Play to the End - Robert Goddard

...appearing in the relatively unknown play by Joe Orton 'Lodger in the Throat', to revive it. However the critics have slammed the play and in all likelihood this week in Brighton will probably be its last.

Flood's is contacted by his soon to be ex-wife Jenny who lives close to the town as soon as he arrives there. Recently she has been troubled by a man hanging round her shop. Her assistant noticed the man had a video of the film 'Dead ...
...little was mentioned about the play Toby Flood was starring in throughout the novel. It was mentioned in passing and I suppose to include too much about it would have made the novel too complex and probably given the reader information that was important and irrelevant.

I certainly enjoyed the plot, with its exciting conclusion. One in which I never knew what might happen. The author had clearly researched both Brighton and the plastics ... more

Background:

I have read several novels written by Robert Goddard in the past few months. His books are usually exciting thrillers and of the ones I have read I have enjoyed his style and his storylines. So when I saw this one at my local jumble sale I was keen to purchase it at the fantastic price of just 20 pence.

About the author:

Robert Goddard was born in Hampshire in 1954. He is an international best selling author and was nominated for the Edgar Award for his novel 'Beyond Recall' in 1999. He has written twenty novels so far of which three are from the Harry Barnett series. The novel I am reviewing was written in 2004.

Synopsis of the book:

Toby Flood has come down to Brighton to appear in a play. His career has spluttered since his early success on the television and he hopes by appearing in the relatively unknown play by Joe Orton 'Lodger in the Throat', to revive it. However the critics have slammed the play and in all likelihood this week in Brighton will probably be its last.

Flood's is contacted by his soon to be ex-wife Jenny who lives close to the town as soon as he arrives there. Recently she has been troubled by a man hanging round her shop. Her assistant noticed the man had a video of the film 'Dead Against' in his bag. This was the highlight of Flood's career and showed it was him he was interested in and not her.

He agrees to help in the hope of somehow winning her back. He quickly finds the man a Derek Oswin and agrees to stop hanging around his ex-wife in return to him sending the manuscript he has produced to his agent. Normally he would not agree to but this manuscript 'Plastic People' was written against the owners of the now closed down Plastics factory that Roger Colborn ran and he is Jenny's new boyfriend.

My thoughts on the book:

I certainly enjoyed reading this novel. It was a high quality, exciting suspense thriller. In the past I have criticised the author for making plots that are overly elaborate but in this novel it seemed an excellent plot and one which was written superbly.

The first thing that struck me about the book was that it was set in Brighton. This for anyone who doesn't know is a seaside town on the South Coast and I place I have spent a couple of holidays. So I immediately could relate to the place and could through his writing picture what was being described to me.

I also felt the introduction to the book inside the front cover was excellent. Unlike many this actually gave you a decent size flavour of what the book was about and allowed me sufficient information so I was confident that I would enjoy reading the novel.

I found I immediately started to enjoy reading the book from the very first page. Initially I liked the concept of a formally successful actor coming down to cold and bleak Brighton in December to try and re-build his failing career and win back his soon to be ex-wife.

Not only that, I liked the idea of this loner Derek Oswin desire to highlight the health implications of the former Plastic's factory where he used to work 13 years before. Since then he had made it his life's work to bring to the attention of the public of the amount of former employees who have since died of cancer. I thought the idea of Toby trying to help was a great and interesting one.

The story had many different threads to it and you could never be sure if any or all of them would come to the fore and ne important in the main story or indeed their relevance if any to it. I found it a compulsive story and I enjoyed the mystery and doubt the author employed in it.

I always felt the story had real purpose and was leading towards an exciting, thrilling and nerve gangling conclusion. As I had no idea what would happen next and what secrets would be revealed. But the author always managed to make everything fit into the story and make perfect logical sense within it.

The main character of the book was Toby Flood and the story was written from his perspective. I liked him as a character and found him easy to understand and relate to. The only thing that surprised me was he once he got involved with Oswin he was more concerned with that than his acting. He didn't seem to have to prepare or think about his work, which I am sure is not the case for people in that profession.

Goddard also created a number of interesting and diverse supporting characters. I found both Oswin and Syd Porteous to be engaging and complex people that I always wanted to learn more about their secrets. The only character I struggled with was Roger Colborn, who I felt liked depth and could have been written better and described in a more detailed way.

I was surprised how little was mentioned about the play Toby Flood was starring in throughout the novel. It was mentioned in passing and I suppose to include too much about it would have made the novel too complex and probably given the reader information that was important and irrelevant.

I certainly enjoyed the plot, with its exciting conclusion. One in which I never knew what might happen. The author had clearly researched both Brighton and the plastics industry in writing this book, as his knowledge and descriptions of both made the story believable and realistic.

The books length was quite reasonable to tell the story. And I approved of the idea at the end of the book what the author called Later Days which I understand as an epilogue. However I would like to have seen more detail in this and a little more in depth information as to what happened to all the remaining characters.

I did find it frustrating the length of the chapters. These were all about 40 pages long and I felt too long, as I like to read till the next chapter in any book and that many pages in one short sitting can be too long and its awful to leave a book in mid chapter, I find anyway. I understand why the author did it this way as he wanted a new chapter for each day, but for me it did not work as effectively as I would like.

What surprises me is that an author of the distinction of Robert Goddard does not have his own official web site. I would have thought that would be a good outlet to advise fans of his latest news and advertise his books.

Conclusion:

This was a well written, exciting even thrilling suspense novel. There was a puzzle that needed to be solved and through quality writing you were never really sure what might happen next. I would certainly recommend this book to any fan of an action thriller, which was well paced and fascinating. I'm sure I will be reading another book by this author in the coming months when I come across them.

Pages: 335
Price: £5.49 (Paperback) £16.99 (Hardback)
Publisher: Bantam Press
ISBN: 0-593-04760-5
About the author: www.fansasticfiction.co.uk/g/robert-goddard

Thanks for reading as always

This review is written on both Ciao and Dooyoo under my name.

@CPTDANIELS February 2009 

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