Sputnik Caledonia is a story that starts off promising, but ends with a whimper. Act 1 introduces us to Robbie Coyle, a young boy obsessed with becoming Scotland's first astronaut. Act 2 introduces us to Robert Coyle, a young man selected to go into space to investigate the "red star", a mysterious object passing through our solar system. Act 3 takes bits and pieces of the previous acts, adds a couple of new elements and makes you question what you had read up to that point. Without giving too much away, the fate of Robbie after act 1 as revealed in act 3 could have really made for an explosive conclusion. Instead the story devolved into page after page of drivel. If I hadn't enjoyed the first two acts of the novel as much as I had, I don't think I would have even tried to finish the story. Sputnik Caledonia had so much potential, but in the end was a big disappointment. ( )

You can tell that the author studied Theoretical Physics to doctorate level. But don't let that put you off.

The first section is a beautifully rendered depiction of Scotland in the 1970s, where young Robbie Coyle is just beginning to get to grips with socialism, Top of the Pops, Dr Who, girls and The Meaning of Relativity by Einstein. Terrifically funny and achingly sad by turns, the first section ends with Robbie's first snog in the church hall storeroom.

Part two takes off into a parallel universe; recognisably still Scotland but bizarrely different, an alternative reality in which Robbie is suddenly ten years older and on the short list for a space mission planned to explore an approaching black hole.

The dislocation and night-marish qualities of this section echoed Alasdair Gray's Unthank, and the world Andrew Crumey creates is just as completely realised, deeply detailed and surprisingly tangible as that which Duncan Thaw inhabits.

Then we are back in the present-day and what seems to be normal life. Robbie has vanished from the narrative and it is not until near the end of the book that we discover what has happened to him. There are hints about the middle section and more puzzles to come, leaving the reader to tease out their own interpretation of events. I suspect this may frustrate some readers, but I have a feeling that Sputnik Caledonia will come to be regarded as one of the essentials of Scottish literature. ( )