Will Vigar’s Love, Death and the Crucial Three is a unique and touching novel that manages to be intimate and expansive at the same time; a story rooted in the life of Jake, which resonates with the universal truths of friendship, trauma, love, and the families we build for ourselves.
At its heart, the novel is a testament to the idea that families come in different shapes and forms, and that friends are the family we choose.
Jake’s journey is shaped by the people who orbit his life across decades: some drift away, some return unexpectedly, and some, remain the steady pulse of his world. Jake, Wes and Deb form the emotional core of the book; for me, they are the “crucial three” the title hints at (other than the obvious music connection).
The story gains much of its emotional weight from Jake’s reencounter with Wes, an old friend he had buried in the past, a relationship wrapped in bitterness and painful memories. This reunion is handled with remarkable tenderness and witty language, exploring how we confront old wounds, how forgiveness is negotiated, and how peace with the past can be made.
Jake’s life is marked by both the gaining and losing of family. A traumatic event in his youth, set against a society steeped in prejudice toward the gay community, leaves him with lifelong health issues. This trauma is neither sensationalised nor softened; instead, it shows how such wounds echo through adulthood.
Yet the novel is equally about healing: Jake’s friends, particularly Deb, offer the kind of steadfast support that becomes a lifeline, making this presence is a reminder that survival is rarely a solitary act.
The book also explores different shapes of fatherhood, and the complicated dance of losing and sometimes regaining children. These threads give the novel a rich emotional texture, grounding Jake’s personal story in broader questions about belonging, and the families we inherit versus the ones we create.
The novel doesn’t shy away from the world beyond Jake’s immediate circle. The narrative brushes against the refugee experience and the chilling rise of far-right ideologies that threaten human rights globally. These themes are woven subtly but powerfully, reminding the reader that personal stories never exist in isolation from political realities.
And then there is the music. The novel is punctuated with the characters’ love for Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes, fitting, given that the real-life “Crucial Three” was the short-lived band that linked members of both groups. Music becomes a kind of emotional link throughout the book, a soundtrack to memory, loss, and connection.
It’s also worth noting that the book itself is a beautiful object, designed entirely by the author. I love books as objects and this one is of extreme beauty, giving a sense that the story has been crafted not just in words but in form.
As for Will Vigar himself: he describes himself simply as someone who “writes, a lot,” and his range proves it. He has written sketches, articles, and interviews for the BBC, training manuals, comics, theatre and several volumes of poetry. He lives with his husband in Hampshire, though he wishes they were in Scotland, which is unmistakably clear in the novel’s atmosphere and emotional landscape,
Love, Death and the Crucial Three is ultimately a story about how people shape us, those who stay, those who leave, and those who return when we least expect it. It asks how we welcome people back into our lives, how we make peace with old versions of ourselves.
If you want to understand these crucial three: Jake, Wes, and Deb; and feel the full force of their bond, you’ll have to read the book. And you should.
Love, Death and the Crucial Three is published by Dense Weed Books on February 2n
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