Customer Reviews

Painting the Darkness

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

 

 

I discovered Robert Goddard by accident when I took a random choice book (Caught in the Light by Robert Goddard)off the shelf in my local library about three months ago. Since then, I have devoured everything I can find that he has written. He takes a fairly simple story and weaves events and characters into his tale which keep the reader fascinated until the very last page.It turns out that one has read, in fact, a wonderful mystery story in the true sense of the word. Why is there not more publicity about the author? Do his books have large sales? A new reader only has to read his/her first Goddard novel and they are hooked forever. A modern Trollope whom the world should know more about.

This book was recommended to me by my mother. She always gives good advice. After I read this book I went on to read all the other titles as soon as Goddard publishes them.

The plot is superb, a real gripper. Is he or isn't he James? You make up your own mind throughout, but you never really know until the conclusion. It is beautifully, intricately unravelled - it's just got to be read!

I couldn't put this book down, dying to know the truth about whether this man was the one who supposedly killed himself years earlier or an imposter. What really made this book was that the chapters alternated between a first person point-of-view and a third person point-of-view. I previously thought it was impossible to pull off shifting point-of-views in a novel but this one proved to be the total exception. It was an experiment that was an unqualified success. All writers should also read this book to explore the outter reaches of creative possibilites open to them.

When a man presents himself at the home of William Trenchard and his wife Catherine, claiming to be Sir James Davenall, the long-thought dead fiancee of Catherine, it proved to be the first link in a long and convoluted chain of events. James had supposedly drowned himself upon discovering that he had inherited syphillis from his father. After the disappearance, his father refused to believe him dead and, even after the obligatory 7 years absence, would not have him declared legally dead. After the father dies, James's younger brother Hugo becomes baronet in his place and is therefore horrified to learn of the challenge to his new found wealth and position. Richard Davenall, sousin to James and Hugo and also the family solicitor, is put in the invidious position of having to deny the claims of the recently reappearing James or of helping him to prove his rightful place in the family. I found this to be a terrific read, full of twists, turns and with red herrings galore!

this is simply the best book i have ever read and could ever imagine reading. painting the darkness was my first Goddard book and now i am in love with the author.

don't let anything in this world stop you from reading this book. and once you start, NEVER put it down. don't even try, you wont be able to.

Good as all Goddard books always are. Brilliant scene setiing both in Enlgand and abroad. Any goddard fans please write to e-mail above.

In the first day of October 1882, William Trenchard, co-owner of the Trenchard & Leavis retailing chain, is still a happy man in his marital status with his wife Constance Sumner. In the afternoon of that same day, a tall, slim and elegantly dresses man comes to The Limes residence and introduces himself under the name of James Davenall. To Constance's great amazement, this is the man she was engaged to more than eleven years ago. Davenall now wishes to have her support in establishing his identity.

But how can Constance do such a thing when it is known that Davenall took his own life eleven years ago by drowning himself, the Thames bearing his corpse out to sea? Is this individual a fraudster and is he simply after a baronetcy and an inheritance?

Whatever the answers to these questions may be, an hour after Davenall's reappearance into the world of the living, William Trenchard's life is about to change dramatically. An hour is all it is going to take for ten years to overtake him and his wife Constance.

A firework of characters, twists and turns, plots and subplots. Mr Goddard is quite a storyteller and his adventures are an excellent entertainment. The book is read in an astonishingly vivacious way by the British actor Michael Kitchen who delivers a very good performance.

This novel is of the Jane Austen genre, but not as clever and far more wordy. And it is a mystery, which adds its own twist. I rarely give up on a book and did not intend to stop 3/4 of the way through, but lost interest and picked up another book. I may go back and finish it if I don't have anything else to read.

I have read several excellent books by Goddard. This one I could not
make heads or tails of. I have never seen so many plot changes in
my life. First of all, when different characters are talking in
italics, I have no idea who each one is; I have to skip around
and figure out who is the speaker. And trying to keep up with all
the different characters is like roaming around in a zoo. Some of
the characters seem without an iota of intelligence or they could
figure out things more quickly. I can honestly see why Constance'
husband, William was ready for the looney bin; I would be too if I
had to go through all the craziness he was subjected to. In the
end I really didnt give a hang who James really was. this book is
so different from other Goddard novels that it is hard to believe the same man wrote t his book.

I really liked the storyline and I enjoyed it up til the last five pages or so where you found out the solution to the mystery. I must say that the answer to the mystery was a little far fetched. In theory the story holds together, BUT scientifically, from a biological viewpoint, the story does not hold together. The events don't make since from that viewpoint. The events could not possibly happen as they are laid out in the book since the main character would not be competent enough to pull this kind of plan off. His genetic makeup would not allow him to. For that reason, the solution ruined a wonderful story. I will try him again in the hopes that the story doesn't take that kind of twist again.