I have today decided to treat myself to a lovely frozen dinner. Not that I did not have the time tho go shopping today... I just couldn't be bothered to do it. On the menu today is a lovely Shepherds Pie. As it is going to take about 40 mins to heat up I seem to have some time on my hands to do some work.
Also, I have to confess I have bought another three books. the Sale was still on at the book stall and I actually saved myself money as normally their books are £2.95 and got them for £1 in their sale..... See, I actually saved money and still have three books to show for it.
New total: 154
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Closed Circle - Robert Goddard
I think the best way to describe this one is that it is a story that has plot inside a plot. It is not really a detective story but you are taken along on a mystery ride that is developing and unravelling all the time. There is a main story that is going on (get the girl, or at least get her money) and then at one point it all gets turned on its head (the girl gets her own back) and you find out that actually the players have been played.
The players on this occasion are Mr Guy Horton and Mr Max Wingate. Acouple of handsome rogues that are travelling back to the UK after having spent several years in the US involved in some slightly dodgy deals. When on an opulent ocean liner filled with people with more money than sense the two friends decide to pick out a female mark and see how much money they will be able to get out of her old man. The object of their affection is the lovely Diana Charnwood. Our two chums have played this game before and they are pretty sure that with Diana they have struck it big. Her father is a big time investment guru and is sure not to want his only daughter to end up married to a drifting con artist. The boys have high hopes for a decent pay out. One of the things they did not bargain for is that old devil called love. Out of the blue Max decides to grow a sense of honour and he ends up really falling in love with Diana. Guy, who can see the big pay check walking right out the door is reluctantly left to help them meet in secret and left to see their relationship blossom. Then daddy dearest decides to put a damper on things and engages Guy to see if he can set his conscience aside and break up the happy couple. Of course he is only to happy too accommodate as he knows he can get money from daddy Fabian and break his friend's heart at the same time.
Then the story gets turned on its head. During a planned elopement things go a bit wrong and daddy dearest ends up head first in a ditch and Max is fingered as the murderer. Diana seems rather calm about all of it and that is a bit sus. Also the aunt who is on the scene as well was a bit too calm for my liking but the story carries on and we think no more about it. Max is on the run and a fugitive from then on, with not a friend in the world. Then dear Diana puts the moves on Guy and you start to wonder what she is really up to, how much she knows and what her involvement with the whole thing is. Something is wrong, Max is being set up and as a reader you can see that. Whatever it is, you keep getting the feeling that she is not on the level and I repeatedly had to tell Guy off for chasing that bit of skirt but, did he listen to me???
Then there is also the bit with the Concentric Alliance. The kind of secret society that descends a book into chaos. Apparently there is a group of very powerful men who with their influence through sheer economic power planted the seed for the start of the First World War. Far fetched as this may sound... They are real enough to Guy and he is hunted down by these guys as they think he knows where Diana's father and (more importantly) their money is. As a reader you are continually left to wonder who knows what about the alliance and who is doing what for who and whose pocket the money is going to in the meantime.
There really are no good guys in this book. Everyone seems to be after someone or something. There is no trust between any of the main characters in the book and there is certainly no honour amongst the thieves. Each character you meet seems to be in the game to make things better for themselves. The only one who manages to do what is right in the end is someone we only meet on a few occasions and who is initially the prime candidate for bad guy of the year, Fabian Charnwood. His conscience is the only one that seems to have engaged at one point and he has decided to do the right thing by leaving the bad bad guys without a penny and Guy's brother better of than he has ever been. Also he leaves his daughter without a penny. Which is no more than she deserves.
The story goes along at a really good pace and it kept me hooked... I even skimped on a few hours sleep because I really wanted to know what was going to happen in the end. It is an ending that leaves you without a lot of hope for humanity and I think that as it is set in the times after the Great Crash, during the years of economic despair that gave us WW2 that is really not that big a surprise.
A good read, cracking pace, good characters and plenty of plot.
Title: Closed Circle
Author: Robert Goddard
430 pages
ISBN# 978-0-552-13840-6
Corgi Books
Books to be read: 153
No comments:
Post a Comment