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Mr Godley's Phantom
A haunting masterpiece from storyteller Mal Peet. Part ghost story, part detective novel and part something else entirely, Mr Godley's Phantom is something of an enigma, with its own distinctive fifties flavour of cigarettes, petrol and mystery.
150 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2018
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About the author
Mal Peet
84 books118 followersMal Peet grew up in North Norfolk, and studied English and American Studies at the University of Warwick. Later he moved to southwest England and worked at a variety of jobs before turning full-time to writing and illustrating in the early 1990s. With his wife, Elspeth Graham, he had written and illustrated many educational picture books for young children, and his cartoons have appeared in a number of magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
October 30, 2021
Mr Godley’s Phantom
This is Mal Peet’s last novel and it is published as it was when he died. It is in actual fact a novella and could easily be read in a sitting. It is part ghost story, part thriller/crime story, part love story and part reflection on the effects of war. It is set after the Second World War and the protagonist is Martin Heath. He has fought in Italy and was one of the soldiers that liberated Bergen/Belsen. As a result he has what would now be called PTSD and is having problems settling into civilian life.
Martin takes a job at a remote house in moorland Devon. His employer is the Mr Godley of the title, he lives in a manor house alone, having lost his son in the First World War. There are a couple of female employees, one of whom lives in and an elderly gardener. Martin’s duties include being a general handyman and driver. The car is a Rolls Royce phantom (as in the title), which plays a significant role in the novel.
Martin’s PTSD is significant:
“The projector whirred. The images flickered, steadied. He could not stop them….The silent skeletons, who yet moved on legs of bone, walking towards him, slow as dreamers but all eyes. The others, heaped, skulls muddled with shin bones, claws, shrunken genitals. Shit and slurry and decomposition. Martin had felt neither rage nor even revulsion. Rather, it was like discovering that he had contracted an incurable disease; that and having inhaled the miasma of death, he could never be well again”
Mr Godley, now very elderly has had his own losses. His son and later his wife (who drowned herself). Peet had completed the manuscript before his death, but left a few side notes. These have been used by the publisher as the titles for the various parts of the book. One in particular resonates when considering the relationship between the two men:
“You fit my wounds exactly”
I got a bit more from this than I expected. As a novel it’s never quite sure what it wants to be, but Peet does combine the various elements well. A brief Halloween read.
This is Mal Peet’s last novel and it is published as it was when he died. It is in actual fact a novella and could easily be read in a sitting. It is part ghost story, part thriller/crime story, part love story and part reflection on the effects of war. It is set after the Second World War and the protagonist is Martin Heath. He has fought in Italy and was one of the soldiers that liberated Bergen/Belsen. As a result he has what would now be called PTSD and is having problems settling into civilian life.
Martin takes a job at a remote house in moorland Devon. His employer is the Mr Godley of the title, he lives in a manor house alone, having lost his son in the First World War. There are a couple of female employees, one of whom lives in and an elderly gardener. Martin’s duties include being a general handyman and driver. The car is a Rolls Royce phantom (as in the title), which plays a significant role in the novel.
Martin’s PTSD is significant:
“The projector whirred. The images flickered, steadied. He could not stop them….The silent skeletons, who yet moved on legs of bone, walking towards him, slow as dreamers but all eyes. The others, heaped, skulls muddled with shin bones, claws, shrunken genitals. Shit and slurry and decomposition. Martin had felt neither rage nor even revulsion. Rather, it was like discovering that he had contracted an incurable disease; that and having inhaled the miasma of death, he could never be well again”
Mr Godley, now very elderly has had his own losses. His son and later his wife (who drowned herself). Peet had completed the manuscript before his death, but left a few side notes. These have been used by the publisher as the titles for the various parts of the book. One in particular resonates when considering the relationship between the two men:
“You fit my wounds exactly”
I got a bit more from this than I expected. As a novel it’s never quite sure what it wants to be, but Peet does combine the various elements well. A brief Halloween read.
December 23, 2018
My second Mal Peet novel in the space of 10 days and, as I fully imagined, this little gem is the equal of The Murdstone Trilogy. Everything about it is simply brilliant. Everything.
Sadly, Mal Peet died before Mr Godley's Phantom was published. Before it had been edited even. This extract from the 'Editorial Note' at the end of the book explains:
This novel is a masterpiece and something of an enigma. Is it a ghost story? Is it a murder story? Is it something else entirely? It is also quintessentially British. I have now read it a number of times and each time I read it I like it more. It was, I think, the very last book Mal Peet wrote. He lived to complete it, but not to see it published, nor did he live to revise and edit. On the principle of ‘Here the maestro put down his pen’ I have decided to leave his words just as he wrote them, no more no less.
I wish there was an endless supply of Mal Peet novels because, hand on heart, I would read every single one of them. But there isn't. So treasure the ones that DO exist.
Sadly, Mal Peet died before Mr Godley's Phantom was published. Before it had been edited even. This extract from the 'Editorial Note' at the end of the book explains:
This novel is a masterpiece and something of an enigma. Is it a ghost story? Is it a murder story? Is it something else entirely? It is also quintessentially British. I have now read it a number of times and each time I read it I like it more. It was, I think, the very last book Mal Peet wrote. He lived to complete it, but not to see it published, nor did he live to revise and edit. On the principle of ‘Here the maestro put down his pen’ I have decided to leave his words just as he wrote them, no more no less.
I wish there was an endless supply of Mal Peet novels because, hand on heart, I would read every single one of them. But there isn't. So treasure the ones that DO exist.
October 29, 2018
This was Mal Peet’s last book. Though he had finished it shortly before his death, he never saw it published. It’s a bit of an oddity also, in that it doesn’t fit tidily into any genre category. To describe it as a ghost story may be strictly true, but it’s by no means a ghost story in the conventional sense. It’s not written to scare, and that supernatural part of the book is a very small part. It could be described also as a crime novel, as there may possibly be a murder. Certainly it’s historical, in that it’s set just after the end of the Second World War. More accurately as a summary, it’s about post traumatic stress and it’s affects on not just the main character, but also the affects on others from the Great War.
It’s a quick and rewarding read, with Peet’s writing, as ever, the highlight.
It’s a quick and rewarding read, with Peet’s writing, as ever, the highlight.
September 29, 2024
After reading this book, which is a very enjoyable mix of ghost story and crime fiction, one can see how impressive Patricia Highsmith's creation of Tom Ripley was. Ripley is a cunning, greedy, murderous charmer, a man capable of talking a woman into his bed, a man to his bloody doom, or anyone out of their hard-earned wealth. As a calculating schemer he has the cold efficiency of an assassin's concealed stiletto. In Mr Godley's Phantom, Martin Heath is more of a blunt-edged bludgeon aided by an accomplice with a sizeable working class chip on her shoulder. Where Ripley plans and then springs into violent action when necessary, Heath is indecisive and waits to be led by the promise of time in bed with Annie and a share of Mr. Godley's wine cellar.
