Product Description

Nick Paleologus is summoned to the unyielding bosom of his family to help resolve a dispute which threatens to set his brothers and sisters against their aged and irascible father. Michael Paleologus, retired archaeologist and supposed descendent of the last Emperors of Byzantium, lives alone at Trennor, a remote and rambling house on the Cornish bank of the Tamar. A ridiculously generous offer has been made for the house, but he refuses to sell despite the urgings of his children, for whom the proceeds would solve a variety of problems. Nick accomplished little in the role of mediator, but the stalemate is soon tragically broken. Only then do Nick and his siblings discover why their father was bound at all costs to reject the offer and what may really be the motives of the prospective buyer. Their increasingly desperate efforts to conceal the truth drag them into a deadly conflict with an unseen and unknown enemy, who seems as determined to force them into a confrontation with their family's past as he is to conceal his own identity. Late in the day, perhaps too late, Nick realizes that the only way to escape from the trap their persecutor has set for them is to hunt him down, wherever - and whoever - he may be. But the hunt involves excavating a terrible secret from their father's archaeological career. And once that secret is known, nothing will ever be the same again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #388975 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 329 pages

Review
Cracks are appearing in the fragile facade of the Paleologus family. A mysterious man has made an offer on the family's Cornwall home, now inhabited solely by the father, Michael. The bid is well above the market value and, with Michael's grown-up offspring in various states of financial need, they would very much like their father to accept. The prospective buyer believes that somewhere within the walls of the house is hidden a stained-glass window depicting the Apocalypse, moved there for protection during the dark days of the Reformation, and he is willing to pay any price to have the opportunity to find it. Michael may have his own compelling reasons for his refusal to sell the house, but his sudden death would seem to clear the way for his children to claim a large inheritance. Unfortunately, as the house begins to give up its secrets, the situation only becomes more complicated. One of Michael's sons, Nick, begins to investigate the origins of the shadowy figure behind the offer to buy the property and finds himself and his family drawn deeper into a situation over which they appear to have little or no control. Nick's search for the truth will place him and his family in danger and not everyone will emerge alive. This is Robert Goddard's 15th novel since his debut, Past Caring, in 1986, and it's a well-paced thriller, full of contradictory characters who implore Nick's (and our) trust, but who may yet be plotting against him. This ambiguity allows Goddard to keep his readers off-balance all the way through, desperate to learn the truth about these people. Nick is probably the most sympathetic of the characters, but even he has his flaws and elements of his past he would rather forget. These grey areas - Nick's breakdown as a teenager, his increasing dependence on alcohol as the story unravels, sleeping with the 'enemy' - give the individuals depth and helps us to identify with them, good and bad. Goddard moves the story from Cornwall, to Scotland, to Italy, opening it out but maintaining a feeling of claustrophobia that locks the protagonists into a chain of events from which they seem unable to escape. The object of desire, with its roots in religion and the ancient past, provides an extra exotic touch and adds to a general air of powerlessness for these characters. An absorbing, contemporary thriller with a hint of mysticism. (Kirkus UK)

From the Publisher
Days without Number is another classic Robert Goddard mystery, intricate, fascinating and deeply satisfying to the very last page

From the Back Cover
Nick Paleologus is summoned to the unyielding bosom of his family to help resolve a dispute which threatens to set his brothers and sisters against their aged and irascible father. Michael Paleologus, retired archaeologist and supposed descendant of the last Emperors of Byzantium, lives alone at Trennor, a remote and rambling house on the Cornish bank of the Tamar. A ridiculously generous offer has been made for the house, but he refuses to sell despite the urgings of his children, for whom the proceeds would solve a variety of problems.

Nick accomplishes little in the role of mediator, but the stalemate is soon tragically broken. Only then do Nick and his siblings discover why their father was bound at all costs to reject the offer and what may really be the motives of the prospective buyer.

Their increasingly desperate efforts to conceal the truth drag them into a deadly conflict with an unseen and unknown enemy, who seems as determined to force them into a confrontation with their family's past as he is to conceal his own identity.

