I picked this up as a half price book of the week offer because I had left Jodi Picoult at home ...

This was not my usual preferred genre but it is pacy and tells an interesting story. Not too cliched I would recommend it for a short snappy weekend read. ( )

A civil servant (Richard Eusden) is drawn into helping his best friend, who is dying, deliver a simple errand. But nothing is as it seems in a Goddard novel and Eusden is soon trying to solve a mystery related to the Russian Royal Family.

The protagonist is like virtually every other Goddard hero: middle-aged, in a rut, romantically unconnected, unprepared for the challenges ahead, but then unexpectedly resourceful when times get tough. He will also find romance along the way. The ending is ambiguous and somewhat frustrating and left me leafing through previous chapters to see if I had missed a vital clue or obscure reference.

The classic Goddard trademarks are there, and the back story about the Romanovs is interesting, but somehow it just doesn’t seem to click.

I really enjoyed all of Goddard's earlier books, but I think the standard of his writing has fallen over the years. Whilst a reasonable read, this is not one of his best. ( )

I'm reading it each night; it's interesting but not gripping. Like the connection between Danish and Russian history. ( )