It is true that Martin Heath has his problems. Discharged from the Army with distinction after the Second World War, he is suffering from what would now be diagnosed as PTSD, which is little wonder as he was with the first forces that entered the extermination camp at Belsen. He is unable to settle back into his old life at the university or mooch around at home with his widowed mother. Something is going to happen. He knows that inside he is carrying an anger which may explode in someone's face one day if they say the wrong thing to him. So, it comes as a relief when an old Army friend offers him a job as a chauffeur/handyman at an isolated country house in Devon owned by the ancient and frail Mr. Godley.
It is difficult to know what turns Martin from a nervy, alcohol-swigging Army veteran into a man ready to commit murder for financial gain. Perhaps it was Annie's persistent prodding, perhaps Mr. Godley presented too easy a target, or perhaps it was Mr. Godley's motor. That "Rolls Royce Phantom Three Sedanca de Ville, to be precise," as Mr. Godley unwisely boasts when he introduces the car to Martin. Whatever, the crime was going to happen eventually.
That brings in the two elements of the story. The police procedural as Detective Inspector Ivan Sheepstone refuses to accept that Mr. Godley's suspected suicide was not what it seemed, and the appearance of Mr. Godley's ghost haunting the back seat of his Rolls and only apparent to Martin. The murder mystery works well enough, though it is very short and the two people the reader knows are villains are hampered by the lack of space to act as villains normally do when the police are on their trail. For me the ghost story falls rather flat. It is neither scary nor moving - Mr. Godley had his own traumatic past - and if a ghost fails to scare the poo out of the haunted, where is the point of having it?
The ending, one bit that does resemble the talented Tom Ripley, shows that crime pays, consciences are not required, and ultimately the police will give up the chase. However, unlike Ripley, it is too quiet and too ordinary. Perhaps appositely it ends in Blandford Forum.
It is true that Martin Heath has his problems. Discharged from the Army with distinction after the Second World War, he is suffering from what would now be diagnosed as PTSD, which is little wonder as he was with the first forces that entered the extermination camp at Belsen. He is unable to settle back into his old life at the university or mooch around at home with his widowed mother. Something is going to happen. He knows that inside he is carrying an anger which may explode in someone's face one day if they say the wrong thing to him. So, it comes as a relief when an old Army friend offers him a job as a chauffeur/handyman at an isolated country house in Devon owned by the ancient and frail Mr. Godley.
It is difficult to know what turns Martin from a nervy, alcohol-swigging Army veteran into a man ready to commit murder for financial gain. Perhaps it was Annie's persistent prodding, perhaps Mr. Godley presented too easy a target, or perhaps it was Mr. Godley's motor. That "Rolls Royce Phantom Three Sedanca de Ville, to be precise," as Mr. Godley unwisely boasts when he introduces the car to Martin. Whatever, the crime was going to happen eventually.
That brings in the two elements of the story. The police procedural as Detective Inspector Ivan Sheepstone refuses to accept that Mr. Godley's suspected suicide was not what it seemed, and the appearance of Mr. Godley's ghost haunting the back seat of his Rolls and only apparent to Martin. The murder mystery works well enough, though it is very short and the two people the reader knows are villains are hampered by the lack of space to act as villains normally do when the police are on their trail. For me the ghost story falls rather flat. It is neither scary nor moving - Mr. Godley had his own traumatic past - and if a ghost fails to scare the poo out of the haunted, where is the point of having it?
The ending, one bit that does resemble the talented Tom Ripley, shows that crime pays, consciences are not required, and ultimately the police will give up the chase. However, unlike Ripley, it is too quiet and too ordinary. Perhaps appositely it ends in Blandford Forum.
October 31, 2019
I read this cover to cover in one sitting. Not because the prose flows; in fact, it doesn’t, on account of it being written in an English that’s more British than the Queen. But because this is the kind of story that sucks you in so deep that finishing it quickly seems to be the only rational thing to do. Here is a ghost story that doubles as a thriller that trebles as a cozy mystery that quadruples as a psychological study of a PTSD-suffering war veteran that quintuples as… well, you get my drift. This novel is so many things at the same time that I would be hard-pressed trying to define it and give it a label. Let’s just say that my reading it during Halloween season was perfect timing and leave it at that. Now would I necessarily recommend this book to everyone? Not really. As I said, Mal Peet’s prose proved a little tricky for my American English to digest at times (which is crazy considering that I find authors like Jane Austen, Tolkien, Susanna Clarke, or even Mervyn Peake highly readable) and, while the story itself is rather engaging and makes you want to turn the pages, the entire plot felt wonky to me. Like rushed and unpolished. Still, I’m glad I read it.
June 28, 2022
A lovely and very well written novella. Part ghost story and part detective story, it deals with one man's struggle to deal with the horrors he experienced in WW2. Martin Heath takes a job as a handyman to the elderly Mr Godfrey in the wilds of Dartmoor. To say more would be to spoil the plot really.
Although it is such a short book it packs a punch. I think it would have benefitted from being longer. It is such a shame that the author never lived to see it published.
Although it is such a short book it packs a punch. I think it would have benefitted from being longer. It is such a shame that the author never lived to see it published.
October 15, 2020
A Ghost story? A crime story? Or just the story of someone trying to recover from the horrors of war?
Who knows! And to be honest it's so well written it didn't matter what it was.
Exquisite writing, characters you believe in and have empathy for plus a mysterious plot!
A cracking read.
Who knows! And to be honest it's so well written it didn't matter what it was.
Exquisite writing, characters you believe in and have empathy for plus a mysterious plot!
A cracking read.
August 30, 2020
This was a book suggestion by one of my book clubs. I have not come across this author, Mal Peet, before. It is a ghost story but also a murder mystery. Reality is mixed with a world of ghosts, in particular one ghost seen by Martin, young soldier, who after the war is hired as a chauffeur by a wealthy English man, Mr Godley who lives in Devon. Martin’s hands are shaking, he is tormented by fears and war images. Mr Godley has his own story and is haunted by nightmares also connected to the war. The book is not about the war though, it is about its impact on a human and their family. Peet is a great story teller, he writes without unnecessary pathos and exaltation. The images painted in the book are not too insistent, the language flows and the story grabs you from the first pages. It is a very interesting and multi-layered book.
December 29, 2018
Absolutely fantastic. I'd never heard of Mal Peet before but this book was superb. The quality of the writing, the characterisation, and the plot all added up to a brilliant read. I'll definitely be searching out his other novels.
May 26, 2020
This is a beautifully written book. It's elegant and graceful and I found the book pulled me in. I read the whole book in a single sitting (though to be fair it is quite a short book).
