Rupert Frazer

The start of Nobody’s Fool didn’t bode well and was almost a DNF but once the party moved to the Swiss Alps I was hooked. Now in his sixties Philip Carver is approached by a journalist investigating a tragic boating accident involving his privileged parents and their close circle of friends from decades earlier. Pip is forced to face his 13 year old self and the ripple effects of that fateful summer in 1967. There are issues aplenty – suicide and eugenics, anti-semitism and Nazi show more sympathism, sexuality and ethnicity, reputation and control, power and perfection - as the secrets and pasts of the predominantly unpleasant cast of characters are revealed. Nobody’s Fool deserves to be finished not least for the final twist and Pip’s time spent with his grandfather in Northumberland. show less

I received my copy of 'Nobody's Fool' through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

It took this reader some time to become involved in this story. After an intriguing first few pages, the story concentrated on a group of despicable wealthy people who all seemed to be having affairs and going on holiday - or not. I found the going here slow and difficult to follow.

Once the 'main event' of the story occurred things became much more interesting. This happens 36% of the way into the story show more (reading an ebook), and then things really start to happen, and what follows is interesting as the narrator takes us through really difficult life developments and some clever detective work to find answers to all the questions that have been raised.

An unxplained suicide, a death (murder or accident?), a later death (directly connected?), a decades long cover-up (why?), the mental disintegration of a character or two.

Ultimately, quite a satisfying read, after a tedious start reading about awful people. And just to be clear, the main character/narrator is a most sympathetic character. show less

I found the novel interesting and there were some good, not obvious plot twists. There were a few weak areas. Here are my Pros: I like how complicated some characters are while others seem to long only for a simple life, the sparse clues to indicate that history will somehow be influencing the next generations lives, the idea of gifts being both privileges and burdens, the nods to sexuality being more complicated than appearances dictate, the contrasting tones of the sex scenes, the trauma show more witnesses are left with, and the idea of self-hatred for things that are not under one's control.
Cons: There are some awkward turns of phrases that left me unsure of the intended meaning, the motivations and feelings of the characters seems muted somehow. I don't know how to describe it but I am not sure I fully bought into how quickly most of the characters were mollified. Overall, it is a very good novel and makes me want to explore the play it was based on. show less

Thank you PublishNation and Library Thing for the free ebook Nobody’s Fool by Rupert Frazer in exchange for an honest review. The beginning of the book was slow but soon gained some momentum. The topics, foundational to the storyline, are serious and horrific and impacted the characters’ futures immensely. But somehow, it all fell short for me. I was not able to connect with the characters or the plot. As I have strived to determine why, I think that maybe the plot was so broad and the show more characters and their relationships so numerous that it was confusing to keep track of it all. I finished, wishing I had engaged with the story more. show less