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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling Mystery,
By
This review is from: Next of Kin: A Novel (Hardcover)
John Boyne's "Next of Kin" is a unique form of mystery - neither a whodunit nor a how-did-he-do-it, but a will-he-get-away-with-it. And Boyne is just the writer to carry off such an imaginative approach. He has a good sense of place and a well-crafted style and is able to sustain an intricate and labyrinthine plot. Despite its slow start, my only complaint, I highly recommend "Next of Kin."
Part of the appeal of the book is the setting. Boyne recreates an aristocratic England of the mid-1930s of country estates, London townhouses, private clubs, and luxurious gambling dens. The people found in these venues are surrounded by impending change, although they steadfastly plod along as if nothing at all is different. Yet, Hitler is rising in Europe, and at home London is abuzz with rumors of the king's affair with an American divorcee. Society itself is permeated with ruthless people who are looking for opportunities to seize wealth and power, while the unwary refuse to admit anything is different. Into this seething cauldron come two young men: Owen Montignac is a disinherited amoral aristocrat who would do anything to pay his monumental gambling debts, and Gareth Bentley, a hapless man-about-town who would do anything to avoid work. The two form a partnership that eventually involves an art theft, a murder (with two more to be revealed), a conspiracy to force the king to abdicate, and a sensational trial with a framed defendant. With the exception of the murder victim and Gareth's parents - especially his mother, a vapid society lady who transforms herself into a formidable lioness at the end - the characters in this book range from mildly unpleasant to truly repellent. It is to Boyne's credit that he makes them so fascinating and this novel so compelling.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thrilling!!,
By Omega Man (West Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Next of Kin: A Novel (Paperback)
Absolutely absorbing and thrilling. Full of rich details and fascinating characters. A well-crafted murder mystery. And in the end, a book you'll never be able to put down.
5.0 out of 5 stars
So well plotted its flaws don't bring it down,
By
This review is from: Next of Kin: A Novel (Paperback)
The book is filled with anachronisms ("media", "drama queen") and dangling phrases. There are even Americanisms, and a misunderstanding of How Things Were that I thought was peculiar to us Americans. Boyne allows a climactic courtroom scene with a mine of dramatic potential to fall flat for lack of emphasis in the right places. Yet I still have to give it five stars for the great plotting and the subtle parallels between the characters. There is even a "character" who never makes an appearance and whose destiny we can only speculate about. That's cool. It's like life...you never know who is going to come along and skew your plans...most novels wrap everything up neatly. This one is neat in the very ambiguity of its ending. Some readers may think this ambiguity is carelessness on the author's part, but it's not; it was foreshadowed. I must search out Boyne's other books.
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