My only problem with the book is that I'm not sure what the author wanted to achieve. It nicely illustrates the damage that war does to people - the second world war in Martin's case and the first in Mr. Godley's case - but this seems a well worn subject and I'm not sure Peet found much that was new to say about it. There's also the big unanswered question as to why Martin acted, and how he persuaded Annie to help him (if she did - that too is unclear). I have to assume Peet deliberately left these points unresolved as the book is far too well written for it to be unintentional.
I'd say this book was well worth a read and I'm fairly sure you will enjoy it, but just don't expect a Miss Marple ending with everything cleanly resolved.
My only problem with the book is that I'm not sure what the author wanted to achieve. It nicely illustrates the damage that war does to people - the second world war in Martin's case and the first in Mr. Godley's case - but this seems a well worn subject and I'm not sure Peet found much that was new to say about it. There's also the big unanswered question as to why Martin acted, and how he persuaded Annie to help him (if she did - that too is unclear). I have to assume Peet deliberately left these points unresolved as the book is far too well written for it to be unintentional.
I'd say this book was well worth a read and I'm fairly sure you will enjoy it, but just don't expect a Miss Marple ending with everything cleanly resolved.
September 17, 2019
‘After the war, after he was out, Martin Heath did almost nothing for several months. He was still young but his dreams – nocturnal and diurnal – belonged to an older man, a man much damaged and long steeped in blood. Death operated the film projector inside his head’
Mr Godley’s Phantom is the posthumously published novel from award winning writer Mal Peet. With it’s very eye-catching cover, this edition was recently published on 1st August with David Fickling Books. Mal Peet lived to complete it, but not to see it published as he sadly passed away in 2015.
Described as ‘part ghost story, part crime thriller and part something else entirely….beautifully written and deeply satisfying’, it is the final novel from this most well-respected of writers. A book that has garnered enormous praise across the literary world, the Literary Review called it ‘a thrilling study of pain, grief and evil, with the mechanics of a murder mystery powering it’s plot.‘ The Guardian described it as ‘a profound, elegant novel that achieves greatness by creating its own, self-regulating world in which ordinary logic does not apply – a dreamworld, if you like, but no less real for that.‘
Mal Peet takes us deep into the troubled mind. Martin Heath is a soldier returned from the Front. Traumatised by his experiences, Martin is unable to handle the reality of life back home. He attempts to continue his education at Cambridge but with his erratic behaviour and lack of hope, he bails out after three terms. Martin Heath is lost, a man haunted by the memories of the atrocities he witnessed, the dead bodies and walking skeletons of the Belsen camp.
‘The projector whirred. The images flickered, steadied. He could not stop them….The silent skeletons, who yet moved on legs of bone, walking towards him, slow as dreamers but all eyes. The others, heaped, skulls muddled with shin bones, claws, shrunken genitals. Shit and slurry and decomposition. Martin had felt neither rage nor even revulsion. Rather, it was like discovering that he had contracted an incurable disease; that and having inhaled the miasma of death, he could never be well again…’
An unexpected opportunity lands on Martin’s lap when he receives a letter from an old army colleague. There is a ‘handy-man’ position available on an remote estate in the Dartmoor wilds. Martin, initially unsure, decides to check out the possibility of escaping to this isolated place and after a meeting with Mr Godley, his potential employer and owner of Burra Hall, Martin makes a decision that will change his life forever.
Mr Godley is the owner of a Rolls Royce Phantom Three Sedanca de Ville. One of Martin’s many odd jobs will be as chauffeur to Mr Godley, sitting behind the wheel of this powerful beast, driving across the countryside as requested by his employer. Martin is in awe of this beautiful machine and relishes the opportunity to journey in such an impressive car. After accepting his new position, Martin settles into life at Burra Hall, hoping to finally push his past further away and to live a life worth living, but can he?
A strange relationship develops between Martin and Mr Godley. Both have ghosts in their lives, both are damaged men, struggling to survive in the aftermath of trauma and sadness.
Mal Peet’s writing has been described as cinematic but I truly feel that an on-stage production would be where Mr Godley’s Phantom would come into it’s own. With a touch of Agatha Christie in both it’s setting and telling, this novel, though short, packs quite a literary punch. There is an underlying philosophical theme running through the story about our lives and how we choose to live them.
Mal Peet tackles many themes, including that of post traumatic stress and mental health, all set against the isolation of the Devon moors and the desolation of Burra Hall’s surroundings. Combining these elements with a mystery, a ghost story and a possible crime, Mr Godley’s Phantom is a multi-layered tale with very engaging characters.
A perceptive and intelligent tale, a reflective piece of work.
Mr Godley’s Phantom is the posthumously published novel from award winning writer Mal Peet. With it’s very eye-catching cover, this edition was recently published on 1st August with David Fickling Books. Mal Peet lived to complete it, but not to see it published as he sadly passed away in 2015.
Described as ‘part ghost story, part crime thriller and part something else entirely….beautifully written and deeply satisfying’, it is the final novel from this most well-respected of writers. A book that has garnered enormous praise across the literary world, the Literary Review called it ‘a thrilling study of pain, grief and evil, with the mechanics of a murder mystery powering it’s plot.‘ The Guardian described it as ‘a profound, elegant novel that achieves greatness by creating its own, self-regulating world in which ordinary logic does not apply – a dreamworld, if you like, but no less real for that.‘
Mal Peet takes us deep into the troubled mind. Martin Heath is a soldier returned from the Front. Traumatised by his experiences, Martin is unable to handle the reality of life back home. He attempts to continue his education at Cambridge but with his erratic behaviour and lack of hope, he bails out after three terms. Martin Heath is lost, a man haunted by the memories of the atrocities he witnessed, the dead bodies and walking skeletons of the Belsen camp.
‘The projector whirred. The images flickered, steadied. He could not stop them….The silent skeletons, who yet moved on legs of bone, walking towards him, slow as dreamers but all eyes. The others, heaped, skulls muddled with shin bones, claws, shrunken genitals. Shit and slurry and decomposition. Martin had felt neither rage nor even revulsion. Rather, it was like discovering that he had contracted an incurable disease; that and having inhaled the miasma of death, he could never be well again…’
An unexpected opportunity lands on Martin’s lap when he receives a letter from an old army colleague. There is a ‘handy-man’ position available on an remote estate in the Dartmoor wilds. Martin, initially unsure, decides to check out the possibility of escaping to this isolated place and after a meeting with Mr Godley, his potential employer and owner of Burra Hall, Martin makes a decision that will change his life forever.
Mr Godley is the owner of a Rolls Royce Phantom Three Sedanca de Ville. One of Martin’s many odd jobs will be as chauffeur to Mr Godley, sitting behind the wheel of this powerful beast, driving across the countryside as requested by his employer. Martin is in awe of this beautiful machine and relishes the opportunity to journey in such an impressive car. After accepting his new position, Martin settles into life at Burra Hall, hoping to finally push his past further away and to live a life worth living, but can he?
