Just Finished Reading: Found Wanting by Robert Goddard (FP: 2008)

It was just another day at the office, or at least just another day on the way to the office when Richard Eusden saw his ex-wife gesturing to him from a car window. Surprised to say the least he gets into her car only to be told that his childhood friend, and Gemma’s ex-lover is dying. Gemma has been asked to deliver a parcel to him but can’t bring herself to complete what will, no doubt, be a tearful reunion. Gemma needs Richard to do her a favour, for old time’s sake. A quick trip to Brussels on the Eurostar and back in London by tea time. What could be simpler? But when his friend doesn’t turn up to the meeting and the package is stolen things get very complicated indeed. Suddenly everyone is after what is in the package and they will offer anything, or threaten anyone, to get their hands on it. But what is in the package and why are so many people willing to kill to gain access to its contents or to destroy them forever? Everything points to Richard’s friends grandfather who it would seem was telling the truth all those years ago when he spun his tale of meeting the Russian royal family and of saving the life of one of the Romanov daughters. The package, it seems, contains letters between the mysterious grandfather and a correspondent in Denmark close to their royal family. Could a Romanov have survived the assassinations in 1917 and is that information worth killing for?

As I now expect from Goddard this was a whirl wind tale of conspiracy, mysterious past encounters, hidden messages, breathless chases and confused protagonists thrust into the middle of something they are singularly unprepared for. The pace of the plot certainly keeps the reader off kilter. I had theory after theory of what was really going on – only to have them exploded (sometimes literally) one by one. Did the package even exist? Where the letters genuine? Had Richard been set-up from the very first encounter? Was his friend really dying? Had DNA evidence really been tampered with? So many questions, so many loose ends, so many people telling lies or half-truths….. To say that the book was a puzzle is the understatement of the year. It certainly kept me guessing (and theorising) to the very end. Unfortunately when I finally got to the end (rather quickly as it was a serious page turner) I did find the end rather….. well, unsatisfactory. I suppose though, thinking about it, Goddard couldn’t really solve one of the great conspiracy mysteries of the age by pulling something bold out of a hat. Well, I suppose that he could have but it would’ve been pretty laughable unless it was bloody brilliant. I did get the feeling that he had almost painted (or written) himself into a corner he then couldn’t get out of. Up until that point I thought it was very much up to his usual high standard but felt a bit let down at the end. It certainly won’t stop me reading any more of his though. He has a breezy light style which makes pages turn themselves and a deviously complex mind that it’s fun trying to get inside to work out what’s going to happen next – no luck so far! Definitely a fun read right up till the last page.