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One Last Great Wickedness
A middle-aged Englishman, whose father committed suicide when the man was thirteen years old, comes across some letters his father had sent from the trenches of World War One. Certain words and phrases in these letters reveal a side of his father he had never suspected when he was growing up. This sends him on a quest to find out more about his father’s life.
As he digs deeper and deeper into his family’s past, he uncovers a world he realizes he had never understood, could never even have imagined. Just beneath the surface of the apparently quiet, civilized, well-bred world of the family he had known as a child, there was a completely different reality, a parallel universe of suppressed loves and hates, sexual deviations and appallingly violent actions, involving not only his parents and grandparents and the rest of his family, but also himself.
As he digs deeper and deeper into his family’s past, he uncovers a world he realizes he had never understood, could never even have imagined. Just beneath the surface of the apparently quiet, civilized, well-bred world of the family he had known as a child, there was a completely different reality, a parallel universe of suppressed loves and hates, sexual deviations and appallingly violent actions, involving not only his parents and grandparents and the rest of his family, but also himself.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 5, 2012
62 people are currently reading
526 people want to read
About the author
David Stansfield
5 books3 followersWith his wife, Denise Boiteau, David has written and produced some four hundred television scripts at TVOntario in Canada (both in English and French), the Public Broadcasting Service in the U.S., the Discovery Channel, NHK, Encyclopedia Britannica and Time-Life. Denise and David’s TV productions have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have won over fifty international film and television awards, including the selection of their “The Middle East” series in the Academy Awards Best Educational Documentary category.
David’s most recent published books are One Last Great Wickedness, The Seventh Coming, Got a Couple of Minutes? and The Man Who Murdered Time.
He took a First Class Honors B.A. in Modern Arabic at Durham University, followed by further studies in the same language at Cambridge, whereupon he was recruited by MI6.
David’s most recent published books are One Last Great Wickedness, The Seventh Coming, Got a Couple of Minutes? and The Man Who Murdered Time.
He took a First Class Honors B.A. in Modern Arabic at Durham University, followed by further studies in the same language at Cambridge, whereupon he was recruited by MI6.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 13, 2015
I got this book for free from one of the daily-deals sites, and boy, I'm glad I didn't pay for it.
This book is the story of a late-middle-aged man whose mother just died, trying to solve the mystery of his father's death many years ago. The story itself was interesting, and that is why I kept reading even though I wasn't enjoying the book. However, if you're going to write a book about characters who are sticklers for English, you really ought not litter your text with comma splices, misspelled words, misplaced apostrophes ("they sipped their latte's" -- UGH), etc. (Those kinds of mistakes make me crazy anyway, but when you're writing a pretentious book with obscure references and attempts at literary devices, you really ought to employ basic correct usage.)
Other than that, the book features a lot of rambling. The modern character would remember back to his youth and then the young him would remember back to some even-older memory in a series of parenthetical and ultimately unnecessary reminiscences. It was frustrating. Eventually I started skimming, then skipping.
And finally, I can't get into the rest without some spoilers: The narrator/main character is supposedly tracking down his father's killer and unearthing all manner of ugly family secrets along the way. He eventually develops three suspects for who might have done it, enumerating them and their possible motives for us. Only, the third suspect's motive makes zero sense/is backwards (if anything, the victim would have wanted to silence the third suspect, not the other way around). Meanwhile clues are dropping into the narrators lap left and right and he is more and more obtusely ignoring them or failing to explore them effectively.
The shame of it is this could have been a really moving exploration of the effects of war on its survivors, and the plight of the gay man before the modern equality revolution but it's so muddied up with nonsense and bad stereotypes that I couldn't get much good out of it. I liked the idea but not the execution at all.
This book is the story of a late-middle-aged man whose mother just died, trying to solve the mystery of his father's death many years ago. The story itself was interesting, and that is why I kept reading even though I wasn't enjoying the book. However, if you're going to write a book about characters who are sticklers for English, you really ought not litter your text with comma splices, misspelled words, misplaced apostrophes ("they sipped their latte's" -- UGH), etc. (Those kinds of mistakes make me crazy anyway, but when you're writing a pretentious book with obscure references and attempts at literary devices, you really ought to employ basic correct usage.)
Other than that, the book features a lot of rambling. The modern character would remember back to his youth and then the young him would remember back to some even-older memory in a series of parenthetical and ultimately unnecessary reminiscences. It was frustrating. Eventually I started skimming, then skipping.
And finally, I can't get into the rest without some spoilers: The narrator/main character is supposedly tracking down his father's killer and unearthing all manner of ugly family secrets along the way. He eventually develops three suspects for who might have done it, enumerating them and their possible motives for us. Only, the third suspect's motive makes zero sense/is backwards (if anything, the victim would have wanted to silence the third suspect, not the other way around). Meanwhile clues are dropping into the narrators lap left and right and he is more and more obtusely ignoring them or failing to explore them effectively.
The shame of it is this could have been a really moving exploration of the effects of war on its survivors, and the plight of the gay man before the modern equality revolution but it's so muddied up with nonsense and bad stereotypes that I couldn't get much good out of it. I liked the idea but not the execution at all.
June 24, 2014
story was good but author kept going off on tangents and those parts were BORING. Skipped a lot of them after awhile and just read when he went back to telling the story. would not recommend and would not read another of his books. Got this for free from amazon for my kindle and glad I did not pay for it.
December 7, 2020
This was rambling and repetitive, at times going off on tangents.
The blurb describes the main character as middle-aged. That made me chuckle. He is 66 years old. I don't think that is middle-age.
Disappointing. But at least it was free on Kindle.
The blurb describes the main character as middle-aged. That made me chuckle. He is 66 years old. I don't think that is middle-age.
Disappointing. But at least it was free on Kindle.
May 29, 2014
It has been a very long time since I read a book which, without pretense, held me in its thrall from start to finish. David Stansfield's "One Last Great Wickedness" begins quietly, no flash, no sudden burst of action. It tells a story softly, but do not mistake softness for mercy. The book evokes images both horrifying and profound.
I will give my usual positive/negative dichotomy before giving more praise to the the author and the book.
Positives: without a doubt, the characters in this book are stellar. Even minor characters, appearing for less than a chapter, less than 5 pages, get more and better treatment than some authors give their main character. The reader can "hear" the characters, "see" what they see, and experience their memories and thoughts. If I were to classify this narrative, it would be a "study in memory and how we fool ourselves." I cannot and will not give away anything about this story, nor about the characters. Just please....read it.
Negatives: If I had to pick one negative, it was how much I wanted more Lucien. I wanted Lucien to tell more of his memories, I wanted to get something more from the years spent alone with just Lucien and his mother. There was something in how the author teased us with Lucien.
Praise for the narrative itself:
I am a history fanatic, passionate about it. Mr. Stansfield's evocation of the Great War, its effects on the survivors, and even the culture on the home-front during the war, gave so much depth and richness to the narrative. Let me be blunt: the narrative itself without the memories, the recollections or failed attempts thereof, would have been 20-30 pages. Instead, we the reader are treated to moments in time that are so far removed from our modern experience, yet they resonate.
Other reviews compare the is Proust. I think it is a fair comparison. While Proust remembers a Madeline, Peter Farrington remembers the smell of beer and tobacco smoke.
I cannot say this often enough. If you want to read a book that will pull you deeply, hold you close, and, at the end, send you out with a sense of horror at what humans can become, this is a book you must read.
I will give my usual positive/negative dichotomy before giving more praise to the the author and the book.
Positives: without a doubt, the characters in this book are stellar. Even minor characters, appearing for less than a chapter, less than 5 pages, get more and better treatment than some authors give their main character. The reader can "hear" the characters, "see" what they see, and experience their memories and thoughts. If I were to classify this narrative, it would be a "study in memory and how we fool ourselves." I cannot and will not give away anything about this story, nor about the characters. Just please....read it.
Negatives: If I had to pick one negative, it was how much I wanted more Lucien. I wanted Lucien to tell more of his memories, I wanted to get something more from the years spent alone with just Lucien and his mother. There was something in how the author teased us with Lucien.
Praise for the narrative itself:
I am a history fanatic, passionate about it. Mr. Stansfield's evocation of the Great War, its effects on the survivors, and even the culture on the home-front during the war, gave so much depth and richness to the narrative. Let me be blunt: the narrative itself without the memories, the recollections or failed attempts thereof, would have been 20-30 pages. Instead, we the reader are treated to moments in time that are so far removed from our modern experience, yet they resonate.
Other reviews compare the is Proust. I think it is a fair comparison. While Proust remembers a Madeline, Peter Farrington remembers the smell of beer and tobacco smoke.
I cannot say this often enough. If you want to read a book that will pull you deeply, hold you close, and, at the end, send you out with a sense of horror at what humans can become, this is a book you must read.
June 7, 2014
I wanted to enjoy this book. I pressed on hoping it would redeem itself. It never did. I have never read so much mindless rambling. Half of the time I had no clue what the author was even going on about....and more over... I didn't care because I had no clue how it pertained to the actual reason of the story.