A strange relationship develops between Martin and Mr Godley. Both have ghosts in their lives, both are damaged men, struggling to survive in the aftermath of trauma and sadness.
Mal Peet’s writing has been described as cinematic but I truly feel that an on-stage production would be where Mr Godley’s Phantom would come into it’s own. With a touch of Agatha Christie in both it’s setting and telling, this novel, though short, packs quite a literary punch. There is an underlying philosophical theme running through the story about our lives and how we choose to live them.
Mal Peet tackles many themes, including that of post traumatic stress and mental health, all set against the isolation of the Devon moors and the desolation of Burra Hall’s surroundings. Combining these elements with a mystery, a ghost story and a possible crime, Mr Godley’s Phantom is a multi-layered tale with very engaging characters.
A perceptive and intelligent tale, a reflective piece of work.
April 7, 2024
I adored this novella. It's short, but it packs so much into so few pages, and I have no idea at all how to review it.
I'll start with some bland praise: the book has a very strong sense of place. It embeds the reader deeply in the isolated setting with very few words.
I found the characters equally well-crafted. They felt real and interesting, and I was eager to read more about them all.
Then there's the story itself. I'm not going to go into much detail because I don't want to ruin it, but the conclusions come out in an understated way that doesn't spoon-feed the reader. It gives the narrative space to breathe, assuming that the reader will draw the right conclusions, then explaining them in depth later once the gist has been understood. That was a way of imparting the story that I really enjoyed.
I'd summarise it as a thoughtful story about mental health and PTSD, but that description is too banal to convey my reaction to this novella. The story says something fundamental about the human desire to wipe away one experience with another, to distract from one emotion with another. Peet's own words encapsulate the thrust of the story best in one of the notes that he made on the original manuscript: "You fit my wounds exactly", the concept that our pattern-seeking brains trap us in the past when the present sends us echoes of our memories.
It's haunting and poignant, and it's a book that I'm going to be thinking about for a very long time.
This novella is beautifully and deftly written. It's difficult to believe that it wasn't quite complete at the time of the author's death, because it feels whole and finished. The clever linguistic touches (e.g. the dual meaning of phantom) added elegance to the writing that I really enjoyed.
The economy of the prose is striking. After a summer spent reading a string of over-fat commercial novels, this little masterpiece was a revelation.
"The projector whirred. The images flickered, steadied. He could not stop them. Lucky sobbing obscenities while forcing SS women, his pistol to their heads, to drag bodies to mass graves. The silent skeletons, who yet moved on legs of bone, walking towards him, slow as dreamers but all eyes. The others, heaped, skulls muddled with shin bones, claws, shrunken genitals. Shit and slurry and decomposition. Martin had felt neither rage nor even revulsion. Rather, it was like discovering that he had contracted an incurable disease; that, having inhaled the miasma of death, he could never be well again. That his heart might eat itself."
The Gin Book Club received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.
I'll start with some bland praise: the book has a very strong sense of place. It embeds the reader deeply in the isolated setting with very few words.
I found the characters equally well-crafted. They felt real and interesting, and I was eager to read more about them all.
Then there's the story itself. I'm not going to go into much detail because I don't want to ruin it, but the conclusions come out in an understated way that doesn't spoon-feed the reader. It gives the narrative space to breathe, assuming that the reader will draw the right conclusions, then explaining them in depth later once the gist has been understood. That was a way of imparting the story that I really enjoyed.
I'd summarise it as a thoughtful story about mental health and PTSD, but that description is too banal to convey my reaction to this novella. The story says something fundamental about the human desire to wipe away one experience with another, to distract from one emotion with another. Peet's own words encapsulate the thrust of the story best in one of the notes that he made on the original manuscript: "You fit my wounds exactly", the concept that our pattern-seeking brains trap us in the past when the present sends us echoes of our memories.
It's haunting and poignant, and it's a book that I'm going to be thinking about for a very long time.
This novella is beautifully and deftly written. It's difficult to believe that it wasn't quite complete at the time of the author's death, because it feels whole and finished. The clever linguistic touches (e.g. the dual meaning of phantom) added elegance to the writing that I really enjoyed.
The economy of the prose is striking. After a summer spent reading a string of over-fat commercial novels, this little masterpiece was a revelation.
"The projector whirred. The images flickered, steadied. He could not stop them. Lucky sobbing obscenities while forcing SS women, his pistol to their heads, to drag bodies to mass graves. The silent skeletons, who yet moved on legs of bone, walking towards him, slow as dreamers but all eyes. The others, heaped, skulls muddled with shin bones, claws, shrunken genitals. Shit and slurry and decomposition. Martin had felt neither rage nor even revulsion. Rather, it was like discovering that he had contracted an incurable disease; that, having inhaled the miasma of death, he could never be well again. That his heart might eat itself."
The Gin Book Club received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.
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June 18, 2023"Do you ever think about what you'd do if, when, he dies?"
She looked at him levelly over her glass. "Of course I do," she said. "All the time. Don't you?"
Martin Heath was the first British NCO to enter Belsen after its liberation, and now home from World War Two, he cannot put his life back together again.
Heath avoids old school friends, makes aimless car trips when petrol ration allow, plays cards with his mother who drinks gin and cries. He "could not imagine returning to Cambridge and told himself he was too busy being haunted to get a job."
Eventually a letter arrives, from his old squadron captain. He has heard Heath has had trouble settling back into civilian life. He writes the the opportunity of a job - somewhat mysterious, for a old man named Godley, deep in Devon. Heath decides to accept it.
Mr Godley's Phantom plays with numerous literary genres and familiar features. It begins as a historical novel, an acutely observed account of post-war trauma told in all its isolated, frozen grief. From here it slides into an almost gothic scene - the long journey plagued with delays, the walk from train station to manor along unmarked roads, the local woman who when prevailed upon for assistance was "garrulous and almost incomprehensible. Martin had persuaded her to draw a map on the reverse of Godley's letter. It was obvious that she'd never attempted such a thing before. She'd seethed with questions she didn't know how to ask."
And then the arrival:
We meet the manor's inhabitants: Godley faded, elderly, "room enough between his frail neck and his stiff shirt-collar to insert a pair of hands." Mrs Maunder, the cook, who comes up from the village every day to "do". And Annie, housemaid and live-in help, who immediately thrills Heath's interest:
Heath joins the household as odd-jobs man and chauffeur. Godley's wife is long dead and his son Julian died in France three weeks before Armistice Day in World War One: seemingly the single remaining satisfaction in his life is his car, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Three Sedanca de Ville, that thrills Heath perhaps even more than Annie:
Then 83 pages in Godley is dead and we enter a murder mystery, a ghost story (or several ghost stories), a police procedural, and a love story which should be a jarring turn of events as well as a mish-mash of styles but such is Peet's skill that you are simply swept along.
