Product Description

Harry Barnett is leading a contented life in Vancouver with his wife and daughter when he is brought back to England by the death of his mother. He intends to spend just a few days sorting out her affairs when a chance meeting he will regret for the rest of his life makes him change his plans. Two old acquaintances from his National Service days track Harry down to his mother's house - the last address they had for him. A lavish reunion has been organised to mark the fiftieth anniversary of their RAF days. Harry decides to go. During the war Harry and his fellow RAF conscripts spent three months in a Scottish castle where they acted as guinea pigs in a psychological experiment. The reunion is to take place in the same castle. It will be a chance to see friends, settle old scores and lay a few ghosts to rest. The party begins on the train up to Aberdeen, until the apparent suicide of one of their number shatters the holiday atmosphere. Their arrival in Scotland seems under a cloud. And when another comrade dies soon after their arrival, Harry is gripped by a sense of foreboding. The recollections of the old comrades of their time in the castle are frighteningly different and unexplained events from 1955 still haunt them. As Harry tries to solve the mystery of what really happened fifty years ago, he uncovers an extraordinary secret that convinces him he will never leave the castle alive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26457 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 369 pages

From the Publisher
The new mystery from the 'master of the clever twist'

From the Back Cover
‘Goddard rarely disappoints…Meticulous plotting, well-drawn characters and an immaculate sense of place…A satisfying number of twists and shocks along the way’
The Times

For a group of ex-RAF comrades, it is to be the reunion to end all reunions: a weekend in the Scottish castle where they were guinea pigs in a psychological experiment many years before. Most of them haven’t seen each other since. But the convivial atmosphere on the journey north is quickly shattered by the apparent suicide of one of their party.

When a second death occurs, a sense of foreboding descends on the group. It appears that the past is coming back to haunt them, a past that none of them has ever spoken about. Their recollections of it are all frighteningly different. So what really happened?

In pursuit of the truth, one of them uncovers an extraordinary secret and suddenly realises that they are all in mortal danger…

Praise for Robert Goddard:

‘When it comes to duplicity and intrigue, Goddard is second to none...A master of intrigue’
Daily Mail

‘One of Britain’s finest thriller writers’
Time Out

About the Author
Robert Goddard was born in Hampshire. He read History at Cambridge and worked as an educational administrator in Devon before becoming a full-time novelist. His bestselling novels are: Past Caring, In Pale Battalions, Painting the Darkness, Into the Blue (winner of the first WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award and dramatized for TV in 1997, starring John Thaw), Take No Farewell, Hand in Glove, Closed Circle, Borrowed Time, Out of the Sun (a sequel to Into the Blue), Beyond Recall, Caught in the Light, Set in Stone, Sea Change, Dying to Tell, Days Without Number and Play to the End.

Customer Reviews

An OK book but too many 'lucky breaks' for my liking
The reviews all have the usual best seller buzz words, 'gripping', 'page turner', 'twists', 'unputdownable', etc......but it was a bit of a let down. I DID finish it, so it couldn't have been that bad but I didn't really feel for any of the characters. In fact, the only characters I wanted to read about were the few that were only briefly mentioned, the key characters were only mildly interesting.

I kept going because the whole book was hinting that what they thought they remembered from the experiment in 1955 wasn't acutally as it appeared and I wanted to know why. What happened to them en-route was just page filler.

The trail that leads to the truth is littered with too many lucky breaks for the hero and seemingly 'being in the right place, at the right time' moments.

It's not the worst book I've read, but it's far from the best so while I'm glad I've read it, it's not one I'd go back to.

Goddard below his best is still very very good indeed !
Robert Goddard writes books that deserve between four and seven (!) stars. This is not by any means his best book but it's still a cracking good yarn. What stops it getting five stars is that it lacks his trademark past and present narrative. Although the story originates 50 years ago that's only a reference point.

The people who have left less than favourable reviews need to appreciate that like Grisham, Shute, Francis, Rankin, Robinson and others all books marked Robert Goddard contain a rattling good read. Some are just better than others. If you are new to Robert Goddard this is not the book to start with - I'd suggest reading them in publication date order. if like you me you have read them all then just buy it and enjoy it !

Good in parts
I've read several Goddard titles and this isn't the best of them. Having said that, it's a perfectly good read and whiles away the time quite nicely. The plot is not bad, with a few twists, but it's not too hard to work out early just what is going on.

There are one or two slices of good luck which are a bit of a cop out designed to move the plot along, but they're forgivable. I wouldn't recommend new readers to Goddard to start with this one, but if you just want a quick read on the train (or, like me, waiting on Jury Service) this will do perfectly.