I like Robert Goddard a lot but this was not one of his better books. It starts off with a bang and holds your interest but when the story within a story takes over, while exciting for a while and a bit of a page-turner for a bit, it loses a lot of interest, especially the more you learn.

I think Robert Goddard is incapable of writing a bad book. I first discovered him years ago when I ran out of books on vacation and picked up one of his titles at a bookstore at Heathrow Airport. Sadly, his books are not nearly as popular in the US as in his native England -- a real shame in my opinion! Whether the story is contemporary or takes place decades or centuries ago, his characters are well drawn and the narrative superb. It's hard to put one of his books down, but most are too long to...

A suspenseful audio book -- the reader (who plays Foyle on Foyle's War) was terrific.

I normally love Goddard's books and cannot put them down. In fact he would be my go-to author if I want a guaranteed good read. Sadly Caught in the Light singularly failed to capture me and I gave up just before the half way mark. Like many of his readers I often identify in some way with his everyman lead roles and when this is not the case I at least warm to the principal. But that never happened this time around and I also failed to warm to the convoluted telling of the story that generally h...

I almost stopped reading this book! After all the glowing reviews I was trying to figure out why it wasn’t working for me. His writing style is a bit different....can’t put my finger on it...too many words? BUT the 2nd half of the book really caught my attention. The plot is very dense and imaginative. There is a lot too like. I think I’ll try another one and see what I think.

Oh how fab - I was utterly caught up in the twists and turns of this book. I took it on holiday but ran out of time (and since discovered, after all my trials at finding a book set in Norfolk, that a significant part of this book is set there!). I've read nearly all of Robert's books - this is one of the best (and I've enjoyed the rest)

Oh no! I'm so disappointed. My favourite author and I just did not like this book. The plot was over complicated and the characters too numerous and difficult to keep track of. It started so well in the usual Goddard way - an enigmatic and shadowy figure attracting the main character into a dangerous and mysterious chase across Europe but then developed into a mess of red herrings, shady people and a complex storyline which kept moving backwards and forwards in time. Just too confusing.Now I've

This was the first of RG’s books that I read, many years ago, and certainly enjoyed it enough to read many more!

Reading a Goddard novel, you feel suspended between fact and tantalizingly true fiction. He describes scenes from Sussex to Snaefellsnes (in Iceland) with photographic clarity and creates compelling stories out of slices of obscure history. Take the woman at the focal point of this mystery: Who is Marian Esguard? Where is she? Does she – did she ever – exist? Goddard’s women are much like Hitchcock’s, and no femme is more fatale than this one; none will leave you more suspended between question

Diving into a Robert Goddard novel is like diving into a million knots. The thrill is watching how his intricate plots unravel all the knots. But in the end, the novel is judged by how well Goddard put the original knots together. Caught in the Light is a great page-turner; a quick-as-lightning read... but when looking on the plot's construction, it's not a crisp and logical as his best works, which are Past Caring and In Pale Battalions . Those book's mystery knots are just as fantast...

This is my first time reading a book by Robert Goddard. Other members of my reading group, who are familiar with his writing, were better prepared for some of the twists and deviations we took in this book. :)Ian, a photographer on assignment in Vienna meets a mysterious woman, Marian. After they begin a whirlwind affair, the decision is made to leave their respective spouses. Ian returns to England, breaks up with his wife and heads to the proposed rendezvous. Marian fails to show and, worse, a...

Bettie's Books

CAUGHT IN A BLINDING LIGHT OF INTRIGUE, May 15, 2007 This is a novel of love, loss, deception and amateur detection. Part ghost story, part historical mystery with a visit to the magical beginnings of early photography thrown in for good measure. Goddard has outdone himself in executing this intricate suspense filled plot loaded with double-crosses, theft and murder as well as the deeper themes of love and loss. Goddard's talent is such that this acrostic like "puzzle" engages the reader comple

I love Goddard's writing and found this book to be rather unique. I think this one was very different from his other books because it seemed like a supernatural/ghost-like plot and he doesn't usually tell that type of story. He also kept us guessing until the last page. I read this with a discussion group and I looked forward to reading each and every section as I was very curious what was really going on. I now look forward to my next Goddard book as I can't get enough of his storytelling. I hi...

I would really like to know who borrowed this book and did not return it! The dust jacket, forlorn and empty, stares at me reproachfully from time to time. I think it was someone in my book group, and I *will* find you...

This has to be his best book to date. Apart from the Barnett stories I'm reading his books in chronological order and this one grabs from the word go (with sex!) and layers tension over intrigue in equal measure. So good it has consumed my waking hours!

During the first half of the book, I was intrigued. I was willing to suspend my disbelief because I really wanted to enjoy this mystery. It had all the hallmarks of a good thrilling read, and the author managed to keep me hooked for a while. But then the plot became more and more convoluted and along the way, I was no longer able to suspend that disbelief. Creating a complicated but somehow logical plot is a skill not many writers possess, just adding twists and turns upon red herrings and expla...

Caught in the Light by Robert Goddard4★'sFrom the Book:On assignment in Vienna, photographer Ian Jarrett falls desperately in love with a woman he meets by chance, Marian Esguard. Back in England, he breaks up with his wife and goes to meet Marian at an agreed rendezvous. Marian fails to show.Searching desperately for her, he stumbles on a Dorset churchyard full of the gravestones of dead Esguards. He also meets a psychotherapist, Daphne Sanger. She too is looking for someone: a former patient w...

My favorite Goddard by far - more intense than his others and the photography aspect is handled brilliantly. A great place to start if you haven't tried him.

Good read but nothing that you could die for. I certainly didn't like the way it ended.