Mr Godley's Phantom is the last of Peet's books to be published since his death in 2015; he completed but did not edit the manuscript. It is a slim book, readable in one sitting, and yet it has all the tightness, the psychological depth of his earlier book, Life: An Exploded Diagram which is one of my all-time favourite books. Even unedited, it has some of the most taut, evocative writing: Godley's chuckling laughter described as "four dry, chickeny sounds", or this passage about one of the police characters -
The thing that blows me away about Life: An Exploded Diagram is the way Peet plays out small everyday lives against the massive backdrop of history (in that book, a teenage lovestory in rural Norfolk against the Bay of Pigs drama). There is the briefest passage in Mr Godley's Phantom, just over a page, that plays the same trick, and it is simply sublime. It describes the crushing winter of 1947:
I know the old "why is this YA" question is completely hackneyed. But I'm genuinely puzzled as to why this book is categorised as such (I didn't even know it existed - I happened across it on the YA stacks at the library). None of the characters are adolescent; the writing is frequently pungent and the sex scenes, while not explicit or lengthy, are intimate and realistic. The book is driven by adult grief and isolation. There are several scenes that revolve on particularly adult feelings: Heath seeing the attractiveness of his widowed mother in other men's eyes; an older single policeman pressing his younger freshly married colleague to work later with him, from loneliness. Several major narrative questions are left unanswered at the book's conclusion. As a final book it is elegant, unpredictable, difficult to classify and a small masterpiece.
She looked at him levelly over her glass. "Of course I do," she said. "All the time. Don't you?"
Martin Heath was the first British NCO to enter Belsen after its liberation, and now home from World War Two, he cannot put his life back together again.
After the war, after he was out, Martin Heath did almost nothing for several months. He was still young but his dreams - nocturnal and diurnal - belonged to an older man, a man much damaged and long steeped in blood. Death operated the film projector inside his head.
Heath avoids old school friends, makes aimless car trips when petrol ration allow, plays cards with his mother who drinks gin and cries. He "could not imagine returning to Cambridge and told himself he was too busy being haunted to get a job."
Eventually a letter arrives, from his old squadron captain. He has heard Heath has had trouble settling back into civilian life. He writes the the opportunity of a job - somewhat mysterious, for a old man named Godley, deep in Devon. Heath decides to accept it.
Mr Godley's Phantom plays with numerous literary genres and familiar features. It begins as a historical novel, an acutely observed account of post-war trauma told in all its isolated, frozen grief. From here it slides into an almost gothic scene - the long journey plagued with delays, the walk from train station to manor along unmarked roads, the local woman who when prevailed upon for assistance was "garrulous and almost incomprehensible. Martin had persuaded her to draw a map on the reverse of Godley's letter. It was obvious that she'd never attempted such a thing before. She'd seethed with questions she didn't know how to ask."
And then the arrival:
He was attracted to the place, felt a sort of affinity with it, as soon as he saw it. Burra Hall was, he supposed, a mere hundred years old, if that, but occupied its leafy cleft in the moor as if it had always done so; as if in fact, it had been formed by the same geological upheaval that had created the rocky hill behind it and the heaped, harsh slabs that capped it.
We meet the manor's inhabitants: Godley faded, elderly, "room enough between his frail neck and his stiff shirt-collar to insert a pair of hands." Mrs Maunder, the cook, who comes up from the village every day to "do". And Annie, housemaid and live-in help, who immediately thrills Heath's interest:
They sat at opposite ends of the kitchen table. Annie ate quickly, keeping her eyes on the task. Martin had never eaten a meal alone with a woman other than his mother. It was interesting that Annie's hair was disobedient and he could not tell how old she was. Younger than himself, probably. She was, he thought, very attractive, though it was hard to judge the attractiveness of a woman eating cabbage.
Heath joins the household as odd-jobs man and chauffeur. Godley's wife is long dead and his son Julian died in France three weeks before Armistice Day in World War One: seemingly the single remaining satisfaction in his life is his car, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Three Sedanca de Ville, that thrills Heath perhaps even more than Annie:
Martin walked the length of the car. Christ, he thought, must be eighteen feet if it's an inch. And as tall as himself. Must weigh three tons, at a guess. Its bonnet and bodywork pale, off-white. Ivory>, that would be it. Roof, wings, running boards black. The rear of the machine a voluptuous concave curve. He felt a shameful desire to press himself into it.
Then 83 pages in Godley is dead and we enter a murder mystery, a ghost story (or several ghost stories), a police procedural, and a love story which should be a jarring turn of events as well as a mish-mash of styles but such is Peet's skill that you are simply swept along.
Mr Godley's Phantom is the last of Peet's books to be published since his death in 2015; he completed but did not edit the manuscript. It is a slim book, readable in one sitting, and yet it has all the tightness, the psychological depth of his earlier book, Life: An Exploded Diagram which is one of my all-time favourite books. Even unedited, it has some of the most taut, evocative writing: Godley's chuckling laughter described as "four dry, chickeny sounds", or this passage about one of the police characters -
Sheepstone, the son of a miner, had grown up in a cluster of low cottages on a wind-strimmed hillside. His family had shared an outdoor privy with their neighbours. He had acute memories of queuing for a shit in the cold hard rain. As that boy, the idea that the rich suffered tribulations would have been incomprehensible. As a man, the knowledge that they did had sometimes afforded him a certain satisfaction.
It did not do so now. He felt dismayed.
The thing that blows me away about Life: An Exploded Diagram is the way Peet plays out small everyday lives against the massive backdrop of history (in that book, a teenage lovestory in rural Norfolk against the Bay of Pigs drama). There is the briefest passage in Mr Godley's Phantom, just over a page, that plays the same trick, and it is simply sublime. It describes the crushing winter of 1947:
He couldn't decide whether to return to Trinity or not. Then, in the middle of January, the matter was taken out of his hands.
A raging polar winter did what Hitler had failed to do: it invaded England, crushed it, brought it to a standstill. Snow levelled its contours and imposed a terrible silence. Army troops worked alongside prisoners of war to dig out railway cuttings which, the following day, filled again. ...
Martin and his mother spent most of their day in bed, nursing warmth. When the electricity did come on, they heated canned foods and ate them hurriedly. Now and then, wearing lots of clothes, they played cards by candlelight. The radio came and went unpredictably. Like everyone else, they presumed this waywardness of the weather would be short-lived.
It was not. Britain's paralysis continued through February. There were rumours of cannibalism in the north of Scotland. ...
Martin waited. And continued to wait.
