Author: Daniel Sellers
The Lollipop Man is a brutal and sinister thriller set in West Yorkshire. It also, perhaps strangely, has the feel of a cozy crime novel. This is possibly because two of the main characters solving the mystery are not police but members of the community. In the mid 1980s four children in fictitious Toller Bridge were kidnapped off the streets. Three girls were never seen again, the fourth – a boy – escaped (or was released?) almost immediately. Around two weeks after they disappeared, an item of clothing from each girl was left for the police to find, and small shrines were discovered on the local moors. The perpetrator was nicknamed The Lollipop Man because, disguised as a school crossing volunteer, he was seen leading the second child hand in hand across the street to the van into which he bundled her.
Fast forward to 1994, and The Lollipop Man appears to strike again. Another little girl is kidnapped and the same routine of an item of clothing and a shrine follows. Two citizens take it upon themselves to help the police (though I’m not certain the police would call it help…). They are the boy who survived the 1994 kidnapping and an erstwhile journalist turned local TV presenter. They both have history with the 1994 events (the boy obviously, the presenter because she covered the story at the time and was not proud of what she wrote). They discover connections and clues they follow, clues that lead them – via circuitous routes – to the location where they believe the kidnapper is living. The police are always one step behind them… Given the location (the moors of West Yorkshire) the similarities to the crimes of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady (just over the Lancashire border) are hard to ignore.
The climax is frightening and macabre, and not for the faint hearted.
The Lollipop Man is very firmly set in West Yorkshire, an area a little to the south of where TripFiction is based. It feels quite close to home… It is also the location for the real crime exploits of the Yorkshire Ripper and, as remarked above, just over the border from the Moors Murders. An area with history…
Please wait...
