Customer Reviews

Out of the Sun

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first met Goddards character Harry Barnett in the novel Into the Blue. He was a likable character, prone to misfortune and possessing a penchant for lifting a few "pints" at the local pub.

In Out of the Sun Harry discovers he has a 33 year old son, a math genius who has fallen into a insulin overdose induced coma. When it is discovered that all of his son's mathematical notes are missing, and that several other individuals who had been working on a project with him for a company known as Globescope have also been felled by fatal "accidents", Harry embarks on a dangerous campaign to save the son he never knew he had.

The plot of this novel is compelling, with lots continent hopping adventures and enough twists turns to fill a package of fusilli pasta. All of these keep the reader interested, however the mathematical "hyperdimensions" mumbo-jumbo and ultimate explanation for the murders was disappointing. (Perhaps "genius" is not what it's cracked up to be).

This is not the best of Goddards offerings, but his average offering is often a lot better than other writers best.

I had about five books on hold at the public library that still hadn't come in yet, so I decided to browse the Fiction section to see if I could find anything interesting. After reading a few covers, and finding the typical "dead body found under suspcious circumstances" one after the other, I stumbled upon this novel. The idea intrigued me. A man comes in to work one morning to discover that his son is in the hospital in a diabetic coma--the only problem is, he doesn't have a son.

Harry, the main character, then sets about to solve the mystery of his son's suspicious near-fatal accident, along with the "accidental" deaths of several of his former colleages. But the more he discovers, the more danger he finds himself in.

This story has so many surprising twists and turns it keeps you "on the edge of your seat." Some parts are so suprising it almost makes you jump! I highly recommend reading this novel, especially if you are looking for something fresh and vivid.

The only problem I had with it was the fact that Americans from NYC and California don't say "reckon" lol!!

This single book by Robert Goddard was by far the best book i've read all year. I read it on a trip I took to South Carolina (for those of you looking for a good travel book) and finished the whole thing in two days. I just could NOT put it down...the twists in plot so unexpected, I found myself laughing out loud, or not being able to read for the tears in my eyes. I'm not often a passionate reader, but every chapter he gave brought me closer to the story and characters than any author had ever done before. Don't be afraid to dive into this one-- you'll end up satisfied in the end...but wanting more just to sleep at night. I'd previously never heard of Robert-- but Kudos to the designer of the cover--it's how I pick my travel books. (and just for us picky ones, the type font is easily read, and attractive, the paper is well-grained, and the whole book is sturdy, as a travel book should be).

Go for this one-- it's wonderful, all around.

I was somewhat disappointed in this book, especially after all of the superlative reviews that other Amazon.com readers gave it. Ultimately, I think the problem is that it just isn't as interesting as it promises to be. The premise, having to do with the mathematical existence of many more dimensions than the four of which we are aware, is fascinating, and the author lucidly and intriguingly discusses the concept and some of its implications. The plot, however, drags quite a bit, and the book is packed with filler -- too many ruminations on the part of the protagonist, too much dwelling on the many failures in his life, and, between key scenes, too many long interludes in which nothing much really happens. Although several readers claim that the book is filled with twists, there is really only one -- and that is merely the standard ending in which you find out that the person responsible for all the murders is not the one whom all the other characters in the book believe is the killer. To be sure, the book has several virtues, including a likeable and exceedingly flawed protagonist (although he has an unfortunate tendency towards self-pity -- and he constantly refuses to accept offers or to pursue courses of action that could make him a happier man, out of what seems to be his perverse desire to continue to be a miserable loser faced with a lifetime of missed opportunities); many well-drawn, lively, interesting characters; and the author's ability to convey the mood and unique character of a number of different locations -- Copenhagen, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., the village of Lindos in Rhodes, an English seaside town -- with a few deft strokes. Goddard appears to be a talented writer, but he seems not to have developed his material here beyond his original concept. The result is a book that ultimately feels very thin.