I know the old "why is this YA" question is completely hackneyed. But I'm genuinely puzzled as to why this book is categorised as such (I didn't even know it existed - I happened across it on the YA stacks at the library). None of the characters are adolescent; the writing is frequently pungent and the sex scenes, while not explicit or lengthy, are intimate and realistic. The book is driven by adult grief and isolation. There are several scenes that revolve on particularly adult feelings: Heath seeing the attractiveness of his widowed mother in other men's eyes; an older single policeman pressing his younger freshly married colleague to work later with him, from loneliness. Several major narrative questions are left unanswered at the book's conclusion. As a final book it is elegant, unpredictable, difficult to classify and a small masterpiece.
September 12, 2019
The cover of this book caught my eye in the library, and I found it to be a little gem of a book! Really subtle, atmospheric and easy to read so praise be for covers luring me in to discover new favourites!
Set in 1945, Martin Heath is back from the war and is a broken man considering all he has seen and been through. In the days before counselling and times of 'stiff upper lip' you just had to get on with life. An old comrade tells Martin of a job that might suit him so he heads off to Devon where he'll work for Mr Godley - a man who lives in a quiet spot and has very little human contact, and initally scares Martin with his appearance and behaviour.
Martin is in awe of Mr Godley's car - a much loved Phantom that is his pride and joy and the pair of them take drives together which allows them time to chat and get to know more about one another - their pasts are never too far away from their thoughts.
The dark undertones are clear throughout in this book - there's always something feeling not quite right about certain situations, and the flashbacks Martin suffers also add to the unsettling feeling. I loved how the author left certain things down to your interpretation, and with the ghostly character being introduced the story then takes on a whole new feel and the police investigation becomes the main feature.
A very clever and unsettling story which was beautifully staged and stays with you!
Set in 1945, Martin Heath is back from the war and is a broken man considering all he has seen and been through. In the days before counselling and times of 'stiff upper lip' you just had to get on with life. An old comrade tells Martin of a job that might suit him so he heads off to Devon where he'll work for Mr Godley - a man who lives in a quiet spot and has very little human contact, and initally scares Martin with his appearance and behaviour.
Martin is in awe of Mr Godley's car - a much loved Phantom that is his pride and joy and the pair of them take drives together which allows them time to chat and get to know more about one another - their pasts are never too far away from their thoughts.
The dark undertones are clear throughout in this book - there's always something feeling not quite right about certain situations, and the flashbacks Martin suffers also add to the unsettling feeling. I loved how the author left certain things down to your interpretation, and with the ghostly character being introduced the story then takes on a whole new feel and the police investigation becomes the main feature.
A very clever and unsettling story which was beautifully staged and stays with you!
January 27, 2019
Unsurprisingly is a beautifully written book. The Editor Note says this is published without revision or edits, just as Mal Peet wrote them.
Mr Godley's Phantom is unusual. It doesn’t fit into a single genre and while I would class it as an Adult read it is also found in YA. There are ghosts (actual as well as metaphorical); there is mystery, friendship and the murder. The story is divided, broken even, between the characters and the action.
It’s a book that almost instantly solves the biggest mystery but at the same time leaves the reader with endless questions.
I like how I want to talk about this book. I like how the writing engaged me so quickly. I like how Mr Godley's Phantom will stay with me.
Mr Godley's Phantom is unusual. It doesn’t fit into a single genre and while I would class it as an Adult read it is also found in YA. There are ghosts (actual as well as metaphorical); there is mystery, friendship and the murder. The story is divided, broken even, between the characters and the action.
It’s a book that almost instantly solves the biggest mystery but at the same time leaves the reader with endless questions.
I like how I want to talk about this book. I like how the writing engaged me so quickly. I like how Mr Godley's Phantom will stay with me.
March 23, 2024
Sheepstone stood and put his hat on. 'If you believe in evil, Martin, does that mean you also believe in hell?'
'Yes, I've been there.'
'Good. You'll know the way, then.'
A major work of fiction hidden within a short book, almost a novella. I finished this feeling that I had been treated with great respect by the (now deceased) author, who assumed I am a careful, intelligent reader who would understand what he did, and didn't, conceal between the lines.
And yes, Annie was a lot smarter, and knew a whole lot more, than one might give her credit for.
'Yes, I've been there.'
'Good. You'll know the way, then.'
A major work of fiction hidden within a short book, almost a novella. I finished this feeling that I had been treated with great respect by the (now deceased) author, who assumed I am a careful, intelligent reader who would understand what he did, and didn't, conceal between the lines.
And yes, Annie was a lot smarter, and knew a whole lot more, than one might give her credit for.
February 15, 2020
The very definition of genre-defying. I have no idea what this story is. The dude in the bookshop was like ‘it’s not that dark’ and it worries me what he’s been reading, but still. This starts as a character piece and becomes a murder mystery, ghost story and police procedural all in one.
March 17, 2022
I picked this up from a local Little Free Library & what a little gem it turned out to be. As the cover blurb says it's "something of an enigma, part ghost story, part detective story, part something else entirely" Intrigued? You'd be right to be.
It's a beautifully written & haunting tale that I found surprisingly quick & easy to read - or maybe it was just that I couldn't put it down! - & I particularly liked the way the title had more than one interpretation.
It's a beautifully written & haunting tale that I found surprisingly quick & easy to read - or maybe it was just that I couldn't put it down! - & I particularly liked the way the title had more than one interpretation.
October 27, 2020
Enjoyable and quick read telling the story of a broken soldier returned from World War 2.
Ghosts and crime, but not really fitting in either genre. I guess this is about loss and love - if that’s not a cliché.
It’s very well written, and a great read but I left feeling there’s something I haven’t fully comprehended.
Ghosts and crime, but not really fitting in either genre. I guess this is about loss and love - if that’s not a cliché.
It’s very well written, and a great read but I left feeling there’s something I haven’t fully comprehended.
February 26, 2020
Mr Godley's Phantom was published after the death of the author, Mal Peet, who is best known for his excellent, thoughtful YA fiction, most notably Keeper. This book, though, is for adults and although it was marketed as a ghost story in the bookshop I bought my copy from, I'm not sure it really quite fits that label.
Martin, the protagonist, has had his youth interrupted by World War II, where among other traumas he was the first NCO to enter the gates of Belsen on the day of its liberation. Shattered by his experiences, he finds himself unable to settle back into civilian life or complete the degree he had begun before he was conscripted. He's stricken by terrifying flashbacks and every visit to a new location is fraught with constant anxiety as he finds himself mentally imagining the routes by which he might order his troops to storm it. When he's offered a job as a sort of general handyman and chauffeur to Harold Godley, an elderly man living alone but for a couple of servants in an isolated Dartmoor mansion, he takes up the opportunity with the notion that the peace and quiet and the fresh air will do him good.
