What do You think about Sight Unseen (2006)?
Sight Unseen is an engrossing mystery that interfered with my sleep. It's the kind of book I could have easily read in one sitting, if I had the time. I will admit that the preface and first chapter(s) left me more confused than anything, but still managed to draw me into the story. After that, the story settles into its groove. I felt involved in the story, like I was there with Umber. The one other thing that could get confusing was the repeated appearance of the Junius letters. It was hard to figure out how they were involved in a kidnapping/murder case. By the end it is cleared up, but I still feel that the Junius search took too much time. Overall, Sight Unseen is a really intriguing mystery that makes me want to read Goddard's work again.
—Michelle Jones
I've read a few of Robert Goddard's book now, and to be honest, I find it a bit hit and miss. Some are great, others are a bit "meh". This one tends towards the "meh". It's a good story, and the twists and turns of the plot always keep you guessing as you go along. Unfortunately, the big reveal at the end was something that you will easily guess at. I also had a problem with the chapters in Kew, where all the previous good work is undone by a very unbelievable coincidence that enables the protagonist to track down another character. The main character, David Umber, is a bit bland (a problem I have with most of Goddard's books).What lifts this book is Goddard's obvious knowledge of the historical elements of the book, and the way he can weave them into the plot, he does this much better than Dan Brown. So, the positive and the negative tend to cancel each other out, leaving me with a three star rating. I will read more Goddard, but I won't go looking.
—Ian Fenton
Eén keer gelezen, maar dat is te lang geleden voor een goede recensie. Dus, eerst nog een keer lezen, dan horen jullie wat ik ervan vind.Intend to release this one at the meeting on Terschelling, so will read this in the course of next week. After a considerable time I re-read this book. This time, liked it a lot better than the first, when I compared it too much with Verboden te lezen, a book by the same author. Now that I did not read them one after the other, I am able to talk about this book.There's a lot going on in this book. Occasionally I had trouble following the leaps of thought of certain characters, how he/she came to the conclusion .... I'm not saying that everything should always be written in great detail, but because there were some unexplained things, the story lines came together very late. As a reader I'd have preferred to know some reasons / causes earlier on in the story. Most likely I would have appreciated the book more.It is certainly not a bad book, but I have read more exciting / better books. The only scene that really stood out for me was the one near the end of the book, at the tain station. That was very well done. I won't say anything more.... ;-)
—BoekenTrol
