Book Review: ‘Leaving the Drift’ by Tom Bray

Title: Leaving the Drift

Author: Tom Bray

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 2023

WARNING: Leaving the Drift contains several topics that are unsuitable for younger readers and that adults may find distressing. Leaving the Drift deals with issues of death, the death of children, child abuse and sexual abuse.

Leaving the Drift is the third and (so far) final book in Tom Bray’s The Drift Series. The story is set approximately six years after the previous book: Closing the Drift.

In our world, Kitty’s life has progressed a great deal since we last encountered her. Now a primary school teacher and pregnant with twins, Kitty is discovering what she really wants out of life. Despite becoming a father, Danny has returned to his previous behaviour of drifting through life. Although Danny’s heart is always in the right place he often struggles to make deeper connections with people outside his family unit.

Inside the Drift (an afterlife-esque realm for people who died before they reached eighteen) Ali is on a quest to discover the true meaning of the Drift (if there is one) and what may lie beyond it once a person reaches the end of their second life. Kerri, about to become a grandmother, is hellbent on eliminating any potential threat to her family. And she doesn’t care if she hurts friend or foe to get her own way.

The story was not what I expected from the title. Before I read the book I guessed that ‘leaving the drift’ would refer to the Drift being closed down, thus forcing its inhabitants to leave and re-join our world. Needless to say I was complete wrong with this theory. In a literal sense the title refers to the event of one of the Drift’s oldest residents leaving the realm as they die. Another theory of mine is that the title refers to brothers Danny and Ali’s relationship. The previous books explored their reunion and renewed connection after Ali’s death. Leaving the Drift however shows the pair outgrowing the constant need for each other with both brothers eventually deciding to focus on their own separate lives.

Despite the hints that this was the direction the series was heading towards, I was really hoping that Danny and Kitty would not become a couple. I’m personally not a fan when characters of vastly different age gaps are pushed together simply because they are the protagonists. The fifteen year age gap places Kitty at twenty-five and Danny at forty during this novel. The Drift Series is all about the past and hidden links between its characters. While I recognise that Danny and Kitty share an important bond, whilst reading these three books I’ve always thought they made better friends than lovers.

Every book I seem to change my mind about which of the four primary characters is my favourite. For Leaving the Drift this is Ali. His were the chapters I looked forward to the most as I really enjoyed his investigations into the workings of the Drift and into the crime which led to his death as a child. There were still a few points that were left ambiguous so, should Bray ever return to this series in the future, I hope we will get answers to the final mysteries about who created and runs the Drift.

From being my favourite character in the first book, I was sad to find Kerri becoming my least favourite in Leaving the Drift. Kerri, an inhabitant of both our world and the Drift, started out as a mysterious individual with a ruthlessly efficient streak. Although we’ve previously seen her violent and murderous side fully unleased, Kerri’s action were always directed towards people who had abused her and her sister as children. Now, with the majority of her enemies dead, Kerri instead focuses on killing and using her mental powers to ensure Kitty has the perfect life – irregardless of who gets hurt. With Kerri’s evil nature so fully on display, I was surprised that Bray chose to end the series with her victorious. With no comeuppance for her actions and abusive manipulations, for me the story felt partially incomplete.

So, as this is the final book in the series, did the ending work? Even though I was sad that the novel ended with Danny and Ali needing time apart from each other, this did feel like a natural ending for their story. There was some satisfaction in seeing the brothers make conscious choices to embrace and fully interact with the separate worlds they occupy rather than relying solely on their bond with other.

Meanwhile Kerri and Kitty’s story, with Kitty settling into motherhood, felt more as though Bray was ending a chapter of their lives rather than concluding their story completely. In his afterword Bray discusses wanting to give himself the option of returning to The Drift Series at some point in the future. By ending the novel on a cliffhanger it is clear which doorways have been left ajar…just in case. While, as a reader, I prefer stories that have a definite conclusion I do respect Bray’s choice as a writer.

Only time will tell if Bray choose to return to this quartet of characters. Or perhaps we’ll see a new cast of characters living in the Drift? While I had mixed feelings about some parts of the story, I can’t argue that the spiderweb of connections between almost every character in the series proves that Bray has a knack for creativity and drama. For readers who enjoy complex character building, you’re sure to enjoy this series.

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