Matthew's review
Restless
by William Boyd
Yes, I enjoyed this book very much. It is an exciting thriller, with convincing historical and espionage detail. His previous book (I think) called Any Human Heart was a disappointment, but Boyd is always dependable for well-written and constructed narratives, and a wide range of period and place. Aardvaark remains one of my favourite novels.
Matthew's review
Restless by William Boyd
Matthew's review
rating:
There is an excellent sense of place and time in this book, which is the story (in the ripping yarn sense of story) about a spy, Eve Dalton (aka a million and one other names). The narrative interleaves Eve's own account of her life in the 1940s - written, oddly, in the third person - with a more contemporary one in which her daughter is given the account, chapter by chapter, and comes to learn about her mother's secret life. The historical material is much more compelling, and better written. I was not interested in the daughter and her tedious life, which seemed simply tedious rather than acting as a counterpoint to her mother's more fulfilling one.
Yes, I enjoyed this book very much. It is an exciting thriller, with convincing historical and espionage detail. His previous book (I think) called Any Human Heart was a disappointment, but Boyd is always dependable for well-written and constructed narratives, and a wide range of period and place. Aardvaark remains one of my favourite novels.
