"Play to the End" by Robert Goddard

Toby Flood, lead actor in a touring production of a lost Joe Orton play, comes to Brighton where his soon-to-be-ex-wife requests his assistance with a man who seems to be stalking her. As with all Robert Goddard thrillers, one thing leads to another and the past is very much raked up. Murder and past murders ensue as Toby becomes embroiled in more than he bargained for.

I've read a lot of Goddard's. The early ones are brilliant. Some are poor. This is easily in the better half. Although events got a bit hectic in the third quarter, when reality seemed to be hiding behind the sofa, I kept turning the pages and the end was satisfying complex.

Other Goddard novels reviewed in this blog include:

• Found Wanting which I found wanting
• Long time coming: a page turner but with an unconvincing plot
• Blood Count: a great story but with a protagonist too naive to be true
• Fault Line: a quick read but ...
• The Ways of the World: the first of a trilogy which I have not continued

"Novelty did not lend enchantment to the experience." (p 35)
"Death's the biggest absolute of all. Strange, then, that we can be so vague about the moment of its arrival." (p 117)

February 2017; 332 pages