Long Time Coming by Robert GoddardBook Details
Publisher: Bantam Press, Hardcover, 391 pages
Publish Date: February 8, 2010
Genre: Mystery, Adult Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Crime, Historical Fiction
Source: Library Kindle edition; group read at Librarything
Awards: Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original(2011), Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original(2011)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I want to start out by saying this is my first Robert Goddard read and I was totally blown away by this book. The setting switches between 1940 and 1976 in Europe, primarily in London, Belgium, and Ireland. I like to look up facts about places and events mentioned and this book is loaded with those.
The story begins with an old man named Eldritch Swan being released from a prison in Ireland after 36 years. He shows up at the door of the only family he has left, his nephew Stephen and his sister-in-law, Stephen's mother. Stephen Swan had been told his whole life his uncle was killed by the Germans in a London air raid in 1940. So when he shows up alive he wonders what is going on??
Stephen soon finds out he is not going to get many answers from his uncle. As his uncle claims it was part of his prison release that he never disclose why he was imprisoned all those years. Naturally Stephen is leery of his long lost (dead?) Uncle Eldritch.
So through many twists and turns the story goes...trying to find out what really happened to Uncle Eldritch all those years ago and why it still has to be such a secret now. The author did a great job of drawing you in right off the bat and wanting you to keep reading. This was a hard book to put down at night. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who loves a good mystery mixed with some historical fiction. Overall I rate this book a 5 star *****.
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