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Les Norton #4

The Godson

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Les Norton thought they were going to be the easiest two weeks of his life. Playing minder for a young member of the Royal Family called Peregrine Normanhurst III sounded like a dead-set snack. So what if he was a millionaire Hooray Henry and his godfather was the Attorney General? Les would keep Peregrine out of trouble... So what if he was on the run for the IRA? They'd never find him in Australia...

The Godson moves at breakneck speed from the corridors of power in Canberra to the grimy tenements of Belfast, to climax in a nerve-shattering, blood-spattered shoot out on a survivalist fortress in the Tweed Valley. If you thought Australia's favourite son could get up to some outrageous capers in his previous adventures, until you've read The Godson, you ain't read nothin' yet!

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

23 people are currently reading
157 people want to read

About the author

Robert G. Barrett

47 books66 followers
G’day.
You’ve no doubt read a lot of things about me and my books over the years written by other people. Well, this is the truth. I grew up in Bondi in Sydney, Australia. I went to Bondi Beach Public School then on to Randwick Boys High. I left school at 14, did a few odd jobs then a trade as a butcher, mainly in the Eastern suburbs before finally working as a boner in various meatworks around the inner city with two trips to Ross River meatworks at Townsville, Queensland thrown in. I gave up boning after a hindquarter fell on me tearing the tendons in my right arm. I always liked writing letters and reading, so while I was on worker’s compensation I did three writing courses at the WEA, Worker’s Education Authority.

Robert died of cancer at his home in Terrigal, New South Wales.

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5 stars
203 (56%)
4 stars
100 (27%)
3 stars
56 (15%)
2 stars
1 (<1%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Mark  Porton.
605 reviews811 followers
February 13, 2022
No. This one isn't for me. It was a recommendation from a mate at work but it's a genre I never read (action), and I just couldn't get into it at all. It's based in Australia - so places like Coffs Harbour and Canberra are familiar to me. The humour is full-on blokey, that's okay but it's getting a bit tiring.

I don't want to read this when I have so many other great looking books to get through. I made it to around p100 - so I gave it a good go.
Profile Image for David.
117 reviews3 followers
April 12, 2015
The adventures of Peregrine and Norton. More character focus, less violence, more sex, and the same amount of humour from the last book. Definitely worth a read.
4 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2016
Fantastic

My favourite Les Norton book by far! Booze, food, sex, fights and laughs... What more do you need in a great read :)
Profile Image for Colin David.
164 reviews3 followers
January 11, 2011
Brilliant pulp fiction! Les Norton should get a knighthood!
Profile Image for Matt Judd.
Author 1 book7 followers
April 23, 2021
One of my favourites in the Les Norton series. Poor old Les having to deal with the antics of the little English upstart Peregrine is priceless. What a Hooray Henry that kid is! Great story.
Profile Image for Gretchen Bernet-Ward.
565 reviews21 followers
August 23, 2019
Les Norton, a red-headed country lad, works in the big city, fights men, wows women, loves the beach, is either an Aussie icon or a yobbo but each adventure guarantees a twist. I have read several books in Barrett's 20-book series and enjoyed them much better than the current ABC TV 10-part series. Alexander Bertrand embodies Les but the scripts seem to rely more on crudity and violence than the hair-raising situations in which Les entangled himself. Good quick holiday reading.
Profile Image for D'face.
535 reviews7 followers
April 22, 2023
Les has lots of adventures escorting a member of the British royal family around during their stay in Australia. Lots of women, huge appetites and carnage.
1 review
October 17, 2024
Best Norton book.

Read all of the Les Norton books. This one is my favourite. Written in Barretts classic style that's, sadly, missing in these modern day writings...

32 reviews1 follower
November 17, 2025
Illegal Casinos, hit men, guns, unprotected sex, drink driving and bar fights… ah Australia in the 80's. Before the world went woke… It doesn't age well and I enjoyed this when I first read it, like, 30 years ago, but now it just seems so meh!
Profile Image for Chris Schreiber.
68 reviews4 followers
January 29, 2024
That’s a great novel. Very entertaining, as all the other books in this series. Glad that I finally found the time and mood to listen to them.
Profile Image for John Davies.
606 reviews15 followers
May 29, 2012
Even though I'd already read other Les Norton books, I didn't realise that this was the same character, and just how good these books were till I read this one.

I read this because I liked the idea of an Englishman on the run coming out to Australia, and being totally out of his depth, and finding a local larrikin typical Aussie bloke to help him out. After this, I went back and finished reading all the other books in the series.
Profile Image for Michael O'Donnell.
410 reviews7 followers
October 21, 2016
An easy read. Too much staging with repeat scenes. Some cried bullshit.

Canberra to a tea.

Toll booths at Cowan.

Beer and champagne. Violence. Vice. Sex. Royalty. Poms.

Local author who passed a few years ago.

Not his best.
Profile Image for Craig.
3 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2010
One of the funniest and hard to put down books ever,this is Barrett at his best.
Profile Image for Graeme.
2 reviews
November 26, 2012


By far the funniest Les Norton novel I have read so far!
Had me in stitches.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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