Fault Line

Great characters as usual and a twisting but enthralling story. Kept me hooked throughout. Wished there was more to go. Highly recommended.

Goddard's previous book, Blood Count, marked a low point in his writing, with a idiotically gullible hero and a dreadful ending. So it was with some trepidation that I bought his latest work, Fault Line. This was going to be make or break for me - another dud and I'd give up on Goddard, despite having read all his novels so far. Well I finished the novel this evening after a marathon few days' reading. In many ways, it felt like a return to form. As ever, we have a likeable hero who must delve into the past to find answers to solve a seemingly uncrackable conundrum. As usual, there are a number of fatalities along the way! I'm not going to give a plot synopsis - Amazon can provide that. But for Goddard fans, I hope my comments will help you decide whether to buy this book. Is it me, or does Goddard return to Cornwall often? I don't particularly mind this and I recall more than one that I've really enjoyed. But a part of me thought "oh no here we go again". Our hero, Jonathan Kellaway is a character we immediately take to. But some other characters in the book are more like caricatures: Goddard's style seems to have become more simplistic in recent works - the careful plotting and unforeseen twists are not quite as tight, as satisfying, as in his earlier works. Some of the characters are just too thin. Early in this novel, I cringed just once or twice as some of the writing seemed a little gauche, almost naive, when describing Jonathan's teenage years and dealings with the families involved in the Cornwall china clay business. But I don't feel that Goddard has ever been good when it comes to writing romance, let alone sex! But despite these early misgivings, I was soon drawn into the plot and the characters. Very much so. As with classic Goddard, the reader quickly bonds with the players and I felt myself not just drawn in but transported to their world. And again, back to form, it's the historical sections which are most compelling. In this novel, historical = 1960's, so don't worry that you're buying historical fiction. Definitely not! Overall, very satisfying. I recommend it without hesitation. Not his best (hence 4 stars), but much better than Blood Count and Found Wanting. The dénouement comes about very quickly but doesn't feel rushed. Goddard avoided a very obvious and twee ending, one which I saw coming a mile off and was pleased, in fact relieved, that he chose not to write! So +1 star for not being predictable and twee. After Blood Count, I was dreading his next novel. Now, after Fault Line, I'm looking forward to the next one!

I were in awe of this authors writing ability. The story line is excellent and gripping. It is one of the best books I have read. To some it could be complicated but I was able to leave the book and come back to it quite easily as the story was very compelling. Great author and read. Well recommended.

I read this book in three days - I thought it was a real page-turner and couldn't put it down. The story is told in the first person of Jonathan who, when deciding to retire form the China Clay company for which he has worked since leaving university, is given one last task which involves finding missing documents from the firm's past. We then follow Jonathan's earlier life and become involved in all the complex relationships in what starts as a family firm. We feel haunted, like Jonathan, by the unexplained death of a young man and the urge to find clues to solve the mystery of his death. I liked the way that the characters (with the possible exception of one) are neither wholly good or bad but complicated in their motives and emotions. The plot weaves and completely drew me in and I felt satisfied with the ending.

Robert Goddard had until recently been a reliable producer of a string of goodish thrillers, but his recent offerings have been well below the standard he had set for some years, possibly due to over-production. Fault Line is back to his earlier standards, although not quite on a par with his best (my favorites being Hand in Glove, Borrowed Time, Set in Stone and Past Caring). His great strength is an incredible capacity for twists and turns of plot, so that the minute you think you understand what is going on something happens to completely transform your understanding, and this is repeated over and over again throughout the book. Another strength is his interweaving of past and present events, which is always very skilful and often feels well-researched. He is also good at evoking contexts and especially at getting the feeling of family firms (this book and, again, Borrowed Time and Hand in Glove are examples) and the way that business and personal issues intertwine in such settings. His other appealing hallmark is that the protagonist is always an 'ordinary person' (i.e. not a policeman, private eye or spy) pitched into puzzling and bizarre events and having to make the best of them. That last feature makes it particularly important that there is a plausible reason for the character to get caught up in the plot, and that has been one of the main weakness of his most recent books - the reason has been unbelievable. If the basic set-up makes sense then the reader can suspend disbelief through all the plot turns. If not, things never get off the ground. To put it another way, if the appeal of the protagonist being an ordinary person is that the reader can to a degree identify with him (or, occasionally, her) it's all the more vital that the motivations be believable. In this book, all these strengths are in evidence: an ordinary protagonist in a believable set up, plot twists, well-drawn settings and past and present interaction. All of which makes for a great page-turner. His usual flaws, which are present even in his best books, are also present here. Characterization is often paper thin, even cliched. In this book, examples include the wordly-wise Contessa and the opera singer with a shameful secret. Worst of all are the endings, which invariably feel contrived and disappointing. Actually, I think this is the inevitable consequence of the twists and turns of plot which are so enjoyable, because the only way to resolve such complexities has to be so bizarre as to defy belief. Fault Line has a particularly weak ending, barely even comprehensible and very rushed. Greville's motivations don't make any sense at all, and Adam's only by virtue of the feeble explanation that 'he must have gone mad'. Because of these habitual flaws I would give even the best of Goddard's books only a 4 star rating - they are good, often atmospheric yarns that keep you reading, but never quite as satisfying in the end as you want, and not very well-written in some ways. Fault Line is not quite his best, mainly because the ending is weak even by Goddard's standards, hence only 3 stars, but certainly a welcome return to form after his last couple of books, which I didn't even finish as they were so poor.

Très bon suspense

I've loved all of Robert Goddard's books and Fault Line is no exception. Goddard weaves a tale of many mysteries, family secrets, missing documents and plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. The book goes back and forth between the present in Cornwall and the 1960's in Italy. It is a well written book and even though I suspected the outcome the book kept me interested till the final page.

ゴダードの作品は、立派な英国紳士、淑女が主人公であるものが多く、ストーリーとは別に、どうしても素敵な雰囲気を感じるのだが、これもまたそんな優雅に暮らしている人たちの悲劇で、じわっと感動しました。

This is the first book by Robert Goddard that I have read, and it won't be the last. The plot is well-developed, as are the characters, and it reads like a novel.

Great story, nicely written. I'm not finished but I'm hooked but I do feel a bit more editing and more conciseness would have made it a 5 star book. It seems to go on more than necessary but having said that.... still a good read.