When he arrives, however, he finds that the job is not what he had hoped for. Godley, painfully emaciated and frail, reminds him of the skeletal inmates he saw dying in Belsen. The house seems moribund and full of unhappy memories, and there's little to occupy his time. Except, that is, for Godley's beautiful, immaculate Rolls-Royce Phantom, with which he instantly falls in love.
It's testament to Peet's skill that I also found myself captivated by his descriptions of the Rolls, as I have absolutely zero interest in cars of any kind. But somehow Peet does manage to capture the allure of the Phantom to Martin, and what it symbolises to him as a means of escape from his own mental prison.
Mr Godley's Phantom does, to be sure, have elements of a ghost story, but it's also a psychological thriller with some aspects of detective fiction too. Martin is haunted in more ways than one and his point of view is not a reliable one. This is a short book but it packs in a lot of atmosphere, and Peet is adept at telling us more by leaving things out than by including them. There's a strong sense that none of the characters are quite what they seem and you may well finish this book feeling that few of your questions about them have been answered.
Martin, the protagonist, has had his youth interrupted by World War II, where among other traumas he was the first NCO to enter the gates of Belsen on the day of its liberation. Shattered by his experiences, he finds himself unable to settle back into civilian life or complete the degree he had begun before he was conscripted. He's stricken by terrifying flashbacks and every visit to a new location is fraught with constant anxiety as he finds himself mentally imagining the routes by which he might order his troops to storm it. When he's offered a job as a sort of general handyman and chauffeur to Harold Godley, an elderly man living alone but for a couple of servants in an isolated Dartmoor mansion, he takes up the opportunity with the notion that the peace and quiet and the fresh air will do him good.
When he arrives, however, he finds that the job is not what he had hoped for. Godley, painfully emaciated and frail, reminds him of the skeletal inmates he saw dying in Belsen. The house seems moribund and full of unhappy memories, and there's little to occupy his time. Except, that is, for Godley's beautiful, immaculate Rolls-Royce Phantom, with which he instantly falls in love.
It's testament to Peet's skill that I also found myself captivated by his descriptions of the Rolls, as I have absolutely zero interest in cars of any kind. But somehow Peet does manage to capture the allure of the Phantom to Martin, and what it symbolises to him as a means of escape from his own mental prison.
Mr Godley's Phantom does, to be sure, have elements of a ghost story, but it's also a psychological thriller with some aspects of detective fiction too. Martin is haunted in more ways than one and his point of view is not a reliable one. This is a short book but it packs in a lot of atmosphere, and Peet is adept at telling us more by leaving things out than by including them. There's a strong sense that none of the characters are quite what they seem and you may well finish this book feeling that few of your questions about them have been answered.
June 27, 2023
I managed to easily read this in a few hours and it was interesting
The cover of my version was really lovely so I couldn’t resist buying it just for that!
It’s a bit odd though and I think the ending could have done with some more explanation
The cover of my version was really lovely so I couldn’t resist buying it just for that!
It’s a bit odd though and I think the ending could have done with some more explanation
August 20, 2023
I was expecting this to be some kind of Hound of the Baskervilles type of novel with spectres on the moor, etc. Instead, it's a beautiful tale of two men both haunted by their losses and their experiences.
December 30, 2018
A very quick read as it’s only short but it packs so much in. Is it a ghost story, a murder mystery , an examination of the horrors of war and its impact on 20th century psyche; it’s all of these and more.
December 6, 2018
A gripping short story, unfolds in a mysterious way but very dark!
September 5, 2019
Martin Heath has returned from the war a changed man. He is tormented by memories, of death and destruction. His mind will not settle. No medicine can help, despite what the doctor says. His old home is without comfort, his old life distant and unreachable. He is broken and afraid.
When Martin is offered a job at Burra Hall as driver and helper to Mr Godley, he jumps at the chance, drawn to the rugged, windswept terrain and harsh, freeing silence. There is some form of peace to be had from the solitude, perhaps a balm to his old wounds and restless mind. The hall is grand, echoing with its own memories of bustling bodies and bright conversation. Now it is near empty with only Mr Godley and his handful of staff to occupy it.
Mr Godley is a quiet and observant slip of a person, elderly and weighted down by life. Martin is welcomed and put to work but he cannot deny feeling nervous around the elderly man, fearful and oddly fascinated. Soon, he begins to feel the seclusion is more of a trap than a release. His employer is mysterious, strange, harbouring secrets big enough to cast their own shadows. And his demons, always lurking in his mind, are about to rise up.
This is quite a short book at 214 pages but it packs a lot in. A compelling, brilliant mix of crime thriller and paranormal mystery. It asks the reader about morality, the consequences of actions, the power of memory and the slim line between good and evil. The characters draw you in and keep you invested as they shift and evolve through the book. I loved the grim, isolated setting of Burra Hall on Dartmoor. It made me feel very claustrophobic. Mr Godley’s Phantom is a fantastic read to devour over an afternoon.
When Martin is offered a job at Burra Hall as driver and helper to Mr Godley, he jumps at the chance, drawn to the rugged, windswept terrain and harsh, freeing silence. There is some form of peace to be had from the solitude, perhaps a balm to his old wounds and restless mind. The hall is grand, echoing with its own memories of bustling bodies and bright conversation. Now it is near empty with only Mr Godley and his handful of staff to occupy it.
Mr Godley is a quiet and observant slip of a person, elderly and weighted down by life. Martin is welcomed and put to work but he cannot deny feeling nervous around the elderly man, fearful and oddly fascinated. Soon, he begins to feel the seclusion is more of a trap than a release. His employer is mysterious, strange, harbouring secrets big enough to cast their own shadows. And his demons, always lurking in his mind, are about to rise up.
This is quite a short book at 214 pages but it packs a lot in. A compelling, brilliant mix of crime thriller and paranormal mystery. It asks the reader about morality, the consequences of actions, the power of memory and the slim line between good and evil. The characters draw you in and keep you invested as they shift and evolve through the book. I loved the grim, isolated setting of Burra Hall on Dartmoor. It made me feel very claustrophobic. Mr Godley’s Phantom is a fantastic read to devour over an afternoon.
October 28, 2018
Visit the locations in the book
I adored this book. Well it’s more like a novella given its short length but when it dropped on the mat, it took me back to the days when books had paper jackets and my mum would take me to flea markets and the libraries and I would hunt for forgotten titles. It’s a gorgeously packaged and quite small in size, so when you hold it, you know it’s unique from the start.
First of all, the setting – this was like driving along those rural Devon roads taking in those winding country roads, small country villages, remote country homes and the wonderfully strong sense of place which takes in the essence of that part of the world. Some actual locations are vague or fictional but that just works even better for the story.
