Customer Reviews

Beyond Recall

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my third Goddard book and he never really ceases to amaze me. I read Closed Circle first, which was great, but then Out of the Sun was incredible. This one, like all of his work, has a wonderfully crafted plot and excitement galore. Goddard is a hidden gem outside England, and that's a shame. If you don't know which of his books to buy, start with Past Caring and you'll get all of them after that. Goddard has quickly become my favorite author and I will gladly devour anything he writes!!

This was my first Robert Goddard novel, and after reading this book in less than 24 hours I can certainly be considered a new fan.

I simply could not put this book down. It did what every good thriller should be able to do -- transfix you and make you want to turn the page to see what happens next. It was the twists that kept me reading this book. However, they are not so frequent that you expect a twist at the end of every chapter. There are just enough thrown in to make you reconsider every time you think you've sorted out what is really going on.

Reading the other reviews posted here, I was a little concerned about all the flashbacks that this novel uses. But upon reading the book I found it no problem at all. It is not overdone and they are all contexualised with modern day events. One will have no problem at all keeping track of things.

I was glued to this novel for the better part of a day, reading it in very quick time. I simply had to find out what was going to happen next! If you like that in a thriller, then you will greatly enjoy this novel.

This was my first Robert Goddard book and I was pleasantly surprised. Goddard's writing evokes a sense of place almost as strong as those created by P.D. James. I don't think all of Goddard's characters are as well drawn as they might have been, but he does a good job with the Great Uncle, Christian, and Nicky. "Simone" is over the top at times, and her character stretched my suspension of disbelief pretty taut.

The plot reminded me of LeCarre's "Perfect Spy" or Deborah Crombie's "Kissed a Sad Goodbye" with it's the twists and turns and links between the present action and the events of the past. I found it a challenge to keep things straight at times, but I anticipated almost every plot twist before it happened with a few exceptions, so either I'm pretty good at deciphering mysteries, or the plot isn't as confusing as some critics have suggested. I also think it helped to read the book in a 24 hour period.

I recommend this book. It's head and shoulders above many other mysteries I've read lately by "famous" authors.

Another unique mystery from the pen of Robert Goddard, a writer who knows how to create thought provoking, absorbing stories peopled with conflicted characters, some-what flawed protagonists and descriptive images of the British countryside that are so vivid you feel an overwhelming urge to jump on the next plane and have a look for yourself.

The story spans a period of time from the late 1940's to the early 1980's and examines the impact of a 35 year old murder on the two families directly involved. The characters expose us to the full gamut of emotions as they experience friendship, honor, lost love, avarice, hate, vengeance, and the strong antipathy between family members..........and...... as with many novels set "across the pond" money and social status are the name of the game and losing is not a viable option.

The plot of BEYOND RECALL has as many twists and turns as a Grand Prix course with the same potentially hazardous consequences should a wrong turn be taken by our protagonist.

The main thing I appreciate about Goddard's writing is that his stories are always logical in their resolution. No inconsistencies, abrupt endings or surprises out of left field. The solution was always there for us to see, it just took a while for it to come into focus.

Estranged from his family, Chris Napier returns home for the first time in years to attend his niece's wedding at the family estate Tredower House converted into a hotel in Truro, Cornwall. Unwanted at the ceremony, Nicky Lanyon arrives insisting to his childhood friend Chris that his father Michael never killed Chris' great uncle Joshua Carnoweth over three decades ago; although authorities hung the man for the murder insisting the motive was greed as he was about to be replaced as the heir.

Nicky accentuates his point when he is found the next day hanging from a tree; apparently having committed suicide. As homage to Nicky and to alleviate his guilt having ignored the plea, Chris decides to investigate the 1981 homicide of Joshua though his preference remains leaving the past buried.

This is an exciting tale of murder, blackmail, and avarice within an extended family as secrets from the past are slowly revealed. The story takes a bit of time to introduce the three prime interrelated families, but once it does the plot never decelerates as the tangled history is unraveled one dangerous thread at a time by Chris. Fans will enjoy this fine suspense thriller filled with twists and spins that shake the hero as he uncovers the truth.

Harriet Klausner

Have read all of Goddards books, and definitely recommend this one, (as all the others!). Shows the pain of his old friends suicide but also reflects on the law of the issue. Shows a realistic view of England, and the area. Great read, that had to be read in one sitting!!

For anyone who loves a book that you can't put down -- who loves to be kept guessing until the very end -- this is THE book. A Robert Goddard classic that puts him back on top of suspense writers.

Goddard follows in that fine English tradition of crafting intense mysteries that are, prehaps, more refined than their American counterparts. This book was recommended to me by a British friend as being 'very British' and indeed it is so. For those who wish there was one more Agatha Christie novel.

Thanks, AMazon, for recommending this...read it in one sitting and then ordered all his other titles. Fast-paced, eintelligent, well-written and well-plotted...this author deserves a wider readership!

This is a terrific, complex book. It begins with a suicide, not a murder, but that act of self-destruction opens a door into the past -- a past that is filled with murder, blackmail, inheritance, duplicity, and the hanging of a possibly-innocent man.

As the book begins, Chris Napier, a childhood friend of the suicide, begins to explore the reasons for his friend's death. Chris is driven at first by guilt. He had let go of his friendship with Nicky years ago, when both were boys and Nicky's father was hung for murder. Chris hadn't meant to abandon his friend, but the murder drove a wedge between their families, and, finally, it drove Nicky's family to leave the area and take up a new life.

Before long, however, Chris is driven by more than guilt. The original murder may be long in the past, but once he has opened the door, that past comes alive in the present. Chris digs -- he finds the retired policeman who investigated the case; an aged witness from the trial; a woman in a nursing home whose mind is sharper than anyone realized -- but at the same time, things begin happening in the present. Someone is stalking him.

The story is incredibly complex, but absolutely believeable. In part, that's because each character is believeable. Not just the major characters, but each person we encounter. Each of those witnesses Chris finds, for example, has a real personality -- each has motives, foibles, and a life history that we glimpse in passing.

Each witness that Chris uncovers adds a new piece of information to the story, and, with each new bit of data, the story takes a new turn. In some cases, the new bit of information gives us a rude awakening -- things are not what we thought. In other cases, that new bit of data casts new light and expands our understanding. The entire effect is that we follow Chris along -- darting back and forth between present and past -- and peel layer and layer back off the story until we have it all.

I've read a few other Goddard books -- Hand in Glove an! d Closed Circle -- and they were decent books. This one is so much better that it could have been a different author.