Customer Reviews

The Abigail Affair (US Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you enjoy well-paced adventures, tales of amateur sleuths making good and have a soft spot for British characters and humor, then `The Abigail Affair' by British author, Timothy Frost, is sure to appeal.

`The Abigail Affair', Frost's second novel since ditching a successful career as an advertising copywriter, has a lot going for it.

Its plot has been well structured, with an exciting prologue and an adventure-genre suitable ending. Frost uses appropriate descriptive detail and tension-creating foreshadowing to keep readers interested from chapter to chapter.

Protagonist, Toby Robinson, becomes involved with high-seas espionage after he applies for a job as a deckhand on a Russian oligarch's luxury yacht. Through the use of internal dialogue, colloquial language and humor, Frost has created a likeable and everyday-casual anti-hero, who deals with all sorts of calamities with wit, charm and admirable gumption.

As you'd expect from an adventure/thriller, particularly those featuring amateur sleuths, spies or heroes, there are times in this novel when it is necessary to suspend belief. However, there are no major loose ends or details that Frost does not return to.

It's an oft-used phrase `I could see this book as a movie', but it's a statement I don't make flippantly. This novel is visual and exciting and I would like to see it transferred to the Big Screen, preferably by a British director, or one sensitive to the charm-value of irony, used so well in British literature and film.

Does Toby save the day and the world from disaster?? Does he win the beautiful girl?? Read `The Abigail Affair' to find out. It will be time well spent.

Twenty-two-year-old Toby Robinson joins a Russian yacht as crew, clueless to what he's signed up for. Ruthless Russians, subterfuge and dead bodies abound.

The Abigail Affair is an action-packed and enthralling contemporary nautical thriller. There's no fluff or flat spots and the story is always moving. What stood out most about this book, though, was Toby's voice and larrikin sense of humour - distinctive yet not contrived.

Highly recommended.

Young man Toby joins a Russian yacht in the Caribbean as a deckhand. Trying to make some easy fun money. Toby is what Murphy's Law is all about. What can go wrong will go wrong. A page turner of finding out what will happen next. Through out all of Toby's ordeal's he is able to keep his humor with the description's he gives nickname's to each yacht crew member. That to me added alot to the story. This cruise certainly is not what Toby ever thought it would be, nor did I, in fact, just the opposite of our expectation's. I really enjoyed Toby through out the entire story.

Timothy Frost writes with alot of twist's, turns, and lots of action and keep's a reader flipping the page's to see what Toby will come up against next and wonder if Toby will ever see his parent's again.

Mr.Frost also added true fact's about what happened to a Russian spy a few years ago that I remembere seeing on all the news networks for day's.

Great job Mr.Frost. Thank's for a great read. I look forward to reading more books from you.

I certainly recommend The Abigail Affair as IMO Timothy Frost will be an up and coming author as he has alot of talent. Good Luck Mr.Frost, you are a keeper !!

4 1/2 Stars

I bought the Abigail Affair on the recommendation of a friend. She knows I'm a yachtsman and Tim Frost's book is set on the water. I'm happy to say that it was a good recommendation - a really fun read.

Plot - No spoilers from me. The plot hung together well and unfolded in a realistic fashion. Every time our hero looked like he was going to get out of trouble he managed with clumsy aplomb to dump himself right back into it. The best bit of this was you knew he was going to dump himself back into trouble. The author also knows his boats and because of that tied in realistic elements all the way through.

Characters - Toby is great. So much so that I have to go and buy the next book to find out how much more he's developed. He's believable, and that's what I like in the characters I read. He does stupid things, makes bad choices and occasionally good ones but his heart is always in the right place. He's no super-hero, by his own acknowledgment and that's what makes him a hero. He does things despite knowing they'll get him in trouble because it's the right thing to do - even when it's wrong. The South African first mate is also good, Frost has the accent down, and thank goodness doesn't overburden us with it - the occasional word to remind us - I grew up in SA so I can tell you the accent is spot on. Without giving anything away he also made me feel sorry for one of the villains in the end.

Writing - I read the book in a few hours it flowed beautifully. Short sharp paragraphs and nice easy language use without being simple.

The only reason it wasn't 5 stars was because in a couple of places the solution to something seemed a bit too far fetched - but hey that's why they call it fiction right...

Right that's enough from me I'm off to buy Tim's other book...

Talk about suspend your belief! Interesting story, but hard to get past the "just as if's" as you read.

It was really difficult to put the book down. Last night, right before bedtime, I picked this book up (well, I picked my Kindle up, but you know what I mean) with the intention of putting it down after 10 minutes. Alas, the story unfolded at a furious pace, and I kept reading for 4 hours (I was already ~60% of the way through when I started) all the way to the satisfying end. My wife laughed at me when I struggled out of bed the next morning, but it was worth it.

An important part of its charm comes from Toby -- the silly, often confused, but extremely easy-going and lovable hero (think Forrest Gump). I could never guess where the story is going, which made it easy for me to identify with Toby in his confusion (and often out-of-the-blue hilarious) mental processes. I cannot say too much about the story development without spoiling it, but there is rarely a dull moment, and the scale of events really blew my expectations out of the water (pun intended, heh). Generous suspension of disbelief is sometimes necessary, but hey, that is what we come for, right?

Read this book. You will not be disappointed.

After reading Final Passage, I figured this was an author worth reading, so I followed it up with this book and was not disappointed. He really tells a good story and the book moves at a really good pace.

Good story line and characters and keeps you on the edge of your seat for the duration of the book. Sort of teenager meets James Bond. I could almost think that this Toby could continue into other stories.

Again with the Rolex Oyster Tim lol. You ought to get one if you read this.

Definitely an enjoyable book and I look forward to the next story.

The hero is the worst nightmare of a parent who has a 22 year old son. The author clearly was raised on the version of The Perils of Pauline appropriate for his age group (whatever that may be). The situations defy credibility. Yet, yet, one feels the suspense almost every minute, one gets engaged with the story and lead characters, and one is immersed in the story, willy-nilly, like it or not. In other words, never mind that the hero has a lot of growing up to do, never mind that we do not know whether there is to be a heroine or a wicked woman, never mind the bizarre plot twists; the book is eminently readable and a great bargain at the current price of 99 cents.

Overall an enjoyable read. It was a fast paced book with a good story line. There were several times the book got a little far fetched which is why I only gave it 4 stars, but still enjoyable to read and some twists that I didn't see coming

I downloaded this book as one of the free books Kindle was offering on their Facebook page. It simply was a fun, fast, and enjoyable read. I can't wait to read some of the other Kindle books by this author. I read for entertainment and this book certainly fit that description!