There are two main characters so together with the landscape, the sense of isolation and claustrophobia is brilliantly done. As for the plot, well there’s not that much I can stay without hinting at what takes place. No, there’s really not much I want to give away. It’s there to discover and there’s small snippets of information which settle in the book like leaves on the wind – so there are calm moments which are then whipped up to a frezy before settling down…only to wait for another unsettling breeze.
This is a short yet memorable novel which touches upon themes of mental health and the need to move on. The Phantom of the title…well that was a treat to discover.
A hauntingly good read.
February 25, 2019
This is a very strange, shortish book which I certainly enjoyed immensely but I don't think it is quite the masterpiece which Mr Hahn describes.
Those who come back from modern war tend to be damaged in some way or other; physically, psychologically, mentally, or some combination of the above. Those who were early witnesses of Belsen and other death camps were particularly damaged. Martin Heath was one of those and found it very difficult to step back into "normal" life afterwards. One of his officers heard of a job going as chauffeur and odd man in an isolated rural neighbourhood and thought of Martin as a suitable candidate. The car Martin drives for Mr Godley is a Rolls Royce Phantom from 1926 and just looking at it turns Martin's knees to jelly.
The first part of the book lays out the situation and the characters and then Mr. Godley dies, drowns himself apparently. This would be a comprehensible scenario because Mr Godley is 84 and very frail, his wife drowned herself when she found it impossible to continue on after their son was killed in the dieing days of the first war, and Mr Godley is a very sad person.
The second half deals with the way Martin deals with the fact that he is a murderer (Oh, yes, he smothered his employer with a pillow) and that his victim still rides in the Phantom - a phantom in a Phantom, as it were. What will Mr. Godley do, how will all this affect Annie the young maid, and whatever will become of Martin. There is also the constantly hungry and thirsty detective inspector who is very quick indeed and Martin's mother, who is definitely prepared to begin life anew. Worth a second read.
Those who come back from modern war tend to be damaged in some way or other; physically, psychologically, mentally, or some combination of the above. Those who were early witnesses of Belsen and other death camps were particularly damaged. Martin Heath was one of those and found it very difficult to step back into "normal" life afterwards. One of his officers heard of a job going as chauffeur and odd man in an isolated rural neighbourhood and thought of Martin as a suitable candidate. The car Martin drives for Mr Godley is a Rolls Royce Phantom from 1926 and just looking at it turns Martin's knees to jelly.
The first part of the book lays out the situation and the characters and then Mr. Godley dies, drowns himself apparently. This would be a comprehensible scenario because Mr Godley is 84 and very frail, his wife drowned herself when she found it impossible to continue on after their son was killed in the dieing days of the first war, and Mr Godley is a very sad person.
The second half deals with the way Martin deals with the fact that he is a murderer (Oh, yes, he smothered his employer with a pillow) and that his victim still rides in the Phantom - a phantom in a Phantom, as it were. What will Mr. Godley do, how will all this affect Annie the young maid, and whatever will become of Martin. There is also the constantly hungry and thirsty detective inspector who is very quick indeed and Martin's mother, who is definitely prepared to begin life anew. Worth a second read.
October 22, 2020
Martin Heath returns from World War II a broken man, psychologically damaged by the wartime horrors he experienced fighting in Europe. After struggling to return to his old life, he is offered the opportunity of a new start as chauffeur to elderly Mr Godley, who lives in a rambling house in the Devonshire countryside with just a couple of servants. The house has a sombre, haunted atmosphere, in part stemming from the death of Godley’s son during the Great War and the subsequent suicide of his wife. He is frail and in poor health. He sees very few people. In his garage sits a beautiful Rolls Royce Phantom, which Heath dearly coverts…
This is the first book of Mal Peet’s that I have read and based on how much I enjoyed the experience I will definitely be looking out for more from the same author. It’s a really neat, genre-defying novel, published posthumously following his death in 2015. I always (obviously incorrectly) thought he wrote YA fiction. However this short novel (it’s almost a novella) features themes and events of a rather more adult nature, touching on mental illness and murder, and featuring mild sex scenes and hints of the paranormal. It’s beautifully written, and has a wonderful sense of place. The prose is haunting and evocative, and Peet had a superb ear for dialogue. The characters are honestly drawn. There’s a real sense of claustrophobia to the story, which unfolds at a nice pace.
Part ghost story, part murder mystery, part police procedural, this book effortlessly blends genres to create an intriguing story that works on many levels. Recommended.
This is the first book of Mal Peet’s that I have read and based on how much I enjoyed the experience I will definitely be looking out for more from the same author. It’s a really neat, genre-defying novel, published posthumously following his death in 2015. I always (obviously incorrectly) thought he wrote YA fiction. However this short novel (it’s almost a novella) features themes and events of a rather more adult nature, touching on mental illness and murder, and featuring mild sex scenes and hints of the paranormal. It’s beautifully written, and has a wonderful sense of place. The prose is haunting and evocative, and Peet had a superb ear for dialogue. The characters are honestly drawn. There’s a real sense of claustrophobia to the story, which unfolds at a nice pace.
Part ghost story, part murder mystery, part police procedural, this book effortlessly blends genres to create an intriguing story that works on many levels. Recommended.
June 26, 2022
This was in the horror section but although there's a ghost (or is it all in Martin Health's head?) it's not horror. It's a tragic story of loneliness and finding redemption. The only likeable-ish character was Ivan Sheepstone, most likely because we didn't get "into his head" as we did with the other characters.
Martin Heath young middleclass war hero suffering severe PTSD who becomes Mr. Godley's chauffer/odd-job man is ok. If a little dull.
Annie Luscombe, the pretty orphan maid, either is stupid or acts very good at being stupid is even duller.
Mr. Godley doesn't have much going for him either. Tragic lonely sad old man.
The horror of war was the only real horror. The detective work was ok. All the sexual references towards the 2nd half of the book was cheap and pointless. Read it within 3 hours
Martin Heath young middleclass war hero suffering severe PTSD who becomes Mr. Godley's chauffer/odd-job man is ok. If a little dull.
Annie Luscombe, the pretty orphan maid, either is stupid or acts very good at being stupid is even duller.
Mr. Godley doesn't have much going for him either. Tragic lonely sad old man.
The horror of war was the only real horror. The detective work was ok. All the sexual references towards the 2nd half of the book was cheap and pointless. Read it within 3 hours
December 3, 2018
This book was highly recommended by the Guardian and was delighted to come across it. It's actually shelved as ' young adult fiction' but this is doing it a disservice as its a wonderful book and this might deter others from reading it. The book is an enigma and when I finished it all I could say was wow! Martin Heath has come back from war suffering from post traumatic stress as he was one of the first into Belsen . A friend tells him of a position working for an old man , Mr Godley. He ends up driving his Rolls, and when the old man dies.....surprising . A fab book, detective , ghost, supernatural, ? A bit a everything.
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