The numbness had set in long before I sat at your bedside. But even with senses impaired as the flight touches down at Belfast City I can somehow still feel the screeching of wheels on tarmac scorching something deep into me.

So begins Gary Lightbody’s phenomenal companion book to Snow Patrol’s number one album of the same name. While you don’t have to read it to understand the album, you may want to give the album a wee listen for some parts of the book to make sense. There are references to the record with song lyrics dotted around within it.

The book explores some of the main themes of the album: time, home, love, death, life. It is also a prequel to the record which tells the story of his dad, Jack’s death and the numb journey it sent him on, the end of which seemed to unlock a part of him that had been dormant until he started to write songs again.

Not to give away the ending or anything, but just so you know this book is not one of wallowing.

There is a purpose to it.