Harry Barnett, a bit of a down and outer,is shocked on two counts.The first is to discover that he has a son from a brief fling, many years ago and secondly to be told that his son, David, is lying in a diabetic coma. David is a brilliant mathematician, employed by a rather secretive forecasting institute who previously employed several other scientists who died in mysterious circumstances.It's a good, imaginative plot and, given that I'm mathematically challenged, one that I had to force myself to understand. Poor Harry is a bit of a sad sack so things don't magically solve themselves for him as for other literary heros, but it's a story which will hold your attention until the end.

As with all Robert Goddard's books, Out of the Sun was thoroughly well researched, well written, plausible, and thoroughly entertaining. Also as usual, there were the mass of characters, red herrings and false starts to keep you guessing to the very end.
Surprisingly, he appears to have developed a taste for a schmaltzy ending, a temptation he has not succumbed to before. The truth is that I disliked the central charachter, personal prejudice you understand, and so wanted to hear how it all ended, but didn't much care for the "happy ever after" stuff.
As a Goddard fan, there was no option other than to read this book, and although it does not disappoint,it is not a spelbinder as for example "In Pale Battalions"is.
I would recommend it though to fans and casual readers alike. He still has the power.

A well written, entertaining and truly original story. I read Goddard's "Into the blue" before, but liked this book much better. Worth reading!!

"Out of the Sun" (1996) is the second in what amounts to a trilogy by British author Robert Goddard, starting with the excellent "Into the Blue" (1990) and ending with "Never Go Back" (2006), all revolving around Harry Barnett, a likeable regular guy, who loves his pints, and has had less than success with work and business ventures.

As one young American poet put it, the shining sun sees most of us every day on this turning globe. Sees us until the day we are out of the sun, gone, and seen no more. A mysterious phone call informs Harry that his thirty-three-year-old son David is as good as dead, being hospitalized in a severe coma and on life support.

Harry never knew he had a son, but thinking back, he well and fondly remembers how it happened. Son David, a brilliant PhD mathematician interested in higher mathematical dimensions, belongs to a group of scientists trying to predict the full spectrum of challenges the world will be facing in 50 years.

The group's employer, called Globescope, has clients who pay highly to identify these future challenges so they can meet them profitably. Globescope sees the group's predictions to be quite dire. Believing that customers should hear only good news, the employer refuses to pass on the results and fires David's group.

When the fired group seeks to publish their work independently, group members keep turning up dead under mysterious circumstances -- or, in Harry's son David's case, comatose.

To protect the rest of the group, Harry is trying to find out who is responsible. He also hopes to find a doctor who can cure David. Harry's dangerous quest takes him from England to Copenhagen, to New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, and has him playing several roles. The perilous telling has considerable charm, humor, romance, and luck, with a surprise ending.

If I may repeat, we in the States are now indeed fortunate to have easy access to Goddard's books.

A friend of mine gave me as a present this magnificent book - "Out of the sun". I use to read a lot, so I didn't expect something that outstanding. It caught me right from the first page, and while reading it I went, along with the characters, through joy and despare, thrill, mystery and most of all - unexpectedness. I think the most beautiful side of this story is its "realisticity", i.e. its closeness to real life matters. As the story goes, we see that Harry is not as omnipotent as story-characters often are. He just "runs into" events (or events "run into" him) and deals with them wisely and decisively, leaving us, however with a feeling, that he is only human, like all of us, and sometimes makes mistakes. Another point, completing the latter, is that the characters couldn't be divided, as usually, into "bad" and "good". They all could be taken from our immediate environment. That makes you wonder more about human behavior, what some people are capable of doing at certain circumstances.

Eventually, I'd like to recommend this book to all those who are considered with "true" stories, ones that take you one (or more) level inside that "grey matter" of yours.

Enjoy this story by "the most compelling storytellers of them all"!

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I enjoyed this sequel better than "Into the Blue", perhaps because - although the scientific theory on which it is based does not bear scrutiny - the plot is more satisfying. Having already been introduced to Harry Barnett, the unlikely hero of the earlier story, and his erstwhile partner Barry Chipchase, along with other more minor characters, the scene is set for another confrontation with the past. In this case a son Harry never knew he had until it was too late, and who provides the motivation for him to go blundering off on another transcontinental mission. There's something about Robert Goddard's storytelling that puts me in mind of Eric Ambler, and I look forward to reading more of his minor masterpieces.