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Jan Hardy #5
The Inheritance
As Jan Hardy recovers from the wounds of the past, the stage is set for a fine year, with a wedding on the horizon, the return of distant loved ones, and the appearance of a mysterious Cherokee Indian sponsor, Jerry Raven. All is looking promising, until a suspicious death throws Jan’s world into turmoil. Is the sickness afflicting Raven’s horses natural, or is there some more sinister explanation? Soon, Jan finds both her personal life and her professional reputation in tatters.
405 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 6, 2020
My dear dad recommended this book to me, as we always go to the Cheltenham horse races, and he has always been into horses and the races, being an owner himself once.
I truly do commend Jenny Pitman to her role in horse racing, and the fact that she was the first female horse trainer to be a Grand National Winner. Getting there was not a simple thing, and I admire her perseverance. My dad has even met her, telling me she is a nice person. However, that does not mean she is a good author.
That’s why I feel kind of guilty giving this review, but I’m just going to be honest. This book was just definitely not for me. Some people compared this book to Dick Francis, and I’m sorry, but that is not even close.
This book was, to put it simply, incredibly boring. I didn’t at all care about the characters, so when they went through life troubles, I honestly did not care, and found it funny. A lot of the time the way the characters were speaking were not at all how people their age would talk, and it threw me out of the story (even though I wasn’t really in it to begin with). It was just incredibly old fashioned (except with bits of feminism in there), and it came off as being a secluded English village who do not know much about the outside world of their bubble.
I don’t even know if it really had a plot, and even when it was revealed who the poisoner was, there was no shock or anything, it was just the same pace, and really boring. Now I know why I tend to read fantasy books, as at least some interesting stuff happens, and there is usually a driving plot.
If you like books which are very NORMAL, about a Cotswolds village citizen, going about their normal mum life being a horse trainer and not much else happening except meeting some new horse buyers and some small conflicts, then this book is for you.
Even the ending court scene was so anti climatic, I just did not care at all, and they basically repeated an explanation of the events of what happened before in the court, so you got more boring repetition. The passage was so short as well. There were no stakes, as you knew she was going to be innocent anyway, as there is only a few pages of the book left.
And the ending of the book was EXTREMELY random, and not very well placed, and it just ends abruptly.
I was speed reading this book so that it could end.
It was basically one episode of a soap like coronation street or eastenders, but a posh upper class version condensed into a long winded book.
(I’m sorry dad, if you ever see this I love you so much, and like horses, but I just did not enjoy this book 😘)
I truly do commend Jenny Pitman to her role in horse racing, and the fact that she was the first female horse trainer to be a Grand National Winner. Getting there was not a simple thing, and I admire her perseverance. My dad has even met her, telling me she is a nice person. However, that does not mean she is a good author.
That’s why I feel kind of guilty giving this review, but I’m just going to be honest. This book was just definitely not for me. Some people compared this book to Dick Francis, and I’m sorry, but that is not even close.
This book was, to put it simply, incredibly boring. I didn’t at all care about the characters, so when they went through life troubles, I honestly did not care, and found it funny. A lot of the time the way the characters were speaking were not at all how people their age would talk, and it threw me out of the story (even though I wasn’t really in it to begin with). It was just incredibly old fashioned (except with bits of feminism in there), and it came off as being a secluded English village who do not know much about the outside world of their bubble.
I don’t even know if it really had a plot, and even when it was revealed who the poisoner was, there was no shock or anything, it was just the same pace, and really boring. Now I know why I tend to read fantasy books, as at least some interesting stuff happens, and there is usually a driving plot.
If you like books which are very NORMAL, about a Cotswolds village citizen, going about their normal mum life being a horse trainer and not much else happening except meeting some new horse buyers and some small conflicts, then this book is for you.
Even the ending court scene was so anti climatic, I just did not care at all, and they basically repeated an explanation of the events of what happened before in the court, so you got more boring repetition. The passage was so short as well. There were no stakes, as you knew she was going to be innocent anyway, as there is only a few pages of the book left.
And the ending of the book was EXTREMELY random, and not very well placed, and it just ends abruptly.
I was speed reading this book so that it could end.
It was basically one episode of a soap like coronation street or eastenders, but a posh upper class version condensed into a long winded book.
(I’m sorry dad, if you ever see this I love you so much, and like horses, but I just did not enjoy this book 😘)
January 28, 2016
This was a DNF for me.
Don't get me wrong, the premise looked great, I was hoping for something new that I could read and fall in love with. It said absolutely nowhere on the front cover, the back cover or in the book that this was the 5th book in a series. I had no idea that I had to read four previous books to get to this one. I borrowed this from my College library for the national reading challenge to take part in. But without knowing exactly what the whole series is all about, I can't really read this novel at all. The plot looked great but to be honest, I felt rather cheated. It could really put off potential readers if it isn't clear on the story somewhere that this is the 5th book in a series. Disappointed with the result.
Don't get me wrong, the premise looked great, I was hoping for something new that I could read and fall in love with. It said absolutely nowhere on the front cover, the back cover or in the book that this was the 5th book in a series. I had no idea that I had to read four previous books to get to this one. I borrowed this from my College library for the national reading challenge to take part in. But without knowing exactly what the whole series is all about, I can't really read this novel at all. The plot looked great but to be honest, I felt rather cheated. It could really put off potential readers if it isn't clear on the story somewhere that this is the 5th book in a series. Disappointed with the result.
August 4, 2022
Having read all the others I found more substance in this book. But Jan does appear to be naive over various things that happen to her. The ending was poor obviously set up to continue the story which never happened.
August 2, 2021
It’s not often that I say this, but I have to admit I was actually quite glad that this series has ended. Well, it wasn’t all bad, otherwise I would not have finished it at all. Having said that, The Inheritance may have been the worst of them all, which goes a long way to explain why I am content with not having to read another one. Neither story nor characters show any form of development, so when I was finished I was almost wondering what, if anything, had happened. Furthermore the main character Jan, never my favorite at the best of times, was once again making strange and naïve decisions. If you got this far in the series, you might as well finish it off, otherwise I would not recommend it.
July 9, 2011
Great book but ending was abrupt as though it hadn't finished and there were pages missing
May 6, 2013
enjoyable
September 6, 2019
The Inheritance is based on a family which is very closely related to the profession of breeding racing horses. With this background, it dicusses family problems which makes for an interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews