Homage to a Firing Squad

by Tariq Goddard

Four young men are in a car on their way to assassinate the politician Don Rojo. Unfortunately, not one of them has assassinated anyone before, three of them are in love with the Don's daughter, and, unbeknownst to them the politician is lying awake in his Hacienda, contemplating suicide. Goddard describes the events of one bizarre night in prose that is taut, evocative and often darkly funny. As the rain pours down on the Tibidabo road, the would-be-murderers encounter lusty barmaids, crises of conscience, road blocks and - with fatal results - the man who ordered Rojo's assassination, and all the while the Spanish civil war boils around them. Eventually they converge on the hacienda (along with a couple of real assassins, a failed Don Juan and two over-sexed daughters) in a surreal and bullet-ridden climax that puts 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' to shame.

Genres: Fiction

249 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Tariq Goddard was born in London in 1975. He read Philosophy at King’s College London. His first three novels were shortlisted for various awards including Whitbread (Costa) First Novel Award, Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. His fourth and fifth books won the Independent Publishers Gold medal for Horror Writing and Silver medal for Literary Fiction respectively. He lives on a farm in Wiltshire with his wife and children.

Reviews

[The Final Chapter · Rating 4 out of 5]

High 4. This is an astonishing feat for a debut writer, worthy of comparison to the likes of Graham Greene in achieving a tale which not only maintains the pace of a cracking thriller, but which also raises important philosophical questions on the nature of emotional rivalries and unrequited lovSet amidst the political and social cauldron of the Spanish Civil War, Goddard has created a blackly humorous yet psychologically insightful story of four assassins’ narrative, moral, and emotional trajectory towards carrying out the execution of aging politico, Don Rojo. In doing so, the author also illustrates the senselessncrunch Inter-spliced with the pitched battles, and unexpected twists, is the detailed investigation of the central characters’ ambiguous and divergent aims in carrying out the ‘hit’, not helped by the fact that three of them are in love with the Don’s beautiful daughter. All the intrigue and angst comes to a bloody and action-packed finale on the Don’s hacienda. Riveting and convoluted political machinations which characterise war.

[J.C. Greenway · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many people are heading towards Don Rojo's house with murder on their minds that it seems inconceivable that he could end the night alive. As this Spanish Civil War tale veers from tragedy to farce and back again, characters dwell on their love for the Don's enigmatic daughter, Lucille, pick over slights and old quarrels as the hour of reckoning draws closer. Salvation could come from an unforseen quarter, if only two old acquaintances can head off the killers. Who will survive - and who will succeed in their mission?

[Peter Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book.
I had a lot of trouble finding it and when I did I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it.
The end is a good old fashioned farce, but works well in this book.
I will probably read it again soon.
Go on give it a try!

[Trina Wong · Rating 3 out of 5]

- funny silly plot
- the writing jumped around different groups of characters too much without warning

[Dymphy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Het verspringen tussen de personages zorgt ervoor dat ik er niet doorheen komt.

DNF @ pagina 33.