Past Caring

You too would reach the point where you were PAST CARING if the found that your perfect life had been wrenched from you; the love of your life had suddenly abandoned you and your once promising career was in tatters all for reasons unknown to you.......reasons that no one would explain but vehemently insisted were known to you. Such is the fate of Edwin Strafford. Once a man with a promising political career as a British cabinet minister, contemporary and friend to the likes of Winston Churchill and Lloyd George, he becomes an outcast of sorts relegated to life on the island of Madeira. After his death his autobiographical memoir is found and Martin Radford, a historian with a few dark secrets of his own, is commissioned to take a copy of the memoir and attempt to reassemble the jig-saw puzzle that was Strafford's life. Radford, like many of author Goddard's protagonists, is a man without purpose or focus. He is unemployed, has an ex-wife who despises him, a daughter to whom he is a less than perfect father, and a proclivity for manipulative women whose motives are questionable. Author Robert Goddard has once again delivered an ingenious, complex and compelling story that is filled with mystery, historical fact, political intrigue, betrayal, deception, heartbreak and murder. This book is an absolute must read for anyone who enjoys a well written narrative and a plot with as many twists and turns as a mountain road. Be prepared to lose some sleep because PAST CARING will have you reading well into the wee small hours of the morning.

I've read 10 of Goddard's novels, so far. This is the best by far. All have these things in common: * Murder mysteries where plot spans several decades or more. Strong historical themes. * Different protagonist in each (2 exceptions.) * Protagonist is never a detective or professional mystery solver. Always an ordinary person who gets unwittingly wrapped up in solving the mystery. * Usually some love interest. * Fairly complex plots with twists. His best is his first: "Past Caring". Absolutely compelling. All these things in one book: * A murder mystery told over 3 generations. * An historical novel starting with the Boer and First world wars. Churchill and Lloyd George play a part. * An Edwardian romance. * A tragedy caused by treachery I would say this is the best novel I have read in many years.

Goddard's first novel and perhaps his best - although his "In Pale Battalions" is also excellent. If you like a good "mystery in the past" novel this is it. Highly recommended.

This book is unmissable. Idiscovered it shortly after it was first published and it was unbelievable. I've since read all of his, some brilliant, all good, but this remains the best.

Yet another fantastic story from Robert Goddard, and that's what it is A STORY - so all the historians out there who don't like history being tampered with, should remember that it's fiction!You really feel for Martin, the central character, who is a historian down on his luck when he is offered an opportunity of employment in researching former cabinet minister Edwin Stafford's memoir. As is typical with Robert Goddard there are plenty of twists in the tale, this is a brilliant book and I'd recommend it to anyone who just wants a good read.