Robert Goddard's 'Never Go Back'

The publisher describes this book as being the ‘new mystery by the master of the clever twist’. This is actually a very accurate introduction to this novel By Robert Goddard titled ‘Never go back’. Since reading it I have found out that it is the last in a series of three books about the character Harry Barnett and although I had read several of this authors books, I had obviously missed these other two.

I have started reading mid way through a series without realising it and found it really difficult to finish the book as because you have so obviously missed chunks of what has happened. It wasn’t the same in this case, this book really stood on its own.

Like most of Robert Goddard’s books (and as indicated in the publisher’s released comment), this book tells the story of his lead character’s surprise encounter with an old friend which in turn leads to more mysteries and twists than the reader could ever anticipate. The plot line sees Harry Barnett travel to an RAF reunion in Scotland, back to a place that he hasn’t been for fifty years. After two members of their party die in suspicious circumstances and Harry himself is suspected of their murder, he endeavours to find out the reason behind the deaths himself and hence putting himself into the path of more trouble.

My main impression of this book is that is a very well written mystery novel. Whilst I don’t think it’s my favourite Robert Goddard’s books, it is none the less one I enjoyed reading. My favourite aspect of this author’s books in general is the way that he works to make sure he is always one step of the reader. Whilst I am not one of those people who takes pride in guessing what is coming next, sadly some stories are so predictable that you cant help but come to the correct conclusion. These books are not like this, they always have something else to discover as you carry on, with the result being that you are interested from cover to cover.

Finally a quick note about the cover, whilst I am not a fan of the proportions given to the text vs image (they almost seam to be fighting for your main attention) I actually quite like the decision to use the castle as the subject on the cover. This is a central part to the books plot, whilst its significance stays unknown to some extent until near the end.

The main downside I think with it (apart from the overly large text) is that it is not particularly eye-catching. I suppose that as with Pompeii they are hoping that the author’s name will be the main pull of the book. Whilst this may be true, I still think that a bit more attention in this area wouldn’t go a miss. As Michelle Almond pointed out in her blog, we all know the phase don’t judge a book by it’s cover but lets face it, this is exactly what we all do.