November 3, 2012
Very intense mystery about child abuse and its long-term effects. A 53-year-old murder is unraveled but the emotional cost of solving it is huge. I've read some negative reviews but the book and the excellent stream of conscience writing really drew me in.
June 16, 2014
Good story but rambles
Good story but rambles
I think the story was very interesting but the author goes on a lot of rambling jaunts that have nothing to do with the story. it gets very distracting and preachy.
Good story but rambles
I think the story was very interesting but the author goes on a lot of rambling jaunts that have nothing to do with the story. it gets very distracting and preachy.
March 23, 2024
A middle-aged Englishman, whose father committed suicide when the man was thirteen years old, comes across some letters his father had sent from the trenches of World War One. Certain words and phrases in these letters reveal a side of his father he had never suspected when he was growing up. This sends him on a quest to find out more about his father’s life.
As he digs deeper and deeper into his family’s past, he uncovers a world he realizes he had never understood, could never even have imagined. Just beneath the surface of the apparently quiet, civilized, well-bred world of the family he had known as a child, there was a completely different reality, a parallel universe of suppressed loves and hates, sexual deviations and appallingly violent actions, involving not only his parents and grandparents and the rest of his family, but also himself.
As he digs deeper and deeper into his family’s past, he uncovers a world he realizes he had never understood, could never even have imagined. Just beneath the surface of the apparently quiet, civilized, well-bred world of the family he had known as a child, there was a completely different reality, a parallel universe of suppressed loves and hates, sexual deviations and appallingly violent actions, involving not only his parents and grandparents and the rest of his family, but also himself.
November 19, 2019
A beautifully written mystery that touches on war, family relationships, homosexuality and intrigue. I could not put it down-- skeletons in the closet, lies, desperation and murder that accelerates to the very end. This is a great author!
May 8, 2018
Good book
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
July 31, 2017
Not what I expected!
I liked this novel, it was full of plot twists, many unexpected. A great mystery read. I recommend this to mystery fans that don't have delicate sensibilities.
I liked this novel, it was full of plot twists, many unexpected. A great mystery read. I recommend this to mystery fans that don't have delicate sensibilities.
August 10, 2016
I actually marked the point in this book where it started getting good for me -- and it was at almost 50% (47% according to my kindle). The first part had good moments, but the constant interruption of the flow of the story for long, detailed flashbacks just didn't work for me. But after that 47% mark, the story improved for me. The description of the protagonist's pain over his brother's revelation was very moving. Throughout, I kept switching my pick as to who the killer was. The author had me guessing right up to the end. I would have rated this book higher if not for that first half.
July 5, 2012
I was back and forth with the book. There were things about it I really liked, and things I did not. At times the writing was very good, and then it would drift; I guess I would say it was inconsistent. Having said that, it was an easy read, mifway through it became intriging and I was eager to find out how it would end. Unfortunately the ending disappointed me. I guess I would say I sort of liked it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.
June 17, 2014
The reviews that call this book rambling put their writers in David Stansfield's place. But Stansfield didn't write One Last Great Wickedness for them. He wrote it for himself. This is as much a dark, psychological, familial journey as it is a compelling murder mystery. It warrants four stars because of one particular development I find implausible. Others may not. But it's still a very enjoyable and worthwhile read.
January 21, 2015
I started this book quite some time ago and never could get into it. I decided to give it another try. I started it over. It had a slow start but got better half way through. The end was quite a big surprise. I'm glad I decided to give it a second chance as it turned out to be a great read after all.
August 12, 2012
At times I found this book riveting, and at other times it seemed to drag. There were places where it definitely could have done with some generous editing... That being said, the ending was quite exciting and I found myself riveted to the text.
July 9, 2012
Quite surprised at the ending.
December 28, 2013
eh. this was in the lending library on Kindle and I was looking for something to borrow at the beginning of July. Glad it was free.
November 30, 2013
Didn't finish this one, might go back to it later
April 11, 2014
It was a very nice change from your usual mystery plot. (It was a free Kindle download, and I was very pleased, which is not the case far too often.)
June 4, 2014
3.5 stars. I should have seen it coming., but didn't. A very good freeborn.
June 28, 2014
This deals with a hard to read topic. That's not why I gave it a 2 though. The main character tends to go off on tangents. I found myself skimming a section to get back to the story.
June 8, 2015
This book is bizarre!
April 4, 2016
Second reading, tho I didn't recall it til near the end (hence the need to get things listed here.)
Well plotted, but overly wordy about many, many things.
Well plotted, but overly wordy about many, many things.
May 25, 2014
I found it pretentious and condescending at times. Not a book I would recommend .
May 30, 2014
One word: Rambling.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews