review: BORROWED TIME, Robert Goddard

• this edition published 1995 Corgi Books
• ISBN 978-0-552-14223-6
• 447 pages

Synopsis (Penguin UK)

One fateful summer evening, businessman Robin Timariot meets a strikingly beautiful woman while out walking. They exchange only a few words, but those words prove to be unforgettable. A few days later, the newspapers are full of the rape and murder of Lady Louise Paxton - and to his horror, Timariot realises that this was the woman he met just hours before her death.

A man is swiftly charged and convicted of the crime, but a series of bizarre events begin to convince Timariot that all is not what it seems. Against his better judgement, he is soon sucked into the tortuous complexity of the dead woman's life. But the closer Timariot gets to the truth, the more hideous and uncertain it seems to be. And far too late, he realizes that anybody who uncovers it is unlikely to live...

My take

This book has been lurking on my TBR for longer than I care to remember. One thing that has put me off reading it is the small format of the paperback and of the print. I've been spoilt by the adjustability of reading e-books.

Robin Timariot is walking Offa's Dyke while trying to make a decision about the rest of his life. His accidental meeting of Louise Paxton should have had no lasting consequences but her death only a few hours later draws him into her family.

This is one of those plots that twists and turns and seems as if it will never end. Just when you think you have it all sorted out it darts off again. In fact I came to a conclusion early on about who was likely to be responsible for Louise Paxton's death, and, as it turns out, I was right, but not really for the right reasons.

The plot meanders along a bit with elements about the cricket bat company that Robin's family owns, and then strands related to Louise Paxton's family.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read (among others)

NAME TO A FACE
4.5, LONG TIME COMING
4.4, FAULT LINE