Customer Reviews
Past is another country - By: Toby Smith, 14 Apr 2007 
This is not one of my favourites but still a decent tale. The pace & tone is more leisurely than many of Goddard's books, sometimes almost seeming like a period drama transposed to modern times. Particularly effective was the romance between Derek & Charlotte. As always there is a nice modesty about the central character & some well-researched changes of place. What was missing for me was the edge & twists of Goddard's best work.
Give up your social life to read this! - By: , 09 Aug 2005 
What I love about Robert Goddard is his ability to take an ordinary person, who could be someone you know, & place him or her into extra ordinary events - as if it was just a slip of fate that occurs. I have loved every novel I have read by Robert Goddard, & i always feel the same way - he has a fantastic ability to make you feel that it reallly could happen, although some of the events that happen in his novels are so fantastic.
One of my favourite scenes in Hand in Glove (not wanting to give too much away) is Derek walking down the bridge to meet the Spanish man, & the reader wonders how Frank, who is watching, must be feeling. Frank is an old man, veteran of the Spanish Civil War, & knows what this Spanish man has done in the past. Frank is my favourite character in Hand in Glove, I could imagine him that he reallly is a real old man living in rural Wales.
Characterisation is everything with Goddard, Colin the shady dealer, Derek the shy unassuming hero who is not quite a hero - an accountant for heaven's sake, & Charlotte, the slightly overweight, sensible, unbeautiful but very real heroine who could hardly believe the events that happen to her family. And Beatrix, the old lady who dies at the beginning, yet who we learn about extensively & learn to love, just like a much-loved elderly grandparent who is long dead but much talked about. You could just imagine looking at old people in the street & imagining their previous lives, in wars & in events that we younger people an only ever see in films - ordinary people. Goddard respects history & it shows with such consumate skill.
Fantastic book by Goddard, totallly unputdownable, a real page turner, & a very interesting unexpected ending - classic Goddard....make you think....
Spanish lies - By: Budge Burgess, 02 Aug 2005 
An old lady wakes in the night anticipating her murder ... & knowing who her murderer must be. The police, however, have another suspect, conveniently connected to the crime & unable to explain away the evidence heaped against him. Thus starts a whodunnit which begins in the quiet certainties of an English coastal town & reaches across the seas & down fifty years to the Spanish Civil War & its aftermath.
Robert Goddard writes exceptionallly good historical thrillers, linking a past which has sown the seeds of the crime, & the present in which the harvest is brought in. In doing so, he displays exceptional qualities of exposition - of finding a vehicle to describe the past & make it relevant to the present without stopping the action & slowing the story.
Goddard plots his stories beautifully - he is, or should be, a model for would be novelists. His characters can reminisce, he can inject documents from the past, he can flashback & forward through time, & he can have his characters discuss the significance of history & specific, often arcane, events without for one moment decelerating the page-turning flow of his writing.
This is Goddard's sixth novel, maintaining an exceptional standard. A very English writer, but with catholic interests & perspectives, his writing is always intelligent, lucid, humanistic, & well-paced, his narrative weaving back & forth across a cast of characters & across cultures & eras. He sets up the twists very neatly, but very honestly. There's no sleight of hand, just excellent craftsmanship.
Goddard's thrillers are, perhaps, 'cosy' - his heroes, in so far as they exist, tend not to be macho men, but placid individuals caught up in a maelstrom of events. Their responses are human & flawed, their actions logical but hesitant. They are real rather than superheroes. The villains, too, are rational people, seeking to exploit & benefit from their crimes. What Goddard assembles is a recognisable set of possibilities - situations & crimes which seem plausible & possible, & not the exorbitant fantasy of Hollywood or some of the more strenuous thrillers.
Goddard's books are excellent accompaniment on journeys or a weekend in front of the fire. Excellent, well-written stories which keep you entertained, keep you engaged, & keep you turning the pages.
A real cliffhanger - By: ceriithomas, 24 Dec 2001 I became addicted to Goddard after reading Take No Farewell, & Hand In Glove shares many of the same features. Central to the plot is the determination of Derek Fairfax to exonerate his brother, who is suspected of murdering Beatrix Abberley, sister of the war poet Tristam Abberley. The plot gets murkier & more complex, until everything seems to falll into place. There's a nice twist in the final chapter too.
Goddard never lets his readers down - By: , 30 Sep 2001 As usual Goddard selects a most unlikely candidate for the lead role in this tale of murder, mystery, intrigue & wrongful arrest. The murder victim is wealthy Beatrix Abberly & the motive looks like robbery which puts antique dealer Colin Fairfax as prime suspect. Colin's brother Derek is the shy & unassuming hero callled upon to prove his brother's innocence. He teams up with Beatrix' godchild who does not believe robbery is the motive. Together they uncover a trail of theft, evil & deceit. Don't expect to be able to put this book down. A great read from a master storyteller.
