This is well-written, being rather literary in places and is considered and smooth in its pace. This is in no way a fast paced, regular thriller kind of book.

Martin is then led into a whirlpool of lies and deceit, hidden manuscripts and murder. Fast forward to the present day and a young man, Martin, is hired by an 'interested party' to find out what exactly caused Strafford's downfall. His life is thrown into chaos and he is unable to find out why. One day he is sacked from his job,on arrival at his fiancee's house her mother wont let him see her and says he is despicable and must never contact her again. He falls in love with a suffragette which is not going to help his career but he is won over by her. The story follows a young man, Edwin Strafford, who is starting out on his political career just before WW1.

I thoroughly enjoyed this long, convoluted, unpredictable and clever novel! It does not clearly fit into any genre as it includes elements of political wheeling and dealing, crime, war and romance. This is my first Goddard book and I listened to the audio version. (Hey! That'd be a good name for a website about books.)

You could take virtually any passage from this book and it would read really well on its own, so I understand why you wouldn't want to cut any of it, but when you've got a pacing problem it's time to kill your darlings.ĭespite its flaws, though, this was a good read. Each time, Goddard broke this feeling with a series of twists and revelations that nearly floored me on occasion, but I still feel this book could have done with a stricter editorial hand at the rudder. Why only three stars then? Well, as much as I enjoyed this book, it wasn't without flaws, the principle flaw being the pacing.Ībout three times during this book I found myself feeling that it was starting to drag. The story actually felt more realistic due to this blending of different genres and tones life doesn't abide by genre conventions after all. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers but I was really impressed by this. There are so many different elements of this book that you wouldn't normally find together in one novel. The thing I loved the most about this book is that Goddard doesn't let himself be constrained by genre or genre expectations. I've come across this kind of structure before and, when it's done well, it's a really entertaining way of unfolding and interweaving two related tales.

The book is structured so that the present-day protagonist, a historian, is researching the story of the 'way back when' protagonist. This book tells two stories one set in the present day and another set about seventy five years earlier. This was my first Robert Goddard novel but it won't be my last.

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