I have been reading Caro Fraser's Caper Court series since she published the first one 'The Pupil' back in 1992. I believe this is the sixth in the series, each one has been about the same main protagonist Leo Davis.I have always enjoyed following the lives of the lawyers at Five Caper Court as they appear in each subsequent novel. Leo Davis is a charismatic character and throughout his career seems to manage to escape scandal time and again.Nothing has changed in this latest novel, Leo is still getting himself into trouble. Although he has of late decided that he is maybe ready to settle down, with one woman, it does not workout. No surprise then as once again he is tempted to stray this time into the arms of an extremely calculating lady.On the back of the copy of the book I read there is a quote 'Smart, complex and deliciously racy .... the thinking woman's chicklit'. I have to say I agree, nothing brain stretching but a good read. Although I find it more interesting to have read the earlier novels and have got to know the characters it is certainly not a prerequisite to have done so. I will now have to look out for the seventh 'Breath of Corruption' and with an eighth in the pipeline one wonders for how long Caro Fraser will keep this series going. It has already been 18 years!
I'm guessing this is intended to be a "House of Cards" type book, where we're meant to be repelled and fascinated by the main character at the same time. He's a devastatingly handsome, self-centred pr!ck who callously uses and discards his lovers (both male and female). Unfortunately because he irritated me so much, I couldn't get into this book at all. The writing is easy to read so I kept reading, hoping that we'd see Leo get his comeuppance at some point. Finally I skimmed the rest to see what happened, but it wasn't particularly satisfying. Frankly, I found the ending hard to believe, because Leo has all the hallmarks of a psychopath in his relationships (charming, manipulative, no empathy, complete lack of remorse), so it seemed out of character for him to have scruples about a little insurance fraud.Apart from Leo there was a big cast of characters and the author does a good job of managing them all without leaving the reader confused - but Leo dominates and I disliked him so much, the book didn't work for me.