Late in the day, perhaps too late, Nick realizes that the only way to escape from the trap their persecutor has set for them is to hunt him down, wherever - and whoever - he may be. But the hunt involves excavating a terrible secret from their father's archaeological career. And once that secret is known, nothing will ever be the same again.

Customer Reviews

Intriguing
This is about the 6th novel of Robert Goddards that I have read so far. His books all revolve around large extended families that have secrets buried in their past. The main protagonist will have the job of uncovering the secret, whilst he pits his wits against (a usually unseen) adversary who wants to keep the secret... secret.

Well this book is no exception. The strength of Goddard's books is that whilst they always follow a similar path, the writing is SO good, that you just don't mind.

With all the interest in grail legends generated by "that" book, I suppose it was inevitable that a writer like Goddard, who always has historic themes, would have a crack at something like this. Well he's carried it off superbly!

The characters in this novel are well drawn 3 dimensional human beings, with lives and interests beyond those necessary for the story, not just plot devices or mouths into which exposition is placed (like the aforementioned grail-based chase across Europe)

The quest, this time is to find out what secret is concealed in an old house, and why someone else is willing to go to incredible lengths to get their hands on the secret first. As already mentioned, pretty standard stuff for those already acquainted with Goddard's work. However, it is the way that he can reveal a fairly simple plot-scheme from such an oblique angle one unconnected, confusing clue at a time which makes the familiar Goddard path so much fun to tread.

In this book we follow our hero across Europe in search of clues to the identity of someone who appears to have pulled a pointless cruel trick, on his family. It is the journey of discovery, uncovering the facts behind the elaborate hoax which drives this book along. Needless to say, there is a grail/religious artefact connection, as well as a connection to events which happened in the family's recent past (during the lifetime of the elderly father of the family).

There are loose ends left at the end of this book, so if that kind of thing bothers you, then maybe this isn't for you. However, none of these affect the main plot strand - they only really concern peripheral characters; for example two such characters accuse each other of setting up a scam, which was essential to the story and we never find out for sure who was telling the truth. This also has knock-on effects for those characters assumed to be in cahoots with one or other of the two mentioned - we just don't know if such-and-such a person was telling the truth on page 300, or if they are the slippery liar that they've been painted as, but as it doesn't affect the outcome in any way, we're left to make up our own minds. I like that kind of thing... in moderation. Too much and it just begins to look like the author has lost track of things. In this case I'm definitely giving Goddard the benefit of the doubt - no author who can write as beautifully and evocatively as he does can possibly fall into such a trap. Could they?

A tale of two genres
For the first 350 pages of what should probably have been a 370 page novel (rather than 450), I really thought that this was the best novel that Robert Goddard have ever written. As usual the characters were well drawn, the locations fascinating and the plot, while utterly compelling, was real enough to make the main character believable as an ordinary bloke. Then just as it approached the climax, the action moved from Cornwall to Venice and the whole genre of the book changed from a believable mystery into a James Bond story. We were greeted by a suave baddie with a gold Rolex and a speed boat. The main characters were captured, and tied up but were they killed?. Oh no. They were taken to the baddie's high-tech lair and tied up while he kindly told them all about his fiendish intentions. This totally implausible section of the story was tied in with a lot of unnecessary plot twists which just served to spin out the story for about 100 pages more than was necessary.
It is still a good story and will still keep Goddard fans turning the pages but is rather spoiled by the final section.

Some secrets are better left with the dead.........
This is the type of novel that Robert Goddard excells at. A mystery thriller wrapped around a historical conundrum, and he was on good form when he wrote this in 2003.
A convoluted plot with nice twists and turns and an unseen enemy (simular in this regard to 'Sight Unseen')the story follows Nick who returns to Cornwall for a family gathering only to find that there is an ulterior motive to him being summoned.
This review is deliberately vague so as not to spoil the story, but things begin to go very wrong for Nick and the deeper he digs to reveal the truth ,the closer to death he gets.
Goddard creates a dark, unsettling atmosphere within this novel which is increased with his finale taking place in Venice. ( a nod towards 'Don't Look Now')perhaps?
All in all, a clever well written thriller and one of his best from this current decade.