Product Description

Another classic mystery from the “master of the clever twist.”

On a summer’s day in 1981, a two-year-old girl, Tamsin Hall, was abducted during a picnic at the famous prehistoric site of Avebury in Wiltshire. Her seven-year-old sister Miranda was knocked down and killed by the abductor’s van. The girls were in the care of their nanny, Sally Wilkinson.

One of the witnesses to this tragic event was David Umber, a Ph.D student who was waiting at the village pub to keep an appointment with a man called Griffith who claimed he could help Umber with his researches into the letters of “Junius,” the pseudonymous eighteenth century polemicist who was his Ph.D subject. But Griffin failed to show up, and Umber never heard from him again. The two-year-old, Tamsin Hall, was never seen again either. The Hall family fell apart under the strain. Sally Wilkinson, the nanny, wound up living with Umber, whom she had met at the inquiry. But she never recovered from the incident, suffered increasingly from depression, and eventually committed suicide.

In the spring of 2004, retired Chief Inspector George Sharp receives a letter signed “Junius” reproaching him for botching the 1981 investigation. Sharp confronts Umber, whose explanation for being at the scene of the tragedy has always seemed dubious. Obliged to accept Umber’s denial of authorship of the letter, he nonetheless forces him to join in a search for the real culprit — and hence the long-concealed truth about what happened 23 years previously. It is a quest that both will later regret having embarked upon. Too late they come to understand that some mysteries are better left unsolved.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #231200 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 294 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This compelling stand-alone thriller from British author Goddard (Play to the End) opens in 1981 with the kidnapping of two-year-old Tamsin Hall and the hit-and-run death of Tamsin's seven-year-old sister, Miranda, in the ancient town of Avebury, at the foot of two massive, mysterious monoliths, part of a Neolithic stone circle. Fast forward to the present, where historian David Umber, who witnessed the double crime and later married the children's nanny, hears from now retired Chief Inspector Sharp of the Wiltshire constabulary, who has received an anonymous letter with clues to what happened that center on the identity of an 18th-century political gadfly known by the pseudonym Junius, the subject of Umber's Ph.D. research. Umber's realization that his wife's suicide years before may actually have been murder spurs him to join Sharp in pursuing this new evidence. The solution to both the identity of Junius and the perpetrator of the crimes against the children is satisfying, intelligent and refreshingly straightforward. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Chief Inspector George Sharp never quite believed the serial pedophile who confessed to the 1981 murder of a seven-year-old girl and the abduction of her infant sister in eerie Avebury, England. (The ancient city is home to massive remnants of a neolithic stone circle that's both older and larger than the more famous Stonehenge.) Sharp, now retired, has his dormant skepticism revived some 20 years after the fact when he receives a mysterious letter "signed" by eighteenth-century polemicist Junius claiming, in no uncertain terms, that he nabbed the wrong man. Sharp is soon back in touch with David Umber, a Junius scholar and one of three witnesses on that fateful day. As it happened, the crime scene was also where David met his future wife, Sally, the nanny responsible for bringing the two girls--and their older brother--to the historic site. Sally was forever traumatized by the horrendous turn of events, and David remains haunted by her subsequent suicide--or might she have been murdered? Together and separately, David and Detective Sharp pursue a slew of shifty characters, creeping ever closer to the truth. International best-seller Goddard (Borrowed Time, 2005) renders crisp prose and a crackling plot with plenty of ingenious twists. Recommend him to readers of Rendell and P. D. James. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
“Compelling…. Satisfying, intelligent.”—Publishers Weekly


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Old politics, new mysteries
I found this to be a fascinating book, albeit at times, both confusing and exciting. Twenty something years previously, a small girl was kidnapped and presumed murdered, from a henge of standing stones in Avebury. Her sister was killed when she ran on to the road in an attempt to stop the car, leaving the children's nanny to take the blame for the whole affair. Years later, the nanny was thought to have suicided but her former husband, historian David Umber recieves a call from the now retired police Chief Inspector, George Sharpe, who was in charge of the kidnapping case, to ask his help in reopening the inveatigation. It's a story with many characters and many threads, which are so interwoven that, at times, it seemed to bog down under such a wealth of detail, and then, just when I found the going becoming a bit tedious, the author zooms you back with an exciting lead. It's clever writing, bound together with genuine historical facts about an 18th century political polemicist, Junius, whose writings are documented. It's a good read but not for those with a short attention span.

great thriller from a genre grandmaster
In the summer of 1981 near the Avebury Neolithic henge circle, a woman walks with three children; a nine or ten years old boy and a seven years old girl are slightly ahead of the adult and the third child is a toddler. Suddenly a man grabs the infant whose sister reacts instantly and gives chase while the nanny stares in revulsion. The kidnapper jumps into a van, runs over his seven years old pursuer, and flees with his catch.

Historian David Umber witnessed the horror over twenty-five years ago in which Tamsin Hall was abducted and her older sister Miranda killed. David eventually married the stunned nanny but his wife never moved on from the shock that initially bound them until she finally committed suicide filled with guilt that she was negligent in her diligence.

Retired Wiltshire Chief Inspector Sharp informs David he received an anonymous letter with clues to what happened on that fatal day in '81. The letter focuses on the true identity of an eighteenth century political meddler known as Junius, who happens to be the subject of Umber's Ph.D. research. David begins to reconsider his wife's suicide and wonders if someone murdered her to further bury the truth. The historian and the former cop team up to follow the new leads to hopefully uncover a murderous kidnapper.

If not the best, Robert Goddard has to be one of the top five suspense writers today. With exhilarating works like BORROWED TIME, HAND IN GLOVE, and now SIGHT UNSEEN, Mr. Goddard consistently entertains with exciting tales that are plausible and gripping. His current thriller will hook the audience from the opening 1981 sequence and throughout until the final present day confrontation; thus another great thriller from a genre grandmaster.

Harriet Klausner

very good mystery thriller, definitely worth reading
One of the better Robert Goddard books. Innovative and very well constructed plot that holds the reader's interest. Well written, atlhough sometimes a bit too detailed on some historical or geographical details. Worth your time if you're looking for some quality entertainment literature.