Luke and Jesse live with their mother Patty, a nurse at Gosport Park Hospital. When she falls ill Luke and his accident-prone, football-mad younger brother Jesse are left in the care of the elderly, but not very benign, Mrs McLafferty until Uncle Stuart, Patty's brother, moves in with them.
During the progression of Patty's illness changes occur in the relationships among the characters of the story: firstly between Luke and Jesse, then between the boys and the Uncle, between the boys and their estranged father, between friends of Patty and between Luke and his friends.
Luke is asked by his mother to take care of his younger brother and this is an opportunity for him to re-assess Jesse. His initial irritation at what appears to be Jesse's selfishness and exclusive passion for football matures in the understanding of his younger brother and of the bond that unites them. To get to this point, however, Luke has to complete a journey of personal growth.
As the story is narrated using the first person the reader follows Luke closely through in his ups and downs, which never slip into self-pitying or overtly introspective prose. This is due to Damian Kelleher's warm, flowing style and his ability to deal with these matters in a credible way.
There is no patronizing, no advice and nobody instructing on right or wrong ways to deal with any of the issues portrayed in Life Interrupted. There are quite a number of them too: divorce, relationships, illness, death and homosexuality.
In fact, if there is something to take away from this story, it is that everyone has the right to deal with life's issues in their own personal way, provided that there is reciprocal understanding and respect.
It is a satisfying read and the only - minor indeed - criticism that I have is that, having followed the McLafferty storyline, I was expecting a more dramatic exit for the elderly lady. This is only a minor and subjective point and only spurred because Kelleher had created such an intriguing subplot.
Boys and girls over the age of 10 will enjoy this book and, like me, will look forward to more Damian